Compliance Requirements for Singapore Offshore Companies

Singapore has some of the most liberal laws when it comes to offshore companies in the country. In fact Singapore was ranked once again as the easiest country in the world to do business by the World Bank in its 2012 edition of the “Doing Business” report. Singapore offers a number of benefits for foreign companies including ease of business registration, ability to manage the company from overseas and possibility of zero taxation as foreign sourced income is not taxed in the country as long as that income is not deemed remitted to Singapore. However, even though offshore company owners have minimal requirements when registering a business in Singapore, they still have to follow the compliance requirements set for all incorporated companies in the country. Some of these compliance requirements are as follows:

1) As far as mandatory structural requirements are concerned, foreign business owners must appoint at least one local resident director in their Singapore Company. Since it is assumed offshore business owners reside in another country, they need to appoint someone as a director other than themselves in Singapore to fulfill the local director requirement. Usually foreign companies utilize the services of a nominee director and this service is provided by most incorporation service agencies in the country.

2) All companies incorporated in Singapore must file their annual returns as well as their annual tax returns. Now it is possible for an offshore company to have zero taxation liabilities in Singapore. However, they must talk to a qualified tax consultant to check whether their income can be deemed as foreign sourced income. If yes, then that income is completely tax free as long as it has not been brought inside Singapore. However, regardless of the tax liability at the end of the financial year, all companies have to submit their returns to the appropriate agency in the country.

3) Offshore companies also need to appoint a qualified local resident as company secretary. The company secretary is required to maintain important compliance requirements and all companies should maintain all accounting books and financial records regardless of whether their transactions are taking place within Singapore or outside the country. Authorities may even ask to see the financial records at any point of time if they feel the need to do so. A proper balance sheet and profit and loss statement must also be maintained and submitted when filing annual returns of the company.

About the Author

Bryan Wong is a business analyst in the Asia-Pacific region and in his free time writes business articles. In this article, Bryan talks about Singapore Offshore Company and Singapore Limited Liability Company.

Author (bryanwong). Submitted on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 Time: 5:47 AM

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