A Foreigner’s Guide To Singapore Company Registration Costs

When foreigners talk about incorporating a company in Singapore, they usually refer to setting up a Private Limited Company (Pte Ltd), the most popular structure for SMEs and startups.

While it’s not cheap, it’s also never been a more cost-effective time for Malaysians to do this.

Below, we provide a full breakdown of costs involved in not just registering but maintaining a Pte Ltd in full compliance with Singaporean law, including:

• government fees
• professional services, and
• ongoing compliance expenses

Let’s begin.

Government fees

You’ll pay S$15 to reserve your company name, which secures it for 120 days, and once approved, the company incorporation fee payable to ACRA is S$300.

In total, the mandatory government fees come to S$315, and is standard for any person.

Professional service fees

Here’s where costs start to vary, and where most Malaysians will need to pay attention.

Unless you have a Singapore resident willing to be your company director, you’ll need professional help. Singapore law requires every company to have at least one resident director, and Malaysian founders who don’t have this must work with corporate service providers who offer nominee director services.

A typical incorporation package from a corporate service provider includes:

• Company incorporation filing with ACRA
• Singapore Company Secretary services
• Local registered address
• Nominee resident director services
• First year’s registered address

Basic packages typically start around S$550 to S$800, while premium packages that include more comprehensive advisory services can go up to S$2,500 or more.

Your quoted fee depends on what’s included, the provider’s reputation, response time, and level of ongoing support. Cheaper isn’t always better here. If your service provider is slow to respond or makes filing errors, you could face penalties that cost more than what you saved.

Ongoing annual compliance costs

Although incorporation is a one-time cost, Singapore companies must maintain annual compliance, and this comes with recurring expenses:

1. Company secretary fees: S$600 to S$1,200 per year
2. Annual Return filing with ACRA: Usually included in your company secretary fee but verify this.
3. Accounting and bookkeeping: S$1,500 to S$3,000+ per year, depending on transaction volume.
4. Corporate tax filing: S$800 to S$1,500 per year.

If you have employees in Singapore, add CPF contributions and payroll compliance costs. If you’re GST-registered (required once revenue exceeds S$1 million), add GST filing costs.

Estimated total cost breakdown

Let’s put this together with realistic numbers:

First Year:

• Government fees: ~S$330
• Professional incorporation package: S$550 to S$1,500
• Total first year: S$880 to S$1,830

Subsequent Years (Annual):

• Company secretary: S$600 to S$1,200
• Accounting/bookkeeping: S$1,500 to S$3,000
• Tax filing: S$800 to S$1,500
• Total annual: S$2,900 to S$5,700

For most Malaysians, budgeting around S$1,200 to S$1,500 (≈ RM3,800 to RM4,800) for incorporation and S$3,500 to S$4,500 annually (≈ RM11,100 to RM14,300) for compliance is realistic.

That’s all from us, and we wish you all the best!

Let MISHU help you with incorporation in Singapore

While MISHU handles incorporation in Malaysia, we’re happy to connect you with our partners in Singapore, Swiftly, who help Malaysians entrepreneurs manage everything from company incorporation and nominee directors to accounting and compliance for their Singaporean company.