Singapore Company for Foreigners: Who It Fits (2026)

Short answer

A Singapore private limited company can be fully yours, but it needs at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore, a registered office in Singapore and a company secretary within six months; as a foreigner you register through a registered corporate service provider. Profits are taxed at a headline rate of 17%, with a partial exemption on part of the first S$200,000. The start-up exemption only applies if the company is tax resident in Singapore, which depends on where its strategic decisions are actually made. The company is neither a visa nor a bank account, and your personal tax follows where you live.

PART 01

Own, direct, work: three different questions

Key line
Owning a Singapore company, directing it, and being allowed to work in Singapore are three different questions.

Own

You can own all the shares yourself. One issued share and S$1 of share capital are enough.

Direct

At least one director must be ordinarily resident in Singapore. As a foreigner you register through a registered corporate service provider.

Work

Owning or directing a Singapore company doesn't give you the right to live or work in Singapore. For that you need a work pass.

On top come a registered office in Singapore that is open to the public during normal business hours on business days, and a company secretary within six months of registration who cannot also be the sole director. Most registrations are approved soon after payment; incorporation is the quick part.

Source: ACRA, foreigners and corporate service providers · ACRA, shares and shareholders · ACRA, directors and company secretary · ACRA, registering via Bizfile · checked 9 Oct 2026

PART 02

The empty seat: the resident director

Key line
Not a shareholder. A director. Someone who actually lives there.

Every Singapore company needs at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore, a natural person aged 18 or over. According to ACRA, citizens, permanent residents and holders of an Employment Pass, Personalised Employment Pass or ONE Pass count; Employment Pass holders need a letter of consent first. Three ways to fill the seat:

You move there. With a work pass that counts, you can sit in the seat yourself.
Someone you know. A person who lives there, qualifies and is willing to take on the job.
A nominee director. Only through a corporate service provider registered with ACRA. Since June 2025 the provider has to check first that the person is fit and proper.

A nominee director has the same legal duties as any other director, and the fact that a director is a nominee is public: anyone who buys your company’s business profile from ACRA can see it. It is a real role, not a formality.

Leaving the seat empty is not an option: if the company trades for more than six months without a resident director, shareholders who know about it can become personally liable for its debts from that time. And the last resident director cannot validly resign while no one else holds the seat.

Source: Companies Act 1967, s. 145 · ACRA, who counts as local resident · ACRA, Corporate Service Providers Act · ACRA, disclosure of nominees · checked 9 Oct 2026

PART 03

Four founders, four answers

Key line
Same company. Different business. Completely different answer.

The four founders are illustrative examples from our video, not clients.

PriyaRuns a small software company from Ho Chi Minh City; her biggest new client, in Jakarta, wants a contract partner based in AsiaA contract partner in Asia that her client trustsIf every decision is made in Vietnam, the company can lose its Singapore tax residenceFits for the contract, not for the tax breaks, until it is really run from Singapore

JonasGerman consultant, living in Kuala Lumpur for two years, clients in Germany and SwitzerlandA respected addressHis clients don’t need an Asian company, and it doesn’t change what Malaysia or Germany may ask of him personallyThe first question is where he lives. Sometimes the right company sits where you live

MeiLives in Vancouver, sells skincare online; most customers in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, stock in a regional warehouseCustomers and logistics are in Southeast Asia; payment providers and marketplaces there know how to work with a Singapore companyIf she bought everything in Shenzhen and sold worldwide, Hong Kong would often be the more natural fitFits, as long as the business looks towards Southeast Asia

LukasEngineer from Vienna, wants to move to Singapore and build his start-up thereWith a qualifying work pass he can fill the director seat himself, and decisions are made in SingaporeThe company gives him no right to live or work in Singapore; nobody gets a work pass automaticallyFits, once the work pass is approved

A year later, Priya has customers in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, developers in Manila and an investor who wants to talk. At some point you are no longer running a foreign business in Asia; you are running an Asian business. If she then moves to Singapore with a work pass, she fills the seat herself, decisions are made in Singapore, and the start-up exemption and the treaties actually work for her.

