New Company Compliance Checklist Singapore: Your First Year, Month by Month

Your new company compliance checklist in Singapore runs on two clocks. Incorporation starts the set-up tasks: Corppass, registers, a bank account, an auditor within 3 months unless exempt, and a company secretary within 6 months. Your financial year end (FYE) sets the rest: ECI within 3 months, AGM within 6 (or accounts to members within 5), annual return within 7, and Form C-S by 30 November the following year.

This guide is for owners who have just incorporated and want one dated list. No single agency reminds you of all your first-year obligations: IRAS sends no ECI notification in your year of incorporation and no Form C-S notification until the second year after it. Amounts are in Singapore dollars (SGD), and the rules are as at November 2026.

Key takeaways

• Appoint an auditor within 3 months of incorporation unless the company is audit-exempt, and a company secretary within 6 months.
• From your FYE: ECI within 3 months unless waived, the AGM within 6 (or accounts to members within 5), and the annual return within 7.
• Your first Form C-S is due by 30 November of the year after your first FYE. If your first accounts close in your year of incorporation and the company started business or received income, file without waiting for an IRAS notice.
• The start-up tax exemption applies only to your first 3 Years of Assessment (YAs), and a loss year or short first period still uses one of them.
• With staff, get a CPF Submission Number first, then pay CPF, with the Skills Development Levy (SDL) alongside it, by the 14th of the following month.

Table of Contents

1. What Do You Need to Do After Incorporating a Company in Singapore?
2. New Company Compliance Checklist: The Month-by-Month Timeline
3. How Your Financial Year End Sets Every Deadline
4. When Must You Appoint a Company Secretary and an Auditor?
5. Hiring Your First Employee: CPF, SDL and Work Passes
6. Do You Need to Register for GST Immediately?
7. Your First Year-End Filings: ECI, AGM, Annual Return and Form C-S
8. What Happens If You Miss a First-Year Deadline?
9. Common First-Year Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
10. When Should You Get Professional Help?
11. Frequently Asked Questions
12. Official Sources

What Do You Need to Do After Incorporating a Company in Singapore?

Do these in your first month; ACRA's post-registration guide covers most of them.

1. Check your Business Profile. ACRA gives you a free copy, but you must download it within 60 days of registration, after which it expires. Check every detail and correct any error on Bizfile now.
2. Apply for Corppass, the single login for government-to-business transactions, from one day after you receive your UEN. Authorise whoever files your tax as an Approver for Corporate Tax (Filing and Applications) and, if you will hire, assign the CPF Services for Employers and Business Partners e-service.
3. Open a corporate bank account, pay in the share capital and run every company receipt and payment through it.
4. Set up your registers. From the day of incorporation, keep the Register of Registrable Controllers (anyone holding more than 25% of the shares or votes, or with significant control) and the Registers of Nominee Directors and Nominee Shareholders, even if you have no nominees. Keep them at your registered office or your corporate service provider's office. ACRA keeps the electronic registers of members, directors and secretaries, which update when you file changes.
5. Issue share certificates and record your first decisions in directors' resolutions: bank mandate, company secretary, and auditor or audit exemption.
6. Confirm the registered office. It must be in Singapore, and changes go to ACRA within 14 days. Since 20 October 2026 it no longer needs minimum public opening hours, but on reasonable notice you must make company records available for inspection for at least two hours on each relevant business day.
7. Check licences with the GoBusiness Licence e-Advisers before you trade. Food shops and preschools need a licence, HDB renovation contractors need an HDB listing, and businesses moving goods across Singapore's borders need a Customs account for trade permits.
8. Appoint a Data Protection Officer, as every organisation must under the Personal Data Protection Act.
9. Start the books on day one in accounting software, and keep every invoice and receipt for at least 5 years from the relevant YA. Revenue expenses incurred within one year before the date your business is deemed to have commenced can be deducted, so keep those receipts too.

New Company Compliance Checklist: The Month-by-Month Timeline

The top half runs from incorporation and the bottom half from your first FYE, which is why companies incorporated on the same day can have deadlines a year apart.

How Your Financial Year End Sets Every Deadline

ACRA lets you choose any date as your FYE. That choice fixes every date in the bottom half of the timeline, and how much of the start-up tax exemption you use. Take three hypothetical companies:

• Company A: incorporated 5 January 2026, FYE 31 December, first accounts to 31 December 2026.
• Company B: incorporated 1 July 2026, FYE 30 June, first accounts to 30 June 2027.
• Company C: incorporated 15 July 2026, FYE 31 December, first accounts run to 31 December 2027.

