Offshore Company Owners Do's and Don'ts in Singapore

With about a few thousand foreign business owners deciding to register a Singapore offshore company each year, it is quite clear that Singapore is growing rapidly as an offshore company destination. It is of course not surprising that the numbers of offshore companies are rising in Singapore considering the number of benefits Singapore provides to businesses in the country. From liberal taxation laws to ease of doing business, it is tough to beat Singapore when it comes to business friendly laws. While it may be simple for foreigners to register an offshore company in the country, it is still important they take care of a few aspects to not have their applications rejected. Some of the do’s and don’ts that they need to take care of are as follows:

1) Always take the help of an incorporation service provider in Singapore itself. Foreigners are not allowed to approach the company registrar directly. Incorporation agencies in Singapore would be able to guide the foreigner through the entire process and ensure they do not have to visit Singapore at all during the company registration process.

2) Always ensure that you follow the mandatory structural requirements for a Singapore Company. Currently the requirements are extremely simple where any company registered in the country needs to have at least one local resident director, one local resident company secretary and a registered business address within Singapore. Foreign owners must ensure the registered business address in Singapore must be a real address and not simply a PO Box.

3) Always choose a name for the Singapore Company that is not seen as obscene or vulgar amongst the local community in the country. Of course the chosen company name cannot already be in existence or infringe on existing trademarks or copyrights within Singapore.

4) While the offshore company is in operation, care should be taken that all Singapore ongoing compliance laws are being followed. There are certain annual filing requirements as well such as filing tax returns and all these must be strictly followed as otherwise the company owners would be liable for penalties and fines for not meeting the ongoing compliance requirements.

5) Even though foreign sourced income is not taxed in Singapore at all as long as that income is not deemed as remitted to Singapore, foreign business owners should be careful in understanding what constitutes foreign sourced income and calculate their final tax liabilities accordingly.

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, 22 Dec 2011 Time: 5:34 AM

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