The Global Investor Programme (GIP) is Singapore's flagship investor immigration scheme. Administered by Contact Singapore — a unit of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) — the GIP grants Singapore Permanent Residence (PR) directly to qualifying entrepreneurs, business owners, and family office principals who commit to a substantial economic contribution to Singapore. It is one [...]
Singapore's headline corporate tax rate sits at a flat 17%, and that single number is the marketing line everyone remembers. The reality is more nuanced. Between the partial tax exemption, the start-up exemption for qualifying new companies, the YA 2026 Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Rebate, and a basket of incentives administered by IRAS, EDB, and [...]
For decades, the Cayman Islands' Segregated Portfolio Company (SPC) was the default fund vehicle for Asia-allocated capital. Tax-neutral, structurally flexible, and well understood by the global investment community, the Cayman SPC anchored umbrella fund structures across hedge funds, private equity, and family offices. But Singapore's Variable Capital Company (VCC), introduced under the Variable Capital Companies [...]
Singapore offers SMEs three flagship business grants administered by Enterprise Singapore: the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG), the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG), and the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) grant. Each funds a different kind of project — but the three are frequently confused, partly because they all co-fund up to 50% of qualifying costs, and partly [...]
Running a Singapore company means juggling deadlines from at least three regulators — ACRA, IRAS, and (if you employ staff) the CPF Board and MOM. Miss one and the penalties arrive quickly: late lodgement fees, composition fines, blocked access to BizFile+ for new filings, and in serious cases, prosecution. None of these are recoverable through [...]
If you are an employer or HR lead applying for an Employment Pass (EP) in Singapore in 2026, the COMPASS framework is no longer optional reading — it is the gate every new EP application must pass. Introduced by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on 1 September 2023 for new EP applications and from 1 [...]
Singapore has cemented its reputation as Asia's premier wealth management hub, and at the centre of that story sits the single family office (SFO). For ultra-high-net-worth families, the appeal is straightforward: a politically stable jurisdiction, a deep professional ecosystem, robust regulatory oversight by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and two well-defined fund tax incentive [...]
Singapore SMEs have one of the most generous government grant ecosystems in the world. Three schemes — the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG), the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG), and the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) Grant — together cover the bulk of practical funding requirements for growing companies, from off-the-shelf software adoption to bespoke transformation projects to [...]
Running a Singapore-incorporated company looks effortless from the outside. Behind the scenes, every directors' decision, every shareholder change, every dollar of revenue, and every working day flows through a calendar of statutory obligations administered by ACRA, IRAS, and (where relevant) MOM. Miss one and you face penalties that scale fast — late lodgement fees, prosecution [...]
Since September 2023, the Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS) has been the gateway test for almost every Employment Pass (EP) application in Singapore. From 1 January 2026, MOM has refreshed both the qualifying salary thresholds and the institution lists used in scoring — meaning many employers and candidates who passed COMPASS comfortably in 2025 will need [...]