For many expatriates living in Singapore on a Dependant's Pass (DP) — typically the spouses and unmarried children of Employment Pass (EP) or S Pass holders — the question of whether they can work in Singapore is a common one. The answer depends on whether the Dependant's Pass holder has obtained a Letter of Consent [...]
The Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) is one of Enterprise Singapore's flagship grant programmes, designed to help Singapore companies grow, innovate, and internationalise. Since its launch in 2018 — consolidating several earlier grants into a single framework — the EDG has supported thousands of Singapore SMEs across a wide range of projects, from business strategy development [...]
Transfer pricing refers to the prices set for transactions between related parties — companies within the same corporate group, or companies controlled by the same individuals. Because related parties can theoretically set any price between themselves, tax authorities worldwide require that these transactions be priced as if they were between independent parties dealing at arm's [...]
When founders and investors sit down to negotiate equity terms, preference shares are often the central instrument of discussion. Unlike ordinary shares, preference shares carry special rights — typically priority dividends and a preferential return of capital on winding up — making them the instrument of choice for investors seeking downside protection without sacrificing upside [...]
When a Singapore company is wound up, the liquidator and creditors may investigate the conduct of the directors during the period leading up to insolvency. One of the most serious findings a Singapore court can make is that the company’s business was carried on with intent to defraud creditors — a conclusion that strips directors [...]
Obtaining Singapore Permanent Residency (PR) is a significant milestone for many foreign professionals, investors and their families. PR status provides the right of long-term residence, access to subsidised education and healthcare, and a pathway to citizenship. However, Singapore’s PR process is discretionary — the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) does not publish a fixed points [...]
Singapore’s Employment Pass (EP) application process underwent a fundamental transformation with the introduction of the COMPASS (Complementarity Assessment Framework) scoring system on 1 September 2023. Before COMPASS, EP decisions were largely qualitative — an officer assessed salary, employer profile and candidate qualifications holistically. Since COMPASS, every EP application is now assigned a numerical score, and [...]
When a Singapore company finds itself unable to pay its debts, the directors and shareholders face an important choice: continue to trade and risk compulsory winding up by a court on the petition of a creditor, or take the initiative and place the company into a Creditors' Voluntary Winding Up (CVL). The CVL route is [...]
The SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC) is one of the most straightforward government grants available to Singapore employers — a one-off S$10,000 credit that can be used to offset the out-of-pocket costs of workforce transformation programmes. Yet many eligible businesses either do not know it exists or have not yet used it before it lapses. This [...]
One of the most common compliance oversights in Singapore companies is the director's loan — money that flows between a company and its director, whether as a loan from the company to the director or as a loan from the director to the company. Each direction carries different legal obligations under the Companies Act, different [...]