Company Incorporation Cost in Singapore: What the Whole First Year Really Costs

Company incorporation cost in Singapore starts at $315 in ACRA fees: $15 for the name application and $300 for registration. The whole first year costs about $1,975 to $5,365 for a local sole founder, $2,085 to $5,365 for two local founders, and $3,885 to $9,365 for a foreign founder with a nominee director.

Those totals use published market ranges, as read in November 2026, and they are not official prices. They exclude rent, salaries, employer CPF and levies, tax payable, bank charges and any GST a provider adds.

This guide is for founders comparing quotes. Amounts are in Singapore dollars (SGD), and the rules are stated as at November 2026.

Key takeaways

• ACRA's fixed charge to incorporate is $315. After that, it charges $60 for each annual return.
• Foreigners must engage a registered corporate service provider (CSP), so the do-it-yourself route on Bizfile is closed to them.
• A company secretary is due within six months of registration, and a sole director cannot fill the role.
• Accounts, tax and annual return work is billed after month 12, but it belongs in the first-year budget. A company incorporated in 2027 with a 31 December 2027 year end that starts business that year files Form C-S by 30 November 2028, without a reminder from IRAS.
• Incorporation fees are not tax-deductible. Secretarial, accounting and tax fees are deductible under section 14V of the Income Tax Act 1947.

Table of Contents

1. How much does it cost to incorporate a company in Singapore?
2. ACRA incorporation fees and when you pay them
3. Can you register a company yourself, or do you need a provider?
4. The costs founders forget after registration
5. Company incorporation cost by founder type: three first-year budgets
6. What a nominee director costs a foreign founder
7. What 'free incorporation' bundles lock you into
8. Which of these costs can the company deduct for tax?
9. Questions to ask before you pay
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Official Sources

How much does it cost to incorporate a company in Singapore?

The government part is the same for everyone: $315. Everything else is priced by the market, so a quote can look cheap simply because of what it leaves out.

Set-up fees are the smaller part of the bill. SingaporeLegalAdvice, a legal information portal, lists incorporation packages at $500 to $1,500, as read in November 2026, and calls its figures indicative. One online provider publishes a $648 first-year package that renews at $328 a year, as at September 2026. It covers ACRA's $315 and 12 months of secretary service.

The cost of setting up a company in Singapore is mostly the cost of keeping it compliant through its first financial year, so this guide prices all of it. If you are still deciding whether to incorporate, first compare the tax position of a sole proprietorship versus a Pte Ltd.

ACRA incorporation fees and when you pay them

ACRA's fees are the one part of a quote that should match across providers. They come from ACRA's fee table.

An approved name lasts 120 days, after which ACRA releases it for others to use.

Most registrations are approved soon after payment. Complex applications can take up to 15 working days, and those needing a referral authority's approval 14 to 60 days.

Can you register a company yourself, or do you need a provider?

A Singapore-based founder can register the company on Bizfile and pay only ACRA, provided no position holder is a foreigner. Only the person who reserved the name can register it, and that person must be appointed a director or secretary. The steps are:

1. Reserve the name. Log in to Bizfile with Singpass as an Individual User and apply for the company name ($15).
2. Start the registration. Log in again and choose to register a new business entity, entering the financial year end (FYE), company email and Singapore registered office address.
3. Add the people. Add the directors, the shareholders, and the company secretary if you have already chosen one.
4. Make the declarations. Declare the nominator and registrable controller status of the people involved.
5. Set up the shares and constitution. Enter the share capital, allot the shares, and submit ACRA's model constitution or a customised one.
6. Submit and pay. Review the application, have other position holders endorse it within 60 days, pay $300, and check the Bizfile inbox for the outcome.

When a provider is worth paying for. It is compulsory in two cases: ACRA says foreigners must engage a CSP to reserve a name and register a business structure, and ACRA's Bizfile guide says you need a CSP if any position holder is a foreigner, because only a CSP can add one. Otherwise, you are paying for judgement on the shareholding, the constitution and the year end.

