Even after company registration in Singapore, many business owners wish to make some changes. However, most business owners decide to change their business name or personal details of the company auditors or officers.
This article is about how you can change your registered address Singapore. According to section 142 (1) of the Singapore company act, all Singapore-based companies must have a registered office address of your business to get approval from ACRA. However, all the company-related notices will be sent to the registered office address.
For example, if the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) needs to send any legal notices or income tax forms to the company, they require to send all these notices to the registered company address.
If you are willing to get legal forms and notice at some other address rather than your current registered address of the company, then you will require to update your new address as your default registered office address with Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).
In case you do not have any registered company address in Singapore but still, you are operating all the business activities; then, you will have to pay the fine of $5000 along with further penalty under the law.
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Decide on a New Address of the company
When you are willing to change business address and register a new company address in Singapore, you will basically be required to consider the following factors in mind:
Require Location and accessibility:
If your client usually visits your office to discuss about deals and projects, you are always required to go with the location which is relatively more prominent than remote.
However, the location plays a vital role in attracting the employees willing to get employed in the office based on its accessibility.
Need to consider costs of new company address
The second thing you need to consider while deciding on a new office address in Singapore is its cost. You will require considering its rent or lease, which covers the cost of public entities or building maintenance (for example, cleaning services or electricity bills), and always be alert with the additional charges. For example, suppose you are required to pay off an additional fee for services.
Consider Availability of amenities:
Another thing that you need to consider while deciding on registering a new company address in Singapore is always going with the convenient location where you can get quick access to amenities, i.e. banks or post offices, even in between the working hours.
Ensure to check Necessaries Services that provide:
While deciding on a new company address in Singapore, always ensure to check if the necessary services are provided. For example, the availability of telephone line(s) and stable WIFI network to meet the business needs.
However, instead of just getting space for rent to use as your registered business offices in Singapore, several other alternatives are also available in the market, which are even more attractive, mainly for small enterprises.
You can choose to go with the virtual office packages and consider using it as your new company address. However, another alternative option to choose for your new company address in Singapore is to consider working from these co-working spaces.
Furthermore, based on the type of address you are willing to register for your company, you will need to get Singapore government approval before getting it registered.
Kinds of Office premises & approval requirements
| Kinds of office premises | Do you require Government approval |
| HDB flat, under the Home Office Scheme | Yes, for HDB flat you need to file the Home Office Application by visiting Housing & Development Board website and after getting approval you can use it as your office address.
(Also remember, if you consider HDB flat as your office address and decide to operate the business from HDB flats under the home-based Small Scale Business Scheme i.e. for selling homemade goods. You cannot use your business address as your home/flat address). |
| Condominium or other private residential property, under the Home Office Scheme or Home-Based Small Scale Business Scheme | Yes, you will require to get approval from government. In order to get approval you will require submitting the Home Office Application via Urban Redevelopment Authority website.
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| Virtual office | No |
Note: You cannot use P.O. Box address as your company address in Singapore.
Prepare and Pass a Board Resolution for the Change of Address
Once you have decided on your new address, the company board of directors will require passing a resolution to change your company address in Singapore.
There is a procedure you are required to follow to pass the board resolution to change office address in Singapore:
- First of all, you will need to prepare a written resolution to change your company address in Singapore.
- After that, you will need to decide the date and time for the board meeting and update all the company directors regarding the date and time of the meeting and the proposal to pass the resolution or change the company address in Singapore.
- During the meeting, more than 50% of the Company director needs to be in favor of passing the resolution to change the address.
Consideration before change Office address:
When deciding to change your registered address, you will need to make plans for your company to administer in advance.
You must adequately check your new location’s tenancy agreement and cancel your previous tenant agreement. Moreover, you might need to eliminate or transfer any appropriate service contracts for essential services, including communication and public utility.
Informing ACRA of the Change in Address
Once you have decided about your new company address in Singapore, then you will require to file a change in company information (Change in Registered Office Address and Office Hours) form with ACRA by visiting the BizFile+ official website. The complete process of changing the company address in Singapore takes up to 14 days following the date of the change of address.
It is not mandatory that only the company owner needs to file the change of company address application. Instead, it can be filed by any company director or secretary online by signing into the Biz File+ website through the company’s Corp Pass account.
Filing the application for updating the change of office address in Singapore is free, but there will be a penalty of $350 for late filing.
However, you must provide your company’s new address along with the date on which the address was changed and some supporting documents to support your application, including HDB/URA application form for your home-based office.
The e-transaction rarely takes up to 4 to 15 minutes to complete, but it will take at least three working days to get processed if everything seems fine. Moreover, in some cases, it might take 14 business days to 2 months if the application is transferred to another agency for approval.
Updating other Relevant Stakeholders
After you have successfully updated your new company address with Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, you do not require to again update IRAS separately regarding the address change. As IRAS usually updates its record depending upon the details submitted with ACRA weekly.
Once your address is successfully updated with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), IRAS will send all the company-related notices or forms to your new company address.
Furthermore, you will need to update several other Singapore government agencies, including the Ministry of manpower(MOM) or the central Provident fund board, separately regarding the change of your company address. This is because if there is any further information related to your company or your employees, which includes notice of Central provident fund contribution or issuance of the work permit can be mailed directly to your new company address from then on.
In order to notify the Ministry of manpower(MOM) regarding the change of your company address in Singapore, you will require signing in through Employment Pass (EP) Online as an “employer”, using your company’s Corp Pass account, and after that, choosing the option “change particular” allocated on the left menu.
In order to update the central Provident fund board regarding the change of company address, you will only require to get a printout and complete the form given on the CPF website, and then mail the complete form to the relevant CPF Board mailing address.
Besides notifying the relevant Singapore authorities, it’s your responsibility to update suppliers, customers, banks regarding the change of your company address and update your changed company address on your official company website and all your social media handles so that people come to know about your updated company address.
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After reading the above article, you might be aware of how you can change your registered company address in Singapore.
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