So you are running a Singapore company. You need a summary of what you need to file so that the company is compliant with the local regulations. In short, there are 3 types of filings that you need to remember when you are running a Singapore Company.

  1. Annual Returns
  2. Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI)
  3. Income Tax (Corporate)

 

Of course, if your company has any other licences, then you may need to adhere to other filings that come together with your licence as well. For example, if you are a company that has a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) Employment Agency (EA) licence, then you will need to adhere to the filing requirements that come with the EA licence. In such a case, it would be to file the placement returns every quarter. This is the number of job placements that the EA has done over the quarter.

 

The first thing to take note would be Annual Returns.

What is Annual Returns?

It is the company making a report to the registrar of companies (ACRA), that the company has held its annual general meeting (AGM) and tabled its financial statements to its shareholders. If the company is dormant for the financial period or has dispensed with the need to hold its AGM, then this will be filed accordingly. This filing of Annual Returns is done using the BifFile+ system and can be done in house or can be done by a corporate service provider like Raffles Corporate Services.

The deadline to file Annual Returns would be 7 months from the end of the financial period. So if the financial period ends on 31st December, then the deadline to hold Annual Returns would be 31st July the following year.

 

The next thing to take note would be the Estimated Chargeable Income.

What is Estimated Chargeable Income?

ECI for short, is like a pre-income tax filing. The corporate income tax deadline is the year after. For example, for the period that closed in 2023, the deadline for corporate income tax filing would be 30th November 2024. Imagine a scenario where the financial period closed in early 2023 and then the corporate tax filing is done on the 30th of November 2024. There would be a gap of more than 1.5 years before the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) gets information about how much income the company earned. ECI bridges that gap. ECI filing is an estimate of the chargeable income. The deadline to file ECI is 3 months from the end of the financial period. If there is no chargeable income, then the company does not need to file ECI. Please note that this is an estimate. Thus, if there are changes to the profit and loss which results in a different amount of tax to be paid, this will be rectified by IRAS. If the company paid too much tax, the excess will be refunded. If the company paid too little, the difference will have to be paid when the Corporate Income Tax is filed and the final tax bill is computed.

 

The final thing to take note would be Corporate Income Tax.

Many clients mix this up with personal income tax. They are not the same. This is tax that the company pays for chargeable income. The deadline for the filing of Corporate Income Taxes is on the 30th of November every year. It should all be e-filing moving forward. This goes to IRAS and the tax bill will be generated. As mentioned before, any difference between the ECI and actual corporate tax filing will be rectified. This is compulsory. This needs to be filed whether the company makes a profit or a loss. Do note that losses can be carried forward indefinitely to offset future profits if certain criteria are fulfilled.

 

If you need assistance with maintaining your company’s annual filing, do contact the Raffles Corporate Services compliance team at [email protected].

 

Yours sincerely,

The editorial team at Raffles Corporate Services