Paid up Capital Requirements for New Companies in Singapore

In Singapore, to register a new company in the country, the paid up capital requirement is only SGD $1. This is clearly the lowest in the world and is a testimony to the fact that Singapore is the friendliest destination in the world for Entrepreneurs. As a matter of fact, Singapore’s business and economic policies encourage more individuals to start their own company regardless of whether they are from Singapore itself or from another country. Singapore has open doors policy for well qualified entrepreneurs or skilled professionals.

Paid up capital in Singapore companies is also known as share capital and is only SGD $1 at the moment. This is true for even foreign owned companies who want to register a subsidiary or a private limited firm in the country. However, you need to note that just in case the foreign owner of the company being formed in Singapore wants to relocate to the country to manage the business, they would have to apply for the entrepreneur pass or the Entrepass and the minimum paid up capital in such cases would be at least SGD $50,000.

Of course a foreign entrepreneur may choose to wait for 6 months before relocating to Singapore and apply for the employment pass instead. For such entrepreneurs, the minimum paid up capital requirement of SGD $50,000 does not apply. However, the entrepreneur will have to prove to the authorities that during those six months the Singapore based company was in operation and had also able to achieve all of its goals till that point. Authorities in Singapore will grant a foreign entrepreneur an employment visa after six months of company formation on the basis of the entrepreneur’s background and the performance of his or her company in Singapore.

Paid up capital is the only form of capital requirement in Singapore based companies. There is no concept of authorized capital etc. in companies registered in the country. Also paid up capital or share capital can be increased at any point after company incorporation. If there is any increase in paid up capital post incorporation, then necessary paperwork must be completed and the authorities need to be informed in the prescribed manner. Also the paid up capital listed during company registration must be injected to a corporate bank account in Singapore immediately after incorporation and opening of the company bank account. Failure to do so might be seen as failure to meet the statutory compliance requirements and appropriate action will be taken against the company owners.

Author Bio
Bryan Wong is a business analyst in the Asia-Pacific region and in his free time writes business articles. In this article, Bryan talks about Singapore branch office formation and How to setup a Singapore company.