PART 04

Tax, in plain words

Key line
Tax is one part of Singapore's business case. It isn't the business case.

Singapore taxes company profits at a headline rate of 17%. Every company gets a partial exemption on part of its first S$200,000 of chargeable income.
A qualifying new company can claim the start-up exemption instead for its first three years of assessment, but only if it is tax resident in Singapore, has no more than 20 shareholders with at least one individual holding 10% or more, and isn’t an investment holding or property development company.
For the 2026 year of assessment, every taxpaying company gets a 50% rebate on its corporate tax, capped at S$40,000 including any cash grant, whether it is tax resident or not.
Singapore levies no withholding tax on dividends, and dividends from a Singapore tax-resident company aren’t taxed again in Singapore. How they are taxed where you live depends on your residence.
Foreign income is generally taxed when it is received in Singapore. Certain foreign dividends, branch profits and service income are exempt only if they were taxed abroad and the headline rate there is at least 15%.

Where the company is run decides its tax residence

For tax, Singapore doesn’t ask where a company is registered. It asks where its strategic decisions are actually made, and IRAS says a board meeting in Singapore isn’t always enough on its own. If the company is run from Thailand, Vietnam or Malaysia, it can lose its Singapore tax residence, and with it the start-up exemption and the certificate of residence it needs to use Singapore’s tax treaties (94 comprehensive treaties in force).

Your personal tax follows where you live. Thailand, for example, taxes its residents on foreign income earned since 2024 when they bring it into the country.

Source: IRAS, rates, rebates and exemptions · IRAS, dividends · IRAS, no withholding tax · IRAS, foreign income · IRAS, tax residency · IRAS, list of DTAs · Thai Revenue Department · checked 9 Oct 2026

All figures, with a calculator: Singapore corporate tax 2026

PART 05

Work pass and bank: two separate steps

Key line
Nobody can promise you the outcome, and you should be careful with anyone who does.

Work pass

If you want to move to Singapore to run your business, you need a work pass. Approval is never automatic.
Employment Pass: currently a qualifying salary of at least S$5,600 a month, higher with age and in financial services; S$6,000 for new applications from 1 January 2027. Plus the COMPASS points test.
Some founders look at the EntrePass instead; the criteria are on our page about the Singapore EntrePass.

Bank account

The account is a separate step after registration, not part of it.
The bank has to check who really owns the company and why it needs the account, and decides for itself.
We assist with the application, but no provider can promise an account.

Source: ACRA, founders moving to Singapore · MOM, Employment Pass · MOM, EntrePass · MAS, opening bank accounts · checked 9 Oct 2026

PART 06

The boring part: fees and yearly duties

Key line
None of this is hard. It just has to happen every year.

ACRA’s own fees are small: S$15 for the name application, S$300 for the registration, S$60 for each annual return. Professional services come on top.

Yearly duties of a Singapore company
Duty	When
Estimated chargeable income (ECI) to IRAS	within 3 months after the financial year end; waived only if revenue is up to S$5 million and ECI is nil
Annual general meeting (AGM)	within 6 months after the financial year end; a private company can skip it, for example if the accounts go to all shareholders within 5 months
Annual return to ACRA (S$60)	within 7 months after the financial year end, also for dormant companies
Tax return Form C-S / C-S (Lite) / C	every year by 30 November, also with a loss
Financial statements and audit	prepare every year; a solvent exempt private company does not have to file them with ACRA; small companies can be exempt from audit
Keep accounting records	at least 5 years

Source: ACRA, fees · IRAS, ECI · ACRA, AGM · ACRA, annual return · IRAS, Form C-S · ACRA, filing financial statements · ACRA, audit exemption · checked 9 Oct 2026

Deadlines for your case: Form C-S 2026 with a deadline cockpit

PART 07

Who shouldn't open a Singapore company

Key line
Sometimes the right answer is not to open one at all. And if that's your case, we'll tell you.