What the law means for your quote. The Corporate Service Providers Act 2024 took effect on 9 June 2025 and requires businesses providing corporate services in or from Singapore to register with ACRA. Doing so unregistered carries a maximum fine of $50,000, up to two years' imprisonment or both, so an unregistered seller is a warning sign whatever the price.

The costs founders forget after registration

Here is the first year of a hypothetical company incorporated on 1 January 2027 with an FYE of 31 December 2027, for Year of Assessment (YA) 2028.

Four points affect your budget or your filing work:

• The company secretary. ACRA says a secretary must be appointed within six months of registration, or the director may face a fine of up to $1,000. The secretary must be an individual who meets the local residency rules, and cannot be the same person as the sole director. Our guide to company secretary fees covers market prices and when a director can take the role, or see our company secretary services.
• ECI. A company need not file ECI if its revenue for the financial year is $5 million or below and its ECI, before the partial or start-up tax exemption, is nil.
• The first filings. IRAS sends no ECI or Form C-S notification for YA 2028, even though the company above closes its first accounts in its year of incorporation. If it starts business or receives income in 2027, it must request its return from IRAS using the Request for Income Tax Return for Newly Incorporated Companies and file by 30 November 2028. Its ECI is due by 31 March 2028 unless waived. If it has no business or income in 2027, it files no return for YA 2028, and its first Form C-S is for YA 2029, due by 30 November 2029.
• The audit. A private company under two years old is exempt from audit if it meets at least two of three criteria in the current financial year: revenue up to $10 million, assets up to $10 million, and up to 50 full-time employees. Otherwise, it must appoint an auditor within three months of incorporation, which the budgets below do not cover. A company that belongs to a group must also have the whole group, including foreign entities, meet ACRA's small-group test.

Missing a date costs more than the filing. A late annual return attracts a $300 penalty within three months of the due date and $600 after that. Our new company compliance checklist sets out the full order of work.

If you incorporate in December 2026 with an FYE of 31 December 2027, IRAS's example of a company that does not close its first accounts in the year of incorporation applies: ECI for YA 2027 and YA 2028 is filed together by 31 March 2028 unless the waiver applies, and both returns by 30 November 2028. The first YA also counts towards the three YAs of the start-up tax exemption. Weigh this in choosing your financial year end, and ask whether a tax quote covers both YAs.

Company incorporation cost by founder type: three first-year budgets

These budgets price the first full year for three hypothetical companies. Provider figures are published market ranges read in November 2026, not official prices. They come from SingaporeLegalAdvice, which calls them indicative, except low-volume bookkeeping, which uses one online provider's two starting prices (from $320 a year, or from $110 x 12 = $1,320).

Each budget assumes the company is exempt from audit, not GST-registered and buys each item separately.

To adjust these for your own company:

• Financial statements and low-volume bookkeeping are "from" prices, so the top of each total is not a ceiling.
• ACRA's $315 may already be in a package. SingaporeLegalAdvice does not say whether its $500 to $1,500 includes the fee, so these budgets count it separately. If your quote includes it, take $315 off.
• Bookkeeping depends on your transactions, not on how many founders you have. Their nature, complexity and volume set the fee, so each budget uses the same low-volume range. A company with staff on payroll, stock or many invoices pays more: SingaporeLegalAdvice lists up to $2,500 a month.
• If you register on Bizfile yourself, take off the provider's line. The local sole founder's total becomes $1,475 to $3,865.
• If one of two directors acts as secretary, take off that line. The two-founder total becomes $1,805 to $4,465. Do the same if a package includes first-year secretary service.
• The company secretary line uses SingaporeLegalAdvice. Our company secretary fees guide reads provider websites directly and arrives at about $300 to $900, so the two ranges differ slightly by source.
• The foreign founder's total excludes the nominee's deposit, covered in the next section.
• A corporate bank account is not in these totals. Check each bank's fee schedule, because a fall-below fee can recur all year.

