Singapore Sole Proprietorship Explained

By Author: zbenriquez
Total Articles: 10
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A Sole Proprietorship is a business firm having one owner, who exercises absolute control and authority over its management, assets, profits, liabilities and losses. It is listed as the simplest form of business structure and the easiest one to register. Also referred by many as Single Proprietorship, a business of Sole Proprietorship nature is given merits in any nation it is registered.

Businessmen from across the world flock to Singapore to seek for business development or explore business opportunities. Though embarking on an offshore business undertaking seems to be a tremendous concept, registering a Singapore Sole Proprietorship is not a daunting process, however.

In Singapore, a Sole Proprietorship business is regarded as a non-legal entity, and thus, it cannot be sued nor can it principally participate in any lawsuit. The assets and other properties obtained by the business cannot be owned by the business firm itself, it is the proprietor who holds ownership.

At any rate, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority or ACRA stipulated the following characteristics of a Singapore Sole Proprietorship:

* ...
... Anyone of legal age can register for a Sole Proprietorship provided that one doesn't have experience of un-discharged bankruptcies.

* Upon registration, the local address of the Sole Proprietorship must be provided. The residential addresses is allowed to be used as a business address as long as a written consent from the Housing and Development Board or Urban Redevelopment Authority is made. The scheme of using residential address as business is known as Home Office Scheme.

* The Singapore Sole Proprietorship enterprise is headed by a manager who must be 21 years old upon appointment and maintains a natural citizenship or Permanent Residence in Singapore. The company owner is also allowed to be the manager of the firm as long as he holds a Singaporean Permanent Residence or is Singaporean citizen.

If for some reasons the company owner or individuals who do not have ordinary residence in Singapore wish to act as a local manager of a Singapore Sole Proprietorship enterprise, supplying Employment Pass, Entrepass and Dependent Pass is sufficient for him to be eligible.

The profits earned by Sole Proprietorship enterprises in Singapore are considered as income of the proprietor and hence, are subject to a tax rate at a personal income level. Although the Sole proprietor is taxed on a personal income level, they are, however, exempted from filing an annual return with ACRA and also not required to undergo audit.

Corporate materials like Letterheads, Invoices, and Bills are being used as part of business operations in Singapore. Also, it is required that the said materials must bear the registration number as well as the business name.

Indeed, it is such a promising endeavor to do business in Singapore. Definitely the reason why Singapore has maintained its reputation as the favorite business hub worldwide for several years.

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