ACRA Company Registration and BizFile Filings: What You File, When It’s Due
Last updated: 6 September 2026 · Author: SBC Team
Every Singapore company deals with one company regulator through one portal. The regulator is ACRA, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, and the portal is BizFile at bizfile.gov.sg. After registration the recurring obligations are short: hold an annual general meeting or use the exemption, file an annual return within seven months of your financial year end if you are unlisted, and report changes to officers, address, shares and controllers within 14 days. Everything else is triggered by an event, not by the calendar.
This guide covers the incorporation transactions, the ongoing calendar in the order it reaches you, and the occasional filings. It starts with who is allowed to transact on BizFile, where most foreign founders get stuck.
What ACRA Is and What BizFile Is
ACRA is the national regulator of companies, business names, limited liability partnerships and public accountants. It maintains the register of every entity in Singapore and administers the Companies Act 1967, the source of almost every obligation below. BizFile is ACRA’s online filing portal and the only channel for company transactions. Older letters still call it BizFile+, the previous branding.
ACRA is not the tax authority. Corporate tax, GST and stamp duty go to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), on a separate calendar.
Who Can Transact on BizFile
Access runs through Corppass, the system that lets a business authorise named individuals to transact with government agencies. Corppass is fronted by Singpass, the personal digital identity issued to citizens, permanent residents and certain pass holders. An officer logs in with their own Singpass, under a Corppass role the company assigned them, and files for the company.
That works when your directors or corporate secretary are in Singapore. It fails when nobody in the company holds Singpass — the ordinary position for a founder incorporating from overseas.
The route then is a registered filing agent: a corporate service provider registered with ACRA and authorised to file for clients. Foreign applicants with no Singpass engage an RFA for the incorporation and usually keep them on afterwards. The agent files in your name, and you stay responsible for what is filed. Filing-agent rules are at acra.gov.sg; Corppass roles are set up at corppass.gov.sg once a local officer exists.
The Incorporation Filings
Name Application
You apply for the company name first. ACRA checks it against existing names, trade marks and controlled words, and most applications are decided within the hour. An approved name is reserved for 120 days, and the incorporation must be lodged inside that window or the name lapses. Names using regulated words — banking, finance, education, law, media — are referred to the relevant authority, which adds weeks.
The Incorporation Transaction and the Constitution
The lodgement carries the company type, registered office address, share capital and shareholding, the particulars and consents of every officer, the principal activity codes, and the constitution. You can adopt the Model Constitution prescribed under the Companies Act, or lodge a bespoke one — worth the cost where there are multiple shareholders, share classes or an investor agreement to reflect. Where nothing is referred, approval usually comes the same day. Our Singapore incorporation work covers this lodgement and the officer consents with it.
First Directors and the Resident Director Requirement
Every Singapore company needs at least one director ordinarily resident in Singapore: a citizen, a permanent resident, or an EntrePass holder with a local residential address. An Employment Pass holder can qualify where the pass is tied to the company itself. Directors must be at least 18 and not disqualified or bankrupt.
Foreign founders with no local candidate appoint a nominee director to meet the requirement. Ownership and control of the shares stay with you — the nominee is a statutory officeholder, not a shareholder.
Company Secretary and Registered Office
You appoint a company secretary within six months of incorporation. The secretary must be ordinarily resident in Singapore, and in a private company the sole director cannot also be the secretary. A vacancy must be filled within six months.
The registered office must be in Singapore from incorporation, and open to the public at least three hours during ordinary business hours each working day. It is where ACRA and IRAS send statutory correspondence. A P.O. Box is not accepted.
The Ongoing Filing Calendar
These are the filings most companies meet. The deadlines are the standard positions for an unlisted private company limited by shares.
| Filing | Trigger event | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Name application | Before incorporation | Name reserved 120 days |
| Incorporation | Name approved | Within the 120-day reservation |
| Appointment of company secretary | Incorporation, or office vacant | Within 6 months |
| Register of registrable controllers | Incorporation | File with ACRA on the date of incorporation |
| Update to controller particulars | Company updates its own register | Within 2 business days |
| Change of registered office or hours | The change takes effect | Within 14 days |
| Appointment or cessation of an officer | The change takes effect | Within 14 days |
| Return of allotment | New shares issued | Within 14 days |
| Notice of transfer of shares | Transfer executed and stamped | Effective when ACRA updates the register |
| Change of financial year end | Directors decide to change it | Before the new financial year ends |
| Annual general meeting | Financial year end | Within 6 months of FYE, unless exempt |
| Annual return | AGM held, or statements sent to members | Within 7 months of FYE |
Annual General Meeting, or the Exemption From Holding One
A private company holds its AGM within six months after the financial year end. Listed companies work to four months.
A private company is exempt from holding an AGM if it sends its financial statements to every member within five months after the financial year end. The exemption is not absolute: any member or the auditor can require a meeting by giving notice not later than 14 days before the end of the sixth month. Dormant relevant companies have a separate exemption from preparing statements at all.
Annual Return
The annual return confirms the company’s particulars — officers, registered address, share capital, shareholders — and is filed on BizFile with the financial statements where those are required. An unlisted company files within seven months of the financial year end, a listed company within five. You cannot file until the AGM has been held or the statements have gone to members.
This is the filing most commonly missed. Our complete guide to annual return filing walks through the sequence, including what changes when the company is dormant.
