Company Incorporation in Singapore

Incorporating a company in the island nation of Singapore is easy. But what many potential businesses fail to acknowledge is that there are some twists and complexities involved in the setting up of a company in Singapore too. For incorporating a company, one should start off by opting for a suitable business structure before employing a firm which offers company registration services in Singapore. Thus, we bring several options for business structures with the help of which a business owner can conduct his or her business from Singapore. Read on and you can thank us later!
1. Branch Office: Businesses that are not interested in incorporating a separate company under a different name in Singapore can simply opt for the incorporation of a branch office. Once the branch office is set up, the specific business can carry out the operations under the name of corporate brand of the foreign corporation. In Singapore, a branch office is referred as the extension of the parent company. However, it should be kept in mind that the branch office should not be considered the subsidiary of the foreign company at any given time. There are no separate or special requirements regarding the Memorandum of Article of Association or MAA under the Singapore Companies Act for the branch offices.
2. Subsidiary Company: A private limited company which has a foreign company among its major shareholders should incorporate a subsidiary company in Singapore for conducting its operations. In Singapore, the subsidiary companies are treated as resident companies and have to adhere to the laws of Singapore. The subsidiary company enjoys a legal status in the island nation and is treated as a separate entity from that of its foreign parent counterpart. This directly translates into the fact that the liability of the foreign company is limited to the amount of share capital it has invested in the specific subsidiary company. In addition, the subsidiary company’s foreign counterpart is also exempted from the responsibility of debts and liabilities of the subsidiary company. However, in majority of the cases, a subsidiary company in Singapore is often registered as a limited liability company.
3. Limited Partnership: Limited partnership is counted among the most flexible business structures that there is for business owners who don’t want to get involved in any kind of responsibility regarding the functions of business management. These kinds of entrepreneurs often give the charge of managing the company to a separate entity. The entity chosen can be anything, a corporation, an individual which enjoys unlimited liability. There are more than one limited partners in a Limited Partnership company.
4. Representative Office: Foreign companies who want to have their presence in Singapore without the intention of carrying out any business operations should opt for incorporating a representative office. The representative office will not a separate legal identity from its parent company.
Thus, no matter what kind of business one decides to do in Singapore, choosing the right business structure for incorporating a company in Singapore is very important.

Real Estate in Singapore

The Republic of Singapore is located off the Malaysian coast, is among the world’s’ busiest commercial centres in the Asian region. Talking of the real estate market of Singapore, one notices several advantages that it provides to its investors and these are as follows:
• Investor Friendly Scenario: As per the Index of Economic Freedom of 2013, Singapore ranks second among the world’s freest economies. As per the Corruption Perception Index, the Asian island nation is among the least corrupted countries of the world. Furthermore, Singapore is the 14th largest exporter as well as 15th largest importer of the world. All the aforementioned statistics are a proof that Singapore is an investor friendly country. Apart from this, the island nation is backed by a robust government coupled with a mature political system, which directly translates into the country being prone to low political risks of any kind.
• Financing for Foreigners: When it comes to foreign investors, Singapore provides easy access to finance to the foreigners for buying properties. The financial institutes offer approximately 80% when it comes to mortgage financing to foreign investors. But, it is vital to note that the terms and conditions of the aforementioned mortgage financing vary depending upon lender to lender. Repayment term of such loans generally range between 25 and 35 years. Additionally, the interest rates in Singapore are also very low apart from the fact that foreign investors need not worry about any sort of capital gain taxes.
• Minimum Transaction Costs and Lucrative Rental Yields: It is a widely known fact that the rental yields in Singapore are attractive. As per the statistics published by singaporepropertycycle.com, between the period from 2008 and 2013, the rental yields ranged from 4.08 to 7.38. But the return on investment depends on varied factors which includes the location of the newly launched property. Furthermore, the real estate investor need to take into account the costs of maintenance, solicitor’s fees, taxes and stamp fees as and when charged. Thus, it is advisable to get in touch with a real estate agent to know the costs that are o be included in the property valuation. Generally, an investor is expected to pay three percent of the property’s price as stamp duty and legal fees along with two percent to the agent as commission. When compared to other countries in Asia, the transaction costs in Singapore are bare minimum. For example, the transaction costs in Indonesia are somewhere around 26.37 percent of the cost of the property, as per reports.
• Secure Retirement: As we all know, properties increase in value over the years and one can easily use this to one’s advantage by acquiring loans to buy additional properties. An alternative option can also be the sale of property and investing the money in some effective retirement plan. The key is to kick starting the investing procedure early which would reward in the building of a comfortable retirement nest which would take care of everything post one’s retirement.

Singapore and It’s History

Singapore witnesses millions of tourists from all over the globe looking for fashion, glitz and glamour apart from craving a good time. But not many of these tourists know the fascinating history, the island nation situated at the southern tip of Malay Peninsula holds. Singapore is the smallest country in Southeast Asia yet is home to some of the ancient port cities of the not widely known history. Singapore timely growth has shown the world a great example of a Singapore’s economy.
To start off with, Singapore was also a colony in the 19th century under the United Kingdom. The island was still a tiny Malay fishing village and the first records of its being are found in the Chinese texts from as early as 3rd century. Singapore was known as ‘Temasek’ back in those days along with being an outpost of the Sumatran Empire. But over the entire course of history, the island has been witness to numerous political conflicts which has played a significant role in altering its destiny.
For instance, Singapore was a unit of the Sultanate of Johore only till the time it was set on fire by the Portuguese troops during the Malay-Portugal wars in the year 1617. But in 1819, the British East India Company signed a treaty with the Sultanate of Johore for establishing Singapore as the trading post and settlement. Eventually, the instant growth and immigration of several ethnic groups to the island nation, Singapore was declared a British colony by Britain in 1867. The status of the island was also raised to an entrepot town because of its strategic location alongside the busy shipping routes that connected China to Europe.
But destiny had some other plans for ‘The Lion City’ as it was invaded by the Japanese during the World War II. But later became a part of the ‘Federation of Malaysia’ only to gain independence from the Federal Government of Kuala Lampur in the year 1965 after many tussles. Not many people today who see Singapore as the tourism attracting, developed economy of the world know the nation’s struggles of attaining the self-sufficiency status. Once upon a time, the nation was overburdened with housing shortages, lack of natural resources as well as of land and mass unemployment apart from being socially and politically volatile as well as economically underdeveloped. However, the situation started changing for Singapore, once Lee Kuan Yew was appointed as the prime minister in the year 1959. In just three decades of administration, Lee was successful in curbing unemployment as well as raised the standards of living of the island citizens. He also developed the economic infrastructure which elevated Singapore into a developing nation and finally it attained the status of a developed economy. However, in the recent times, the nation has had to deal with several disasters, the crucial one being the Asian financial crisis in the year 1997, the terrorist’s threats by Jemaah Islamiah or IJ and the SARS outbreak of 2003.
No matter what the island nation had gone through in its history, today it is among the most developed and rich countries of the world.