When a new company is incorporated in Singapore, one of the most valuable — and often overlooked — benefits is the Start-Up Tax Exemption Scheme (SUTE). For the first three years of assessment, qualifying new companies pay significantly less corporate income tax, allowing them to reinvest more of their profits into growth. This guide explains [...]
Singapore is one of the most e-commerce-friendly environments in Asia. A robust logistics infrastructure, a tech-savvy population, access to ASEAN markets, and a well-developed legal framework make it an attractive base for online businesses. But running an e-commerce company in Singapore comes with specific tax, regulatory, and compliance obligations that business owners must understand from [...]
An Employee Share Option Scheme (ESOS) gives employees the right to purchase shares in the company at a fixed exercise price, usually at or below the market price at the time of the grant. If the company grows, the shares become more valuable — and exercising the option at the original lower price lets the [...]
GST registration is one of the most consequential compliance milestones for a Singapore business. Once you cross the threshold, you must charge 9% GST on all taxable supplies, file quarterly GST returns, and remit the tax to IRAS — with strict penalties for late registration, late filing, and underpayment. Get it wrong and you face [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Singapore is rolling out mandatory e-invoicing through its InvoiceNow network, and if your business is GST-registered — or is about to register for GST — you need to understand what this means and when it applies to you. This is not merely a technology upgrade: it is a legal requirement backed by IRAS, with real [...]
Every director of a Singapore private limited company receives some form of remuneration — whether a monthly salary, annual director's fees, or both. Each carries distinct tax treatment, CPF implications, and filing obligations. Getting these right protects the company from IRAS audit risk and ensures the director meets personal tax obligations on time. This guide [...]
Every Singapore company that buys equipment, furniture, computers, or other business assets is entitled to claim capital allowances — tax deductions that reduce chargeable income over time. Yet capital allowances are one of the most under-utilised tax reliefs in Singapore, largely because the rules under the Income Tax Act are not well understood outside of [...]
When a Singapore company earns its first taxable profits, the Singapore Start-Up Tax Exemption (SUTE) scheme can reduce the effective corporate tax rate to as low as 4.25% on the first S$100,000 of chargeable income. For many early-stage companies, this translates into tens of thousands of dollars in tax savings during the years when cash [...]