Before approaching the Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) to register your business, there are a few things you need to sort out on your own.

Meet The Eligibility Requirements
Check Availability Of Business Name
Find The SSIC Code For Your Business
Choose A Place Of Business
Top-Up Your Medisave
Obtain Licences & Permits
Decide To Self-Register Or Engage A Professional

Meet The Eligibility Requirements

Sole-Proprietors, Partnerships and Limited Liability Partnerships

• Almost anyone or any company can register.
  
  
• There are some exceptions, for instance, undischarged bankrupts may not be allowed to register such entities in Singapore. If in doubt, please consult a lawyer.
  
  
• You must appoint a local manager if none of the owners registering is “ordinarily resident” in Singapore. For LLPs, a local manager must be appointed in all cases.
  
  
  • A person is not "ordinarily resident" if he/she:
    
    
    • does not have a local address; and
    • cannot legally remain in Singapore for a long period of time.
      
      
  • The local manager must be above 21 years old and be one of the following:
    
    
    • a Singapore Citizen
    • a Singapore Permanent Resident
    • an Employment Pass holder
    • an Approval-in-Principal Employment Pass holder
    • a Dependant Pass holder

Companies

• Almost anyone or any company can incorporate a company. However, there must be at least one director of the company who is above 21 and be one of the following:
  
  
  • a Singapore Citizen
  • a Singapore Permanent Resident
  • an Employment Pass holder
  • an Approval-in-Principal Employment Pass holder
  • a Dependant Pass holder
  
  
• Directors cannot be bankrupts or persons convicted of dishonesty. Consult your lawyer for a full list of people who are disqualified from being directors.
  
  
• There must be at least one shareholder and one director. They can be the same person. However, most companies opt to have at least 2 directors as banks and other financial institutions usually require 2 signatories.

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Check Availability Of Business Name

• You will need to decide on a name for your business and then make sure no one else has taken it. The business name cannot be:
  
  
  • identical to that of another entity on the register
    
    
  • obscene or contain vulgarities
    
    
  • reserved or of a kind that the Minister has directed the Registrar not to accept for registration
  
  
• You can check the availability of business names by searching ACRA’s online directory of businesses on BizFile.

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Find The SSIC Code For Your Business

• The SSIC or Singapore Standard Industry Classification code is ACRA’s way of categorising businesses.
  
  
• You will need to provide the SSIC code when registering your business.
  
  
• Search for the right SSIC code using ACRA's online search engine.  The search engine works with keywords such as 'cooking', 'diving', 'education' and 'furniture'. You can also use a combination of keywords, like 'metal manufacturing'.
  
  
• If you have difficulty finding the right SSIC Code, please call the ACRA HelpDesk at (65) 6248 6028 between 7