This question pertains to self-employed individuals and partnerships. So if you are a self-employed individual, sole proprietor or partnership, this question and its answer are relevant to you.

All self-employed individuals, sole proprietors and partnerships have to prepare their statement of accounts. This is under the law. The statement of accounts reflects the business income and expenses.

The statement of accounts consists of:

  1. Profit and loss; and
  2. Balance sheet

The profit and loss shows the profits or loss during that particular financial period. In this case, it would most probably be the profits or losses for a particular year.

The balance sheet shows the assets and liabilities of the business of a certain date. In this case, it would be the last day of the financial period which is 31st December of that particular year.

If the business revenue is more than SGD$500,000, a certified statement of accounts is required. A certified statement of accounts means that the statement of accounts is signed by the self-employed individual, sole proprietor of the business or partner of the partnership. That individual will have to certify that the statement of accounts is true and correct. This certified statement of accounts needs to be submitted while e-filing. If unable to submit via e-Filing, the certified statement of accounts will need to be mailed out to IRAS.

If the business revenue is less than SGD$500,000, the certified statement of accounts need not be submitted to IRAS. However, the self-employed individual, sole proprietor of the business or partner of the partnership must still prepare the accounts and keep proper records of all business transactions as IRAS may request for the statement of accounts to be submitted for verification.

In conclusion: All self-employed individuals, sole proprietors and partnerships have to prepare their statement of accounts. It only depends on whether you will need to submit the certified statement of accounts when doing e-Filing.

 

If you require assistance with preparing your statement of accounts, you may contact the accounting team at Raffles Corporate Services at [email protected].

Yours Sincerely,
The editorial team at Singapore Secretary Services