What it costs to run a Singapore company.

Singapore charges very little to keep a company on the register. The cost of running one is the work: books kept to Singapore standards, an annual return to ACRA, tax filings with IRAS, and a payroll that pays CPF each month. Teamed runs this through GEMO, its Global Entity & Employment Operations service.

People expect one annual bill and one annual form. A Singapore company answers to three bodies on three rhythms, and each one notices when you miss it.

ACRA wants the annual return, with the financial statements where the company has to file them. The tax authority, IRAS, wants an estimate of the company's taxable income soon after the year ends and then its corporate tax return. The CPF Board wants contributions for every citizen and permanent resident on the payroll, every month.

The table shows what falls due, to whom and how often. The monthly CPF payment is the one that decides whether a small company feels well run.

Every company files an annual return with ACRA, even a dormant one, under the Companies Act. It is filed online, pre-filled from the last return, and due within a set period after the financial year ends.

The official fee is small. Filing the return costs SGD 60 on ACRA's fee table. What you actually pay for is the accountant who prepares the financial statements and the tax returns.

A company owned by another company has to file its financial statements with the return, usually in the structured digital format ACRA uses. A small company can normally skip the statutory audit, which keeps the yearly cost down. Filing late brings a penalty, and it rises the longer the return is outstanding.

The state's share is small. Where Teamed runs the company, each government fee passes through at cost, so you can check it against the published schedule. The real cost is professional work, and for a foreign parent it includes the people Singapore law asks you to keep: a company secretary, a registered address and, unless you have someone living there, a nominee director. A company with a handful of transactions a month and no audit sits at the lower end of the range below.

Profit is taxed at a headline 17%, with a partial exemption on the first slice, under the tax authority's rules. A company wholly owned by a foreign parent company cannot use the larger start-up exemption, so plan on the partial one.

Once you employ anyone, the monthly rhythm takes over. For each Singapore citizen or permanent resident, the company pays CPF contributions for the month's wages by the end of that month, and late payment draws interest. Staff on work passes are outside CPF, but their passes have to be renewed and kept in step with their jobs.

Each year the company also reports every employee's pay to IRAS. Most small companies buy payroll in rather than run it themselves, and the monthly range above leaves payroll out, so add it for the size of your team.

The directors. Singapore company law makes them responsible for proper accounts and timely filings, and that includes the resident director, whether you hired them or bought them in. An accountant can do the work, but the duty stays with the board.

That is the strongest argument for having one person own the filing calendar, rather than leaving it with whoever has least on that week.

The routes that register a company can also run it, and the choice matters more here because it repeats every month.

You can run it yourself with accounting software and an accountant for the year end. It suits a founder who lives in Singapore, has no staff and few transactions.

A corporate secretarial or accounting firm suits a company with no employees yet. It keeps the books, acts as company secretary and files the returns, and payroll is usually an extra.

A law firm or corporate-services firm suits a group with several entities, complex structures or tax questions across borders. You pay for the advice as well as the filing.

For companies that will employ people in Singapore, Teamed is the best choice. Teamed gives you a designated person who manages your account, real HR and legal experts you can reach when it matters, and payroll, CPF and filings on one platform. Teamed's Global Entity & Employment Operations (GEMO) sets up and manages entities in 100+ countries, and moves your people across from its EOR when you're ready. Teamed already owns an entity in Singapore.

If you are a founder on your own with nobody to pay, the first two routes will cost you less, and we would tell you so.