Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Singapore - Guide - EN
Singapore - Guide - EN
Before Founding
I.I Considerations before founding
British Foundation
Fiscal
III.I Overview Singapore
III.II Tax rates in Singapore
III.III What activities can and cannot be performed
III.IV Recognition of Business Expenses
III.V Value Added Tax
III.VI Withholding Taxes
III.VII Double Tax Treaty
III.VIII Deadlines
III.IX Accounting
Banking
IV.I Fintech´s
V.II Premises
V.IV Advisory
The requirements for a company structure In Europe, a Singapore corporation can acquire
are different for every company. Reasons interests in companies and real estate (see
can be: Section III.VI Withholding Taxes).
f Desire for the greatest possible anonymity Please read the following lines carefully so that
a sustainable and well thought-out structuring
f Obtaining tax relief
of the companies is guaranteed.
f Avoiding tax disadvantages in the country
Persons from the following countries cannot
of residence
hold positions in Singapore:
f Protection of assets from access by third North Korea, Iran, Ethiopia, Iraq, Serbia, Sri
parties Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia,
f Investment vehicle for international Vanuatu, Yemen
participations and much more.
In principle, a corporation based in
Singapore is ideal for conducting
business activities worldwide.
It should be noted that register entries are Changes in the commercial register can be
public in the UK and Singapore. Anonymity is made without notarization. Only the
therefore not guaranteed without a trustee. corresponding signature of the founder or the
relevant body is required.
While in Great Britain all changes of each
company are publicly visible without
registration and indefinitely, in Singapore there
are only limited access options and a payment
barrier.
General information on German departure right to tax in other ways. The background to
taxation this is that according to most double taxation
agreements (DTA), the right to tax
The German exit tax (§ 6 AStG) regulates the
corresponding capital gains usually belongs to
taxation of a fictitious sale of at least 1 percent
the new country of residence at the time the
of the capital of a
hidden reserves are later realized (cf. Art. 13 Para.
(Domestic or foreign) corporation in private
5 OECD-MA).
assets when the shareholder moves abroad.
Moving away in this sense means in particular Example: A sole GmbH shareholder has hidden
giving up your German place of residence. In reserves and would like to give up his German
addition, however, there are also other so- place of residence. The treasury becomes the
called substitute facts, such as the free hidden reserves with the move subject to
transfer to a person resident abroad or the taxation so that taxation in the new country of
restriction of the German residence is not possible.
Taxes on Dividends 0%
Tax exemption scheme for new start-up companies (if one of the first 3 YA falls in or after YA
2020)
Taxable income % tax-exempt tax-exempt amount (in S$, SGD)
f Foreign Dividends
f The main tax rate of the foreign jurisdiction is at least 15% at the time the foreign income is
received in Singapore
f The foreign income was taxed in the foreign jurisdiction (note that the rate at which foreign
income was taxed may differ from the overall tax rate)
f The Singapore Government believes that the tax exemption would be beneficial to the
Singapore resident
In addition, a PTE LTD can acquire real estate and shares, as well as invest capital on the capital
markets. In principle, any kind of legal business is conceivable.
To avoid any negative tax implications, please contact us in advance with specific questions.
For the transfer of shares, the notary also needs the certified translated extracts from the commercial
register including an apostille.
The following items can be claimed as business f CPF contributions to employees' Medisave
expenses. If anything is unclear, please contact accounts with a maximum deduction of
us. $1,500 per employee per year. Such
deductions are permissible as medical
Please note that certain terms refer to
expenses, subject to medical expense caps.
Singapore's welfare system and may therefore
be unfamiliar to you. f CPF top-up to employees' CPF minimums
f postage f Travel
f Donations (You can apply for the deduction f Medical expenses (amount over 1% of the
of donations made to a recognized public total remuneration)
body (IPC) or the Government of Singapore
f Vehicle costs ("S" license plate car)
that benefit the local community.)
f Punish
f Entrance fee to country club or other clubs
f Accruals and deferrals that do not relate to
f Exchange rate loss on transactions that are the respective base period
not commercial or capital in nature
f Personal and domestic expenses (expenses
f Expenses before recording of the business incurred for business purposes)
activity (However, income expenses 1 year
prior to the accounting year in which the f Private rental car
company earns its first dollar of business f Provision for bad debts (general)
income are tax deductible beginning in f Provision for obsolete stocks (general)
2012)
f renovation or refurbishment work (You
f Depreciated Fixed Assets may claim a Section 14Q deduction for
f Acquisition costs of fixed assets (you can qualifying unpaid expenses)
claim capital deductions) f Redundancy Compensation – Reduction
f fines compensation and outplacement support
costs on a voluntary basis, where there is a
f goodwill payment
complete cessation of business.
f Impairment loss on non-trading debt
f Transport ("S" registration private cars)
f Income Tax in Singapore and all income
taxes in a country outside of Singapore
Example Germany:
If a company based in Singapore generates year 2022
income in Germany, withholding taxes apply to
the following types of income: Dividends, interest income, royalties
Singapore itself does not levy any withholding taxes. This is particularly beneficial if you receive
dividends and do not have to tax them in your country of residence.
Example: You reside in Cyprus and receive a dividend from a Singapore corporation. This dividend is
not subject to any withholding tax in Singapore. If your country of residence does not tax foreign
dividend income, it would be completely tax-free.
https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/singapore/corporate/withholding-taxes
III.VIII DEADLINES
Fiscal year: 31.12.
Annual accounts:
f Deadline for submitting the annual accounts: 7 months after the end of the financial year
f There is no obligation to keep monthly accounts unless GST (VAT) has been applied for.
III.IX ACCOUNTING
Accounting can be done in Singapore once a year with the annual financial statements, provided
that PTE LTD is not registered for VAT in Singapore.
VAT registration is only required if PTE LTD has annual sales in excess of SGD 1 million, supplies or
provides services to consumers in Singapore, or if the company has an EORI no. must apply for in
Europe in order to import goods there.
f Incoming invoices must contain the company name and the billing address
f reputation
Disadvantages:
Singapore income is taxable
Disadvantages:
f Comparatively high capital commitment
to the corresponding bank.
Paypal
It is possible to open an account with PayPal. It's closed
note that PayPal uses the local currency SGD as the base currency
takes and only pays out to accounts in Singapore.
Stripe
Stripe can be used without any problems. payouts are made
also only on accounts in Singapore.
IV.V BROKER
Interactive Brokers:
We would be happy to open a securities account with Interactive Brokers for your
Singapore company.