Hiring is a separate budget. Example: one Singapore citizen employee aged 55 or below on $4,000 a month, before any bonus, using the CPF contribution rates and Skills Development Levy:

• Employer CPF at 17%: $4,000 x 17% = $680 a month
• Skills Development Levy at 0.25%: $4,000 x 0.25% = $10 a month
• Total payable on top of salary: $690 a month, or $8,280 for 12 months

Rates are different for first and second year permanent residents.

GST is also outside these totals. Registration is compulsory if taxable turnover exceeds $1 million at the end of a calendar year, or if you expect it to exceed $1 million in the next 12 months. A company that applies for voluntary registration on or after 1 April 2026 must meet the InvoiceNow requirement, so weigh that cost before registering early. Provider quotes may also exclude GST at 9%.

What a nominee director costs a foreign founder

Every Singapore company needs at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore, which is why a founder without a local resident pays for a nominee director.

The published prices, as read in November 2026:

• SingaporeLegalAdvice: $1,800 to $4,000 a year.
• Statrys: $1,500 to $5,000 a year, often with a refundable deposit, with full 12-month nominee packages, including accounting and tax filing support, at $3,700 to $4,100.
• One provider: $2,000 a year, with nominee clients required to subscribe to its accounting service.

The deposit is cash tied up. Statrys reports deposits of $0 to $5,000, usually refundable only when the nominee is replaced or the company closes, although some of its data dates from early 2025. Plan for it as money you cannot use.

The conditions. Only a registered CSP can arrange a nominee director by way of business. The nominee's status shows publicly in the Business Profile as "ND", though the nominator's particulars are not public.

When an Employment Pass ends the need. ACRA treats valid Employment Pass holders as local residents, so a founder employed by his or her own company on a pass may be able to replace the nominee. The pass covers only the company that employs the holder. MOM treats directorship duties as work, so being a director of any other company needs MOM's Letter of Consent, which it generally grants only if that company is related by shareholding to the employer, through a common corporate shareholder, and the role relates to the holder's main job (MOM: secondary directorship). Owning both companies personally does not count. A founder on a pass with another employer therefore cannot plan to be the director of a new, unrelated company. For a founder employed by his or her own company, the nominee's fee gives way to a much larger commitment. The minimum qualifying salary for new applications rises from $5,600 to $6,000 a month on 1 January 2027, increasing with age up to $11,500 at 45 and above. At the lowest level:

• Minimum salary: $6,000 x 12 = $72,000 a year
• MOM fees: $105 to apply + $225 on issuance = $330, plus $30 for each Multiple Journey Visa where one applies
• Agent's fees if you use one (SingaporeLegalAdvice, as read in November 2026): $990 to $2,850

The application must also earn 40 points under COMPASS, MOM's points framework.

What 'free incorporation' bundles lock you into

ACRA still charges $315, so "free" in a package can only describe the provider's own fee or who bears that charge. As read in November 2026, one provider's banner offers free registration when bundled with accounting, subject to its terms.

A bundle may still be good value if you would buy those services anyway, so compare the right number:

• Add up 12 months and then 24. The $648 package mentioned earlier renews at $328 a year, and that renewal includes the $60 ACRA fee. A low first year means little until you have seen the renewal price.
• Check what has to come with it. Statrys reports that some nominee arrangements make accounting a condition, and one provider says so for its nominee clients. Changing accountant can then mean replacing the nominee too.
• Read the exit terms. Ask about minimum terms, notice and handover. If the nominee, address and secretary all sit with one provider, leaving means replacing all three at once.

Our guide to what an accountant costs helps you test the accounting part of any bundle.

Which of these costs can the company deduct for tax?

IRAS's list of business expenses splits the budget in two:

• Not deductible: incorporation fees, because they are capital in nature.
• Deductible: accounting, audit, income tax service and secretarial fees, as qualifying statutory and regulatory expenses under section 14V of the Income Tax Act 1947.

Keep the two apart on your invoices. The saving is small in the early years, so do not choose a provider for it. The start-up tax exemption exempts 75% of the first $100,000 of normal chargeable income for a qualifying company's first three YAs. Corporate tax is 17%.

