Singapore

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Business Environment

Business Practices

General information: Kwintessential website
Executiveplanet website
U.S. Commercial Service
Doing Business
Opening hours and days: From 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. , Monday-Friday. Government of Singapore agencies and many private sector companies are closed for business on Saturday.
Shops are normally open everyday from 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Public holidays

Scheduled Public Holidays for 2008
New Year's Day	Tuesday, 1 January
Chinese New Year	Thursday, 7 February and Friday, 8 February
Good Friday	Friday, 21 March
Labour Day	Thursday, 1 May
Vesak Day	Monday, 19 May
National Day	Saturday, 9 August
Hari Raya Puasa	Wednesday, 1 October
Deepavali	Tuesday, 28 October
Hari Raya Haji	Monday, 8 December
Christmas Day	Thursday, 25 December

Holiday compensation: When a public holiday falls on a Saturday, schools close on the following Monday to compensate. However companies generally remain open for business.

Periods when companies usually close

New Year	1-2 days on 31 st Dec and 1 st Jan
Chinese New Year	2 days of public holiday (dates based on Chinese Lunar Calendar)

Accounting Rules

Tax year: The fiscal year begins on December 1st and ends on December 31st of the next year.
Accounting standards: Singaporean accounting rules aim at giving a clear vision of the financial situation of the company. Singapore is an international financial place and thus needs to have accounting standards acceptable to the international financial community.

Accounting Standards Council of Singapore (ASC) develops, review, amend and approve accounting standards for use by companies, charities, co-operative societies and societies.
Accounting regulation bodies: ICRA
Accounting reports: Income Tax Returns (Form C), Profit and Loss Statements, and Balance sheet.
Publication requirements: Each company has to produce a profit and loss account and a financial balance sheet.
Professional accountancy bodies: Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore
Certification and auditing: Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA)
Accounting news: Singapore News
Singaporenews .wordpress.com
Accounting Standards in Singapore

Tax Rates

Consumption taxes

Nature of the tax: GST (Goods and Services Tax)
Tax rate: 7%
Reduced tax rate: VAT exemptions on goods for export and international services.
Other consumption taxes: Visit the site of Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.

Corporate taxes

Company tax: 18% (2008 onwards). For details, visit: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
Tax rate for foreign companies: There is no tax differential between business carried on in Singapore by residents and by non-residents. Tax is imposed on all income accrued in or derived from Singapore , and all foreign income remitted into Singapore.
Capital gains taxation: There is no capital gains tax in Singapore .
Main allowable deductions and tax credit: Interest on loans, rent paid on land and buildings, royalty payments, expenses for repairing plant and equipment, defaulted trade receivables, contributions to an approved pension fund or the Central Provident Fund, contributions to employee medical benefit plans up to 1% of total payroll expense, double-tax deductions for approved relocation and recruitment expenses when hiring foreign talent, research and development expenses, cost of building modifications for disabled employees of up to SGD 100,000.
Other corporate taxes: Visit the site of Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.

Individual taxes

Tax rate

Personal tax rate	Progressive rate from 0 to 20%. Click here to visualize the method of calculation.
Up to SGD 20,000	0%
From SGD 20,000 to 40,000	3.5%
From SGD 40,000 to 80,000	8.5%
From SGD 80,000 to 160,000	14%
From SGD 160,000 to 320,000	17%
More than SGD 320,000	20%

Allowable deductions and tax credit: Visit :Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.
Special expatriate tax regime: To attract global talent to Singapore and to encourage companies to use Singapore as their base for regional activities, the Not Ordinarily Resident (NOR) Taxpayer Scheme took effect from assessment year 2003. To qualify for the NOR scheme, an individual must be tax resident in the current year of assessment and must not have been tax residents in the three years of assessment immediately before that year of assessment. Individuals meeting criterion are granted NOR status for five consecutive assessment years, starting from the assessment year in which they first meet the criterion.

Double taxation treaties

Countries with whom a double taxation treaty have been signed: See the list of treaties signed by Singapore on the Inland Revenue Authority 's website.
See the list of treaties signed by Singapore on the Ministry of Finance's website
Whithholding taxes: Dividends: 0, Interest: 15%, Royalties: 10%

Sources of fiscal information

Tax Authorities: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
Other domestic resources: Tax system as seen by Ministry of Finance Singapore
Tax Academy of Singapore

Intellectual Property

National organizations: The organisation responsible for the protection of intellectual property in Singapore is the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS).
Regional organizations: APEC Intellectual Property Rights Experts Group

Association of South East Asian Nations -ASEAN
International membership: Member of the WIPO
Signatory to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Intellectual Property
Membership to the TRIPS agreement - Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

National regulation and international agreements

Type of property and law	Validity	International agreements signed
Patent Patents Act, 1995 Visit: Intellectual Property Office of Singapore	20 years (renewable)	Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
Trademark Trade Marks Act, 2005 (revised) Visit: Intellectual Property Office of Singapore	10 years (renewable)	Nice agreement Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement
Design Registered Designs Act, 2000 Visit: Intellectual Property Office of Singapore	5 years ( renewable after every 5 years up to a maximum of 15 years)
Copyright Copyright Act, 2005	The duration varies depending on the nature of work. Visit: Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.	Berne convention WIPO copyright treaty WIPO performances and Phonograms treaty
Industrial Models Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits Act, 1999 Visit: Intellectual Property Office of Singapore	15 years (maximum from the date of creation)

Legal Framework

Independence of justice: Judiciary is not completely independent. It is badly influenced by political pressures.
Equal treatment of nationals and foreigners: Foreigners can largely expect an impartial trial from the country's judicial system, especially in matters related to business.
The language of justice: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil.
Recourse to an interpreter: English is a widely used language and hence an interpreter is not usually required.
Sources of the law and legal similarities: The Constitution of 1959, amended in 1965. The country's legal system is based on English common law. Singapore has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.
Checking national laws online: Law in Singapore
LawNet2

Standards

National standards organizations: Singapore Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board (SPRING SG)
Integration in the international standards network: SPRING represents Singapore in regional and international standards activities. Singapore is a member of :

International Standard organization (ISO)

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Sub-Committee on Standards & Conformance (SCSC)

ASEAN Consultative Committee for Standards & Quality (ACCSQ)

Pacific Area Standards Congress (PASC)

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Classification of standards: Visit: The Singapore Standardization Programme, operated by SPRING Singapore .
Online consultation of standards: Refer to ‘e-services' provided by SPRING Singapore .
Certification organizations: Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC)

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