Company Registration in Singapore Online: Tax friendly & Crypto friendly

You heard that right. Company registration in Singapore is unimaginably simple and can be done completely remotely within 3-4 working days.

If you are exploring your options to expand your business or simply register your company in Singapore for its tax-friendly and crypto-friendly policies, this guide is for you. This is an outline of my experience registering my company in Singapore and I hope it helps you in the same process too.

Here are the key steps:

1. Understand why you want to register in Singapore

• Consider Your home country first: The first and the obvious choice for any business would be to register in their home country. However, it’s important to understand your country’s tax structures and regulations and compare them to Singapore.
• Corporate Tax: Singapore has a friendly corporate Tax structure with a corporate tax slab of 17%. You could also apply for further deduction via schemes. Since my home country is India, a good reason for me to register in Singapore was a saving of approximately 8-10% on an annual basis on corporate Tax.
• Crypto-Friendly: A lot of Southeast Asian startups can be seen registering in Singapore for its Crypto friendly policies and no crypto tax.
• Money transfer options: The number of bank transfer and online payment options is a lot greater in Singapore such as Stripe, Paypal, etc., which are way easier to apply to, for the transactions when you have your company in Singapore) Having faced multiple issues with PayPal and Stripe with my Indian entity, this was another key factor for me to switch to Singapore.

Try and understand what location works better keeping your home country in mind. For companies having remote teams, Singapore is a great choice for several reasons but not limited to international payments, crypto payments, and a tax-friendly structure. You should company registration in Singapore if you want to go paperless, save taxes, and support crypto payments.

2. Consider Personal Spending and where you live 

If you register in a country where you probably won’t spend, you eventually have to move the money from that country to your personal bank account and thereby end up paying personal income tax. In this case, the tax benefit we spoke about earlier, would not make sense. 

If this is not the case and you are looking to build an entity with co-founders, Singapore would be a great choice. Since I live in Vietnam and work in South East Asia, it makes sense for me to have the money in Singapore.

ALSO SEE: Thinking of a name for your startup? Here are some tools to help you find a domain name.

3. Registering The Company in Singapore

Here is how to do your company registration in Singapore in 3 days:

sleek.sg is the website I used and highly recommend (non-sponsored) for several reasons such as simple and easy steps, best support, and services.

Here’s what to keep in mind:

a. Check the Pricing

The pricing page takes you through the following charges:

• Company Incorporation- S$35 Plus government fee of S$315 for registration)
• Corporate Secretary: S$240/year 
• Accounting and bookkeeping: S$75/month (optional)
• Nominee Director: S$1500/year, a local director is a requirement by the Singapore government. Hire a nominee director won’t have execution rights, this is a legal requirement. You can save this charge by visiting Singapore once a year and by getting an employment pass in the future
• Registered address and digital mailroom: S$300/Year
• VISA support via EP and other options: From S$250 (if required in future)

All these steps can be completed easily in 3 days from your home country before you have moved to Singapore.

b. Set up a bank account:

Sleek Business account is a virtual bank account to receive or make payments. Sleek provides this virtual bank account number that can be used by your company to help you receive payments, send invoices, and make payments. If you are in no hurry to have a bank account in Singapore, a virtual bank account by Sleek is a great option for your business.

You can also apply for your company bank account in Singapore but I found the Sleek Business Account to be a good place to start.

c. Get an employment pass through your work company: (if required)

By registering your employment and getting your work pass or employment pass, you can save the annual Nominee Director fee you’ll be paying to Sleek. This might require you to visit Singapore once a year or so. For me, this is a great option since I’m anyway in SG once in 6 months.

I have a full video walkthrough on how I registered my company in Singapore. You can watch it here:

Registering a Singapore Company: high-level overview

• Company name: We recommend having a shortlist of three in case your first choice isn’t available.
• 1 or more directors: Directors must be individuals, aged 18 and above, who have not been disqualified to hold a directorship in Singapore or elsewhere.
• 1 or more resident directors: At all times you will need at least one locally resident director. At the time of company registration, this is someone who is a Singapore citizen, Permanent Resident, or holder of an EntrePass visa.
• Between 1-50 shareholders: A shareholder can either be an individual or a legal entity like a trust or another company. Singapore permits 100% foreign ownership of Singapore companies.
• Paid-up capital: The minimum paid-up/share capital for a company to register in Singapore is S$1. Any time post business registration, the share capital can be increased.
• A registered address in Singapore: The address that is provided for the company must be located in Singapore. It must be a physical address and a P.O. box will not be accepted.
• Company secretary: Every company must appoint a company secretary. This individual will help the directors to prepare and file all necessary documentation to keep the company compliant.
• Auditor: Unless the company has been exempted from audit (which is the case for most start-up companies), within 3 months of registration, every company must appoint an auditor.