Example: a qualifying company with chargeable income within that first $100,000 deducts $1,000 of secretarial fees.

• Income taxed after the 75% exemption: $1,000 x 25% = $250
• Tax saved: $250 x 17% = $42.50

Our start-up tax exemption guide sets out who qualifies.

Questions to ask before you pay

Send these to each provider and compare the written answers:

1. Are you a registered CSP? You can check on Bizfile's free entity search: ACRA's search guide says to open "More information", and a CSP's details appear at the bottom of its profile. ACRA also publishes a list of suspended and cancelled CSPs.
2. Does your price include ACRA's $315, and do you add GST?
3. Which services are included for 12 months, and what does each cost in month 13?
4. Who is the named secretary, and does the package include the $60 annual return fee?
5. Is the registered address available on its own, without other services?
6. Do the accounting and tax fees cover the first financial statements, ECI, Form C-S and any structured data (XBRL) file for ACRA?
7. For a nominee director, what are the annual fee and the deposit, when is the deposit refunded, and do I have to buy other services from you?
8. What are the minimum term, notice period and handover charges if I leave?

Frequently Asked Questions

Is $315 the total cost of incorporating a company in Singapore?

No. $315 is only ACRA's charge: $15 for the name application and $300 for registration. It leaves out any provider's fee, a company secretary, a registered address, bookkeeping, financial statements and tax filing. On market ranges read in November 2026, those take a simple company's first year to about $1,975 to $5,365.

Does a foreigner pay more to ACRA to incorporate?

No. ACRA's fee table shows no separate rate for foreigners, so the government charge stays at $315. The extra cost comes from elsewhere: a corporate service provider must file the registration, and a company with no local resident to act as director pays for a nominee director, sometimes with a deposit.

How much is a nominee director in Singapore, and is the deposit refundable?

Market fees read in November 2026 are $1,800 to $4,000 a year from SingaporeLegalAdvice and $1,500 to $5,000 a year from Statrys. The deposit is often refundable: Statrys reports $0 to $5,000, usually returned only when the nominee is replaced or the company closes. Before you sign, ask when it comes back and what triggers the refund.

Do I need a paid registered address?

You need a registered office in Singapore from incorporation, but you need not pay a provider if the company already has a suitable address. It need not be where the business operates. SingaporeLegalAdvice lists $110 to $420 for a provider's address, as read in November 2026.

What share capital do I need, and is it a fee?

ACRA's registration guide states a minimum of one issued share and no minimum capital amount. Share capital is not a fee. It is money the shareholders put into the company for the business to use, but founders still need to plan for the cash.

What are the yearly costs after incorporation?

ACRA charges $60 for each annual return. The rest is professional work: a company secretary, a registered address if you need one, bookkeeping, financial statements and tax filing. The incorporation charges of $315 do not repeat. On the local sole founder ranges in this article, a later year costs about $1,160 to $3,550 before any change in activity or fees.

Can I deduct incorporation costs for tax?

Not the incorporation fees. IRAS lists them as non-deductible because they are capital in nature, while accounting, audit, income tax service and secretarial fees are deductible statutory and regulatory expenses under section 14V of the Income Tax Act 1947. Ask for separate invoice lines if one provider bills everything together, because the parts are taxed differently.

Official Sources

• ACRA: Service and transaction fees
• ACRA: Registering a local company via Bizfile
• ACRA: Requirements and eligibility, including rules for foreigners
• ACRA: Corporate Service Providers Act
• IRAS: Basic guide to corporate income tax for companies
• IRAS: Tax treatment of business expenses (S to Z)
• MOM: Employment Pass eligibility
• MOM: Taking up secondary directorship

About Tax Filing SG — We are a Singapore accounting practice run by ex-Big 4 Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA). We handle accounting, corporate tax, GST and company secretarial work for Singapore SMEs, including overdue and late filings.

Last updated: 9 November 2026. This article is general information based on IRAS and ACRA guidance as at November 2026, not advice for your specific situation. Rules, rates and deadlines change, so check the official sources above or speak to us before acting.