• Company A gets no reminders. Its first accounts close in its year of incorporation, so IRAS sends no ECI notification for that year and no Form C-S notification until 2028. Having started business in 2026, it must still file its ECI (unless the waiver applies) and its return, requesting the return with the Request for Income Tax Return for Newly Incorporated Companies form in IRAS's basic guide to corporate income tax. Incorporated in 2025, closed your first accounts in 2025 and started business or received income? Your first return (YA 2026) is due by 30 November 2026, and your first annual return was due 7 months after that FYE.
• Company B follows the normal cycle: IRAS sends its ECI notification in June 2027 and its Form C-S notification by May 2028.
• Company C pays for its long first period. A tax basis period cannot exceed 12 months, so its first period of about 17.5 months is split between YA 2027 and YA 2028. The five-and-a-half-month stub still uses one of the three exemption years, so C's exemption covers about two and a half years of trading, against roughly three for A and B.

Our guide to choosing your financial year end covers the trade-offs and how to change it later, and the company filing deadline calculator works out your own dates.

When Must You Appoint a Company Secretary and an Auditor?

Company secretary: within 6 months of incorporation. Otherwise, ACRA warns, the director may face a fine of up to $1,000. The secretary must be a natural person who is a Singapore citizen, a permanent resident or meets the local residency rules, and cannot be the sole director, so a one-director company needs someone else. Our article on whether you can be your own company secretary covers the options.

Auditor: within 3 months, unless exempt. A new private company is exempt if it meets at least 2 of 3 tests in its first financial year: revenue of $10 million or less, total assets of $10 million or less, and 50 or fewer full-time employees. A company in a group needs the group to qualify too. Exempt companies still prepare financial statements, and shareholders holding at least 5% of the issued shares can require an audit.

Resident director. At least one director must be ordinarily resident in Singapore at all times (section 145 of the Companies Act 1967), so plan ahead if you rely on a nominee director.

Hiring Your First Employee: CPF, SDL and Work Passes

• CPF Submission Number (CSN). Every employer needs one to pay CPF contributions. Apply through the CPF e-service in Corppass.
• CPF. It applies to Singapore Citizen and PR employees earning more than $50 a month. For staff aged 55 and below earning over $750 a month, it is 37% of wages up to the $8,000 monthly Ordinary Wage ceiling (17% employer, 20% employee), unchanged in 2027; PRs in their first two years have lower graduated rates. Pay by the 14th of the following month to avoid enforcement action and interest of 1.5% a month.
• SDL. It is 0.25% of each employee's monthly wages (minimum $2, maximum $11.25), for all staff including foreigners, and is usually paid with CPF.
• Work passes. Every foreigner needs a valid pass before starting work. Minimum qualifying salaries start at $5,600 (Employment Pass) and $3,300 (S Pass), rising to $6,000 and $3,600 for new applications from 1 January 2027.
• Employment terms. Employees covered by the Employment Act must get written key employment terms within 14 days of their first day (unless their contract is shorter than 14 days), and an itemised payslip with each salary payment or within three working days of it.
• Work injury compensation insurance. It is compulsory for manual workers and for non-manual staff earning $2,600 or less a month; going without it can mean a fine of up to $10,000, jail of up to 12 months, or both.
• Form IR8A. Prepare one for every employee and director by 1 March each year; with 5 or more employees, you must submit through the Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS).

Do You Need to Register for GST Immediately?

Usually not. Registration is compulsory only when taxable turnover exceeds $1 million on either test:

• Retrospective view: more than $1 million in a calendar year. Apply by 30 January of the next year; registration starts on 1 March.
• Prospective view: you reasonably expect more than $1 million in the next 12 months. Apply within 30 days of the forecast; registration starts 2 months after the forecast date.

The prospective view catches new companies, because IRAS treats a signed contract, an accepted quotation or a secured tender as a forecast. Zero-rated exports count towards the threshold. Late registration is backdated, so you owe GST on past sales even if you never charged it, and may face a fine of up to $10,000 and a penalty of 10% of the GST due, which IRAS generally waives if you disclose the lateness when you apply. Never add GST to an invoice before you are registered.

Voluntary registration lets you claim GST on costs, but you must then charge 9% GST on your sales. It also locks you in for at least 2 years and requires GIRO, IRAS's Overview of GST e-learning course (unless exempt) and, for applications from 1 April 2026, InvoiceNow. Check IRAS's GST registration rules first.

Your First Year-End Filings: ECI, AGM, Annual Return and Form C-S

Your first ECI

File Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) on myTax Portal within 3 months after the FYE, unless revenue is $5 million or less and ECI is nil (you need not tell IRAS). ECI is measured before the start-up or partial tax exemption, so even a small taxable profit means filing. GIRO payers who file within 1 month of the FYE get 10 monthly instalments, within 2 months 8, and within 3 months 6. Our ECI filing guide walks through the form.

Your first AGM, or the exemption

Hold the AGM within 6 months after the FYE (section 175 of the Companies Act 1967), unless your private company sends the financial statements to all members within 5 months (a member can still ask for a meeting). All members can also agree under section 175A to dispense with AGMs, and a constitution that demands a yearly AGM overrides the exemption until you amend it.