Financial Statements and When XBRL Applies
Statements go in with the annual return in XBRL, a structured format that lets ACRA read the figures as data rather than as a document. Most Singapore-incorporated companies file full XBRL. Smaller companies under ACRA’s revenue and total assets thresholds file Simplified XBRL. Companies limited by guarantee and Singapore branches of foreign companies file a PDF.
A solvent exempt private company — no more than 20 members, none of them corporate — does not file its statements with ACRA. It still prepares them and still files the annual return. An insolvent EPC files like everyone else.
Officers, Address and Financial Year End
Appointments and cessations of directors, secretaries, CEOs and auditors are notified within 14 days. The same 14 days applies to a change of registered office address or its stated office hours.
Changing the financial year end has its own rule: notify ACRA before the end of the new financial year. Approval is required in defined cases, including where the change makes a financial year longer than 18 months, or where the year end was already changed in the previous five years. The change moves your annual return deadline with it.
Shares: Allotment and Transfer
Issuing new shares requires a return of allotment lodged within 14 days, recording who received the shares, how many, and the consideration paid.
Transferring existing shares is a different transaction. ACRA maintains the electronic register of members for private companies, so a transfer takes legal effect when ACRA updates that register on lodgement of the notice of transfer. Stamp duty is a separate obligation to IRAS, payable within 14 days of the instrument being executed in Singapore. Stamp first; the company’s approval and the ACRA lodgement follow.
Register of Registrable Controllers
Every company keeps a register of registrable controllers — those with significant control or significant interest, broadly more than 25% of the shares or voting rights, or the right to appoint or remove a majority of directors. For companies incorporated from 16 June 2025 it must be kept from incorporation, with controller information filed with ACRA’s central register on the date of incorporation. Companies incorporated before that date had 30 days.
Keeping it current is the part that gets missed. The company updates its own register within seven calendar days of a change, and then lodges the change with ACRA within two business days. That is the tightest recurring deadline here, and it applies every time ownership above the threshold moves.
Occasional Filings: Striking Off, Amalgamation, Conversion
Striking off closes a company that has stopped trading. ACRA considers the application where the company has no assets and no liabilities, no outstanding tax with IRAS, no charges in the register and no ongoing court proceedings, and where all directors consent. ACRA publishes a notice and allows an objection period, so plan for months rather than weeks.
Amalgamation merges two or more companies into one. The directors of each make solvency statements, the members approve, and the proposal is lodged with ACRA. It usually collapses a holding structure or absorbs a dormant subsidiary.
Conversion changes the company’s status rather than its existence — private to public, public to private, or a change of company type. Each has its own resolution and lodgement. Converting to a limited liability partnership is not a conversion; it transfers the business to a new entity.
What Late Filing Actually Triggers
A late lodgement fee applies on top of the normal transaction fee. For annual returns ACRA operates a two-tier structure: one amount if you file within three months of the deadline, a higher amount after that. Fees change, so take current figures from the schedule published on acra.gov.sg rather than from any guide, including this one.
ACRA can also offer a composition sum in place of prosecution, and can prosecute where a company ignores its notices. The exposure sits with the directors personally, because the duty to file is theirs.
The consequence directors underestimate is disqualification. Under section 155 of the Companies Act, a director convicted of three or more filing offences within five years is disqualified for five years. Convictions count per company, so a director sitting on several boards reaches the threshold faster than expected.
What Anyone Can Buy About Your Company
The ACRA register is public, and much of what you file becomes purchasable information. A business profile is the standard extract: unique entity number, incorporation date, registered address, principal activities, issued and paid-up capital, officers, and shareholders with their holdings. Extracts of specific filings and certificates can also be bought through BizFile.
Counterparties pull them constantly — banks at account opening, landlords before a lease, corporate customers in vendor onboarding, investors checking the cap table. An out-of-date profile is visible to everyone who looks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between ACRA and BizFile?
ACRA is the regulator — the agency that registers Singapore companies and administers the Companies Act. BizFile is the online portal ACRA operates at bizfile.gov.sg, and the channel through which you submit every company transaction, from incorporation to the annual return.
Can I file with ACRA myself if I live overseas?
Only if you can access Corppass, which requires a Singpass login. A foreign founder with no Singpass and no local officer engages a registered filing agent to lodge the incorporation. Once a resident director or company secretary is in place, that person can be given a Corppass role and file directly.
When is the ACRA annual return due?
Within seven months after the financial year end for an unlisted company, and within five months for a listed one. You must hold the AGM, or send the financial statements to members under the exemption, before the annual return can be filed. The deadline runs from your financial year end.
How long is an approved company name reserved?
120 days from the date ACRA approves it, and the incorporation must be lodged within that period. If the name lapses you can apply again, but there is no guarantee it will still be available — another applicant may have taken it.
Do I have to hold an annual general meeting?
Not necessarily. A private company is exempt if it sends its financial statements to all members within five months after the financial year end. Any member or the auditor can still require a meeting by giving notice at least 14 days before the end of the sixth month.
What happens if I file late?
ACRA charges a late lodgement fee, with a higher tier once you are more than three months past the annual return deadline. It can also offer a composition sum instead of prosecution. A director convicted of three or more filing offences within five years is disqualified for five years under section 155.
Registering a Singapore company from overseas, or bringing an existing company’s ACRA filings back up to date? Our team handles the BizFile lodgements as part of our Singapore incorporation and corporate secretarial work. Speak with our team to review where your company stands.
