Strategic location and attractive tax benefits make Singapore the best place for foreign companies to set up their business. Several options are: opening a branch office, a representative office or a subsidiary. The country also has liberal immigration policies. If the company wants to establish their local headquarters in Singapore, they are also provided with financial assistance.
Branch office – Registration of the branch office is done by ACRA and it is considered an extension of the foreign company. This is the least popular option with foreign companies because
Head office accounts must be submitted for tax purposes. Many companies may not be comfortable doing this.
The head office bears all the obligations regarding the actions of the branch office
The branch office cannot claim local tax benefits
The name of the branch office and the foreign office must be the same and must be approved by ACRA before registration. The branch office must appoint two agents living in Singapore. The branch office can redirect all its earnings and capital. Only the portion of the earnings derived from local operations is taxed at local tax rates.
Affiliate Company – This is the most preferred option for setting up business by foreign companies because:
The obligations are not transferred to the parent company. It is considered a separate company.
It enjoys the local tax benefits.
It may have a local name that is different from the parent company.
One or more directors must be appointed and at least one director must be a local resident.
Representative office – it is used to have a presence in the country while not doing business. It has no legal status and cannot enter into contracts.
It can undertake promotional activities for the parent company
It can negotiate but cannot conclude transactions
Parent company bears responsibility for the functions of the office.
It must be staffed by at least one head office representative
International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore) is the registration authority for Representative Offices for manufacturing, business services, trade and other sectors. Banking, financing, insurance must be registered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
For more information on the procedure for registering a company, see How to Register a Singapore Company.
If you are willing to be a Singapore based company, then you can take the help of A1 Business (Singapore) for Company registration
