Singapore is one of the places in the world to start a company and the government has made it easy to do so. If you do everything right you can have a business up and running in just one or two days. If you make mistakes you will waste time and money fixing them. Find out more!

The first thing you need to decide is what kind of business to set up. Most people choose a Private Limited Company. For good reason. It keeps your money separate from your business money so you do not lose everything if your business gets into trouble. If you are a Sole Proprietor you have paperwork to do at first but you might lose your house if your business owes money. If you already have a company in another country and you want to open an office in Singapore you can set up a Branch Office. If you choose the wrong kind of business you will have to pay to change it later and that is a hassle.

To register your company you need to go through the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, which is called ACRA for short. You do this on a website called BizFile+. You need to have a name for your company, an address in Singapore least one person who owns part of the company and a director who lives in Singapore. This last part surprises a lot of people who’re not from Singapore. The director has to be a citizen, a resident or have a special pass called an EntrePass. Some companies offer to help you find a director. You have to be careful who you choose.

You do not need a lot of money to start a company in Singapore. In fact you only need one dollar. After you register your company you will have to pay for other things like a secretary and accountant. You will also have to file papers with the government every year and have your finances checked if you make a lot of money. A lot of people forget to budget for these costs.

Taxes are one of the things about starting a company in Singapore. The tax rate is 17 percent, which’s not too high. If you have a startup company you might not have to pay as much tax for the first few years. You have to set up your company the right way to get these tax breaks.

You also need to think about banking when you start your company. It can take a weeks to open a bank account in Singapore so you should start the process at the same time you register your company. If you wait it can be a hassle.