Directors’ legal obligations in Singapore

Healy Consultants helps multi-national Clients timely discharge their annual Singapore accounting and tax obligations. It is important Clients cooperate with us to meet Singapore statutory deadlines.

  • Our Client’s responsibility

    1. The directors of a Singapore company are obliged to timely prepare reliable and accurate annual financial statements, to give a true and fair view of business activity during the accounting period. Financial statements must comply with Accounting Standards Council;
    2. Annually, the directors are responsible for submitting a legal annual return to ACRA, comprising signed financial statements;
    3. Annually, the directors are responsible for submitting a corporation tax return to IRAS, including signed financial statements;
    4. Other Singapore legislation our Client should be aware of:
    5. Companies Act sections 199 (2A) Singapore companies are responsible for maintaining a system of internal accounting controls.
      Companies Act section 199 (1) Singapore company must keep proper accounting and other records that will enable the preparation of true and fair financial statements.
      Companies Act section 175 and 201 Annual general meeting at which financial statements should be presented, must be held by a company in the designated timeline.

  • Healy Consultants' responsibility

    1. Timely informing our Client of upcoming statutory deadlines;
    2. Preparing financial statements from trial balance supplied by our Client;
    3. From signed financial statements, submit a quality corporation tax return to the Singapore government;
    4. Legally minimising our Clients’ international tax burden;
    5. Securing an exemption from independent statutory annual audit obligation;
    6. Assisting our Client to timely discharge annual accounting and tax and audit requirements stipulated by IRAS and ACRA, and minimise the administrative burden;
    7. Our help includes: i) conducting monthly bookkeeping ii) reconciling bank statements and management accounts iii) scheduling and liaising with an independent auditor iv) compiling and preparing accounting reports and financial reports in accordance with Singapore Financial Reporting Standards v) filling of legal annual return with ACRA and submitting corporation tax return to IRAS;
    8. So you are crystal clear as to how we timely complete our Client statutory obligations, refer to our detailed project plan.
  • Failure to accurately and timely complete annual accounting and tax obligations

    1. Directors of a Singapore company that provides false or misleading financial statement, if convicted,are liable to a fine of up to $50,000 or imprisonment of up to two years, or both, under Singapore Companies Act 401(2);
    2. An company officer whoseintent is to deceive, furnish or make any false or misleading statements shall, if convicted,be liable to a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment of up to two years, or both, under Singapore Companies Act 402;
    3. Failure to hold an Annual General Meeting within the stipulated timeframe, if convicted, incurs a fine up to $5,000 and a default penalty under Singapore Companies Act 197(1);
    4. Singapore Companies Act section197(1)(b) states that, if a Singapore company fails to lodge the annual return within the required time period, shall, if convicted, incur a fine up to $5,000 and a default penalty;
    5. Failure to file form C-S /C, accounting and tax computation before the due date will trigger IRAS action including i) issuance of an estimated Notice of Assessment ii) imposition of a composition fee up to $1,000 iii) issuance a Section 65B (3) notice iv) issuance of a court summons;
    6. A corporate tax return left outstanding for two years or more will incur a penalty twice that of the tax liability, and a fine of up to $1,000;
    7. Late payment of income tax within the required period will trigger late penalty fee;
    8. Tax evasion or fraud is a criminal offence;
    9. IRAS imposes penalties on company directors who make errors, omissions and discrepancies in the corporate tax return without intention to evade tax. Penalties include i) 0% to 200% of the amount of tax undercharged ii) fine up to $5,000; and/or iii) up to three years imprisonment;
    10. In cases of tax evasion, the taxpayer will: i) face a penalty up to 400% of the amount of tax undercharged ii) be fined up to $50,000; and/or iii) be imprisoned up to seven years.
  • Conclusion

    We thank our Clients for helping us complete their annual Singapore accounting and tax and audit obligations in a timely manner.

Contact us

For additional information on our legal services in Singapore, please contact our in-house country expert, Mr. Aidan Healy, directly:
client relationship officer - Aidan