Annual Filing Requirements In Singapore

By Author: Bryan Wong
Total Articles: 11
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As per the Singapore Companies Act, all private limited companies in the country must follow certain ongoing compliance requirements. Although quite minimal, each compliance requirement must be strictly adhered to as otherwise the managing directors of the company may face heavy fines or even imprisonment. One of the important ongoing compliance requirements which all companies must maintain is the annual filing requirements.

Firstly all companies must maintain their financial accounts as per the guidelines given by the Financial Reporting Standards of Singapore. They must maintain their books of accounts which show all transactions, a profit or loss statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement and statement of change in equity. The company must calculate its estimated chargeable income and file it with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. All companies must also declare their full revenue details and how they have calculated their estimated chargeable income. If the revenue of your company exceeds SGD $5 million, in that case you will also have to get your accounts audited by a qualified auditor. It should be ...
... noted that just in case your company has corporate shareholding, in that case you need to get your accounts audited regardless of whether your revenue exceeds SGD $5 million or not.

The annual returns of the company must be filed with ACRA (Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority) of Singapore. The annual returns must be filed within one month from the date of the annual general meeting which is also mandatory for all Singapore based companies. The annual tax returns of the company need to be filed with the IRAS (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore). The final date for filing annual tax returns is November 30th of each year and it must be submitted for the preceding year for taxation purposes.

The annual filing requirements for private limited companies in Singapore including foreign owned Singapore subsidiary companies is the most important form of ongoing compliance requirements in the country. Failure to file annual returns or purposely withholding information from the concerned authorities could lead to prosecution against the company directors. You may utilize the services of a Singapore based accounting firm to maintain your books of accounts and also ensure filing of returns on time. Singapore also provides a number of incentives to companies managed and operated from Singapore to lower the overall taxation burden on the company. However, it is expected that all revenue, income and other transactions of the company are declared as per the prevailing laws and nothing is kept hidden from the authorities.

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Bryan Wong is a business analyst in the Asia-Pacific region and in his free time writes business articles. In this article, Bryan talks about Singapore tax filing services and Singapore companies act.