For mature foreign companies eyeing Singapore as their long-term operating base, the inward re-domiciliation regime is one of the most underused tools in the corporate toolkit. Introduced by the Companies (Amendment) Act 2017 and operative from 11 October 2017, Singapore's inward re-domiciliation regime allows a qualifying foreign corporate entity to transfer its registration to Singapore [...]
The EntrePass is Singapore's work visa for foreign entrepreneurs — and unlike the Employment Pass, it has nothing to do with COMPASS scores, qualifying salaries, or shortage occupation lists. It is a different beast entirely, designed for one specific type of applicant: a foreigner who wants to start, operate, and scale a Singapore-based business that [...]
If you are buying or selling a Singapore private company, the smoothness of that exit will often turn on two unassuming clauses tucked into the shareholders' agreement: drag-along and tag-along rights. They look technical. They feel like boilerplate. But they decide whether a majority owner can deliver 100% of the equity to a buyer, and [...]
Singapore's food and beverage (F&B) sector is one of the most heavily regulated parts of the Singapore SME landscape. A typical café, restaurant, or central kitchen has obligations spread across at least five regulators — the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), the [...]
A Singapore Permanent Residence (PR) rejection letter is short, polite, and almost always non-specific. It informs the applicant that "after careful consideration of all relevant factors, your application has been unsuccessful" — and stops there. No reasons. No score. No remedial guidance. For applicants who invested months gathering documents, paid for transcripts and translations, and [...]
Singapore's inward re-domiciliation regime, introduced in October 2017 through Section 358B of the Companies Act 1967, allows a foreign company to transfer its place of registration to Singapore — keeping the same legal entity, the same contracts, the same employees, and the same banking relationships, but operating under Singapore corporate law from the date of [...]
Drag-along rights are one of the most consequential clauses in a Singapore shareholders' agreement. They give a defined majority of shareholders the power to compel — to "drag" — minority shareholders into selling their shares on the same terms when a third-party buyer wants to acquire the entire company. Without one, even a single dissenting [...]
Singapore offers two parallel tax-exemption schemes for fund vehicles managed by family offices: Section 13O and Section 13U of the Income Tax Act 1947. Both schemes shelter "specified income" derived from "designated investments" from Singapore tax — but they target different sizes of family wealth and impose meaningfully different conditions on assets, hiring, spending, and [...]
Singapore's tax regime is widely admired for its simplicity and competitive rates, but one area regularly trips up Singapore-incorporated companies — particularly those making cross-border payments to overseas suppliers, lenders, or licensors: withholding tax. Get it wrong, and the company is liable to IRAS for the tax it should have withheld, plus penalties and interest. [...]
Drag-along rights are one of the most consequential — and most contentious — provisions in a Singapore shareholders' agreement. They allow a majority shareholder, on the sale of the company, to compel minority shareholders to sell their shares on the same terms. For the majority, this is a clean exit mechanism. For the minority, it [...]