Anyone whose only reason is tax. That reason doesn’t hold up on its own.
Anyone who will run everything from another country, with no customers, team or partners in Asia. The company may end up neither tax resident in Singapore nor useful to the business.
Traders whose suppliers are mostly in mainland China. Look at Hong Kong first.
Anyone who mainly wants the right to live in Singapore. A company isn’t a visa.

PART 08

Singapore or Hong Kong?

Key line
Neither is better. One is simply better for your business.

Singapore and Hong Kong compared
Question	Singapore	Hong Kong
Suits	Businesses looking towards Southeast Asia, a regional base, investors in the region	Businesses looking towards mainland China and trading
Local director	at least one ordinarily resident in Singapore	not required; company secretary and office in Hong Kong
Audit	small private companies can be exempt	every active company, every year
Tax	17% headline rate; foreign income generally taxed when received in Singapore, with exemptions	8.25% / 16.5% only on profits arising in Hong Kong
Tax treaties in force	94	51

Between Singapore and Hong Kong themselves there is only a limited treaty (shipping and air transport), not a comprehensive one. That matters if you have companies in both. In every column, tax where you live is a separate question.

Source: Companies Act, s. 145 · Hong Kong Companies Registry · ACRA, audit exemption · Hong Kong IRD, profits tax return · Hong Kong IRD, profits tax · IRAS, DTAs · Hong Kong IRD, DTAs · checked 9 Oct 2026

The Hong Kong side of the same question, with four cases of its own: Hong Kong company: who it fits.

Frequently asked questions about a Singapore company

Do I need a director who lives in Singapore?

Yes. Every Singapore company needs at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore. According to ACRA, citizens, permanent residents and holders of an Employment Pass, Personalised Employment Pass or ONE Pass count; Employment Pass holders need a letter of consent first. If you don't live there yourself, you can appoint someone who lives there and qualifies, or a nominee director through a registered corporate service provider. A nominee has the same duties as any other director. If the company trades for more than six months without a resident director, shareholders who know about it can become personally liable for its debts from that time.

Does a Singapore company let me live and work in Singapore?

No. Owning or directing a Singapore company doesn't give you the right to live or work in Singapore. For that you need a work pass, and approval is never automatic. The Employment Pass currently needs a qualifying salary of at least S$5,600 a month (higher with age and in financial services; S$6,000 for new applications from January 2027) plus a points test called COMPASS.

Singapore or Hong Kong: which fits better?

It depends on where your business looks. Singapore suits businesses that look towards Southeast Asia, want a regional base or talk to investors in the region; it needs a resident director, and small companies can be exempt from audit. Hong Kong suits businesses that look towards mainland China and trading; it needs no local director, but every active company is audited. Neither is better in general, and tax where you live is a separate question in both cases.

Does my Singapore company get the start-up tax exemption if I live abroad?

Only if the company is tax resident in Singapore. According to IRAS, that depends on where its strategic decisions are actually made, not on where it is registered. If it is really run from Thailand, Vietnam or Malaysia, it can lose its residence, and with it the start-up exemption and the certificate of residence it needs for treaty benefits. The partial exemption on the first S$200,000 and the rebate for the 2026 year of assessment do not depend on residence. Your personal tax follows where you live.

Review note

Editorial: Strasia Group
Sources: ACRA, Companies Act, IRAS, MOM, MAS, Hong Kong IRD and Companies Registry, Thai Revenue Department; checked 9 Oct 2026
Updated: 10 Oct 2026
Next review: after Singapore Budget 2027 (February 2027)

Official sources

Change log

10 Oct 2026published, video to follow

Singapore Company for Foreigners: Who Should Use It, and Who Shouldn't