Your first annual return

File it on Bizfile within 7 months after the FYE (section 197). The fee is $60, and you can file only after the AGM or, if exempt, after sending the financial statements. Since 20 October 2026, it also asks you to confirm that ACRA's records of your officers are accurate. Financial statements go in XBRL, unless the company is a solvent exempt private company (up to 20 individual shareholders, none corporate), which need not file them.

Your first Form C-S and the start-up tax exemption

New company tax filing ends with the corporate income tax return, due by 30 November of the year after your first FYE, even if you made a loss. Form C-S suits Singapore-incorporated companies with revenue of $5 million or less, income taxed only at 17% and no special claims; at $200,000 or less you can file the 6-field Form C-S (Lite). The financial statements and tax computation are not submitted, but you must prepare and keep them.

The start-up tax exemption (SUTE) under section 43 of the Income Tax Act 1947 exempts 75% of the first $100,000 and 50% of the next $100,000 of normal chargeable income in each of the first 3 YAs. A qualifying company is incorporated and tax resident in Singapore and has no more than 20 shareholders, all individuals or including one individual holding at least 10% of the shares. Investment holding and property development companies are excluded, and you must claim the exemption in the return.

Example: a company with chargeable income of $150,000 has $100,000 exempt ($75,000 + $25,000) and pays 17% on the remaining $50,000, which is $8,500. Under the partial tax exemption that applies from the fourth YA, the same income would bear $12,325. As at November 2026, no corporate tax rebate has been announced for YA 2027. Our start-up tax exemption guide covers the edge cases.

What Happens If You Miss a First-Year Deadline?

ACRA's late fees start small. The bigger risks are estimated tax bills payable within a month and, once defaults pile up, prosecution.

Common First-Year Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

1. Mixing personal and company money. Private expenses are not deductible, and where records fall short IRAS can estimate revenue and disallow expenses. Use the company account only for company transactions, and reimburse business costs through dated claims with receipts.
2. Selling without invoices. Issue a numbered invoice for every sale and keep a receipt for every cost; these are the documents IRAS asks for.
3. Waiting for IRAS to remind you. As Company A shows, your first ECI and Form C-S may come with no notice at all.
4. Undocumented director loans. If you lend the company money or pay its costs personally, record the amount as owing to you in a short loan agreement or directors' resolution. Lending the other way is riskier: a company that is not an exempt private company generally cannot lend to its directors under section 162 of the Companies Act 1967, and only limited exceptions apply.

When Should You Get Professional Help?

If you are the only shareholder, have no staff, are not GST-registered and have few transactions, you can handle Corppass, Bizfile updates and the ECI waiver check yourself. You cannot be your own secretary as sole director, though, and the financial statements and tax computation must stand up if IRAS asks for them.

Get help early if you have foreign shareholders or a nominee director, are hiring, are nearing the GST threshold, or want your FYE planned around the start-up exemption.

Tax Filing SG is run by ex-Big 4 Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA members). We can act as your company secretary and handle your accounting, tax, GST and payroll, and we quote once we know your company's size and activity.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is my company's first annual return due?

Within 7 months after your first financial year end. A 31 December 2026 year end gives 31 July 2027, and a 30 June 2027 year end gives 30 January 2028. You file after the AGM or, if you use the exemption, after sending the financial statements to members. The Bizfile fee is $60, and filing even one day late costs $300.

When do I file my first corporate tax return?

By 30 November of the year after your first financial year end: a first year ending 31 December 2026 means YA 2027, due on 30 November 2027. If your first accounts run past 12 months, both Years of Assessment are due by 30 November of the year after that year end. IRAS sends Form C-S notifications only from the second year after incorporation, so do not wait for one.

Does a new company need to file ECI?

Yes, within 3 months after each financial year end, unless revenue for the year is $5 million or less and the ECI before tax exemptions is nil. The first one is easy to miss if your first year ends in the calendar year you incorporated, because IRAS sends no ECI notification that year. If a required ECI is not filed, IRAS can issue an estimated assessment that must be paid in full within 1 month, without instalments.

My company has not started business yet. Do I still need to file?

Yes. Every live company files an annual return each year, dormant or not. For tax, IRAS says a company that closes its first accounts in its year of incorporation without starting business or receiving income does not file for that first YA and starts from the next one. After that, a dormant company files every year, using the simplified Form for Dormant Company, unless IRAS grants a waiver. Interest income, even from a fixed deposit, means it is not dormant.

Do I need to pay CPF on my own salary as a director?

Only on a salary paid under a contract of service, and only if you are a Singapore Citizen or PR. CPF is not payable on director's fees voted at a general meeting, and directors who are neither citizens nor PRs are outside CPF. Fees and salaries still go on Form IR8A by 1 March of the following year, and fees paid to a non-resident director need 24% tax withheld.

Official Sources

• ACRA: post-registration guide (local company)
• IRAS: basic guide to corporate income tax
• ACRA: choosing a financial year end
• ACRA: AGM due dates and exemptions
• ACRA: company registers
• IRAS: tax rates and start-up tax exemption
• IRAS: GST registration
• CPF Board: CPF Submission Number

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.