Annual Compliance requirements for Singapore Companies

According to Singapore law, it is mandatory for every Singapore Company to file its Annual Return with Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority(ACRA) and Annual Tax Return with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). As this is a statutory requirement, failing to comply or late-filing imposes penalties depending on the offense.

To help you understand this statutory requirement, the following are the key details of annual filing in Singapore.

A Requirement of holding Annual General Meeting (AGM):

Every Singapore Company must hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) once every calendar year. Under Section 175 of the Companies Act, the following general rules apply to  when the AGM must be held

• For Companies that are newly incorporated, the first AGM must be held within 18 months from incorporation date;
• Once every calendar year;
• No more than 15 months may elapse between subsequent AGMs;

 
Under Section 201 of the Companies Act, for Private Limited Companies it also states that:

• Accounts presented at the AGM shall be made up to a date not more than 6 months before the AGM

 Do note that:

• Private companies are allowed to dispense with AGMs if at a general meeting of the company a resolution to that effect is passed by all members with voting rights.

Filing annual return with ACRA:

In compliance with Singapore companies act, Singapore Company is required to lodge an Annual Return (AR) with ACRA within 1 month of its AGM.

It is also important to note that for insolvent exempt private companies and non- exempt private companies will also need to file it accounts and also file its financial statements in XBRL format .

Preparing annual financial statements:

One of the most important elements of annual filing in Singapore is a financial statement of your company. A financial statement is the transaction record and analysis of the financial activities of your company during the accounting year. It should consist of Statement of Comprehensive Income (i.e. Profit and Loss Account), Statement of Financial Position (i.e. Balance Sheet), Cash Flow Statement, and Statement of Changes in Equity.

This must be prepared in accordance with financial reporting standards of Singapore. The statement has to be prepared on the basis of recorded transaction history.

Audit of Financial Statements:

Unless exempted, an audited  financial statements is required to be accompanied during the AGM.

 You may refer to the exemption rulings in our article on audit in this article 

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