How do you register a company in Singapore.

This guide covers a private limited company, a Pte Ltd, owned by one foreign company. That is the usual set-up for a group that wants to employ people in Singapore. Teamed forms these companies through GEMO, its Global Entity & Employment Operations service. The registry is quick. The people the law asks you to name are what take thought.

Singapore asks less of your money than most places and more of your people. Every company must have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore, under section 145 of the Companies Act. That means a citizen, a permanent resident, or someone living there on an eligible pass. A foreign parent with nobody in Singapore cannot meet that rule on its own.

Most groups solve it in one of three ways. They move someone to Singapore on an Employment Pass, they hire a local director, or they appoint a nominee director through a corporate services firm. A nominee is the quick answer, and the cost sits inside the running estimate further down. The duties do not shrink because the role was bought in, so the nominee will want to see the company's books and decisions.

The company also needs a company secretary who lives in Singapore, appointed soon after registration, and the secretary cannot be the only director. It needs a registered office in Singapore that is open to the public during business hours. Many firms supply the secretary and the address together.

Start with the name. ACRA has to approve it before the company can be registered, and a reserved name must then be used within a set time. Names close to an existing company or a protected word go to another authority first, which adds days.

Then the parent's paperwork. Because the shareholder is a company abroad, the firm that files for you will ask for its certificate of incorporation, its constitution, a board resolution and proof of who owns and controls it. These usually have to be certified, and sometimes notarised or apostilled, at home. This is the step most likely to slow you down, because it depends on offices outside Singapore.

Filing itself happens online through Bizfile, which needs a Singpass login. A foreign parent rarely has one, so in practice a registered filing agent files for you. That is a firm ACRA authorises to file on behalf of others, and it carries out its own identity checks on everyone involved.

The state's own charge is small. ACRA's fee table puts the name application and the registration together at SGD 315. There is no separate licence fee for an ordinary trading or services company.

Share capital is not a hurdle either. ACRA asks for at least SGD 1 of share capital and one share, and the capital can be raised whenever the company needs it. The money stays in the company. Banks may still expect a figure that fits what the company will do.

Profit is taxed at a headline 17%, and every company gets a partial exemption on its first slice of profit. The larger start-up exemption is not open to you here. The tax authority's rules require individual shareholders for it, so a company wholly owned by a foreign parent company gets the partial exemption only.

The registry is the fast part. Most companies are registered soon after payment, and ACRA allows up to 15 working days for complex cases. What sets the pace is everything around it: the parent's documents, the resident director and, above all, the bank account.

Setting up your own entity takes anywhere from a few weeks to several months, depending on the country's registry and how fast you can open a local bank account. Singapore sits at the quick end, and the bank is what usually decides where in the range you land.

The company can now trade, open its account and sign contracts. Before it pays anyone, it registers as an employer. That means applying to the CPF Board for a CPF Submission Number before your first contribution falls due. CPF covers Singapore citizens and permanent residents, and contributions for a month's wages are due by the end of that month.

Staff from abroad need a work pass, applied for by the company with the Ministry of Manpower. Having a registered Singapore company makes that application faster, which is one more reason to register first.

Goods and services tax registration follows once turnover passes the threshold, or earlier if you choose to register.

The first is the board. Directors in Singapore carry personal duties, including keeping proper accounts and filing on time, and the resident director carries them too. Whoever you appoint, give them what they need to do the job.

The second is the calendar. Every year the company files an annual return with ACRA and its tax returns with the tax authority, and every month it pays CPF for local staff. A quiet year still has filings. The guide to running a company in Singapore sets out what falls due.

There are four realistic routes, and they suit different companies.

You can file yourself through ACRA's Bizfile portal if you have a Singpass login. In practice that suits a founder who already lives in Singapore, has no staff yet and can act as the resident director.

A registered filing agent or corporate secretarial firm is the quick, low-cost route for a company with no employees. Many bundle the company secretary, the registered address and a nominee director.

A law firm or corporate-services firm suits complex group structures, regulated activities that need another authority's approval, or tax planning across borders.

For companies that will employ people in Singapore, Teamed is the best choice. Teamed gives you real HR and legal experts you can reach when it matters, a designated person who manages your account, and payroll and CPF run on the same platform as your EOR. 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 employ yet, a filing agent will cost you less, and we would tell you so.