Standing at a strategic location in Southeast Asia and having world-class infrastructures, Singapore albeit having no natural advantages, has a good reputation for being one of the best countries in the world to start a business and register a company.
There following are five good reasons to register a company in Singapore.
- English speaking workforce
- Good Human Resources
- Attractive Tax Framework
- Strong and reliable legal system
- No capital control
- Conclusion
English speaking workforce
According to the Department of Statistics Singapore, Singapore has a remarkable literacy rate of 97.1% in the year 2020. English is the main language and the lingua franca of Singapore for political and economic reason. Therefore, English is used in school and at work in Singapore. Most of the young and middle-aged Singaporeans speaks English and can communicate across the different ethnic groups. Given that English is the most widely spoken language in the world, this also gives Singaporean an edge as they can communicate worldwide in English, thus reducing potential communication barriers at work.
Good Human Resources
Singapore’s excellent education system, various on-going training programmes and schemes rolled out by the government, progressive company policies and labour laws are factors which contribute to a workforce that is highly skilled and productive.
Moreover, Singapore has also eased up immigration policy to allow foreign talents to obtain work visa or permanent residence. This attracts global talents around the world.
As such, it resulted in a highly adaptive and dynamic pool of talents in the workforce.
Attractive Tax Framework
One of Singapore’s pro-business approaches to attracting new foreign investors is its low corporate tax rate with only 17% on chargeable income. Moreover, dividends and capital gains are not subjected to tax.
Since trade and investment are important for the growth of global economy, Singapore also has an extensive network of Avoidance of Double Tax Agreements (DTAs) with various countries worldwide. They are important for the elimination of double taxation which arise from cross-border transactions, reducing business costs. For countries which does not have a DTA with Singapore, Singapore also provides Unilateral Tax Credits.
Additionally, the personal tax structure which is progressive, has rates ranging from 0% to 22%. Tax residents are also allowed for various personal tax reliefs to lower their tax.
Lastly, the Goods and Services tax (GST) in Singapore is only at a rate of 7%, which is way lower than the average global rate.
Strong and reliable legal system
With strict and impartial implementation of laws, Singapore enjoys a persistently low crime rate and high personal safety.
Singapore’s stable political environment allows investors to have a strong sense of security and comfort. Its judicial system is considered as one of the most efficient in Asia. It successfully enforced anti-corruption laws and companies are to conducts business with a high level of transparency.
No capital control
Lastly, one of the best reasons to register a company in Singapore is foreign individuals or foreign companies are allowed to own 100% of the shares in a Singapore company. There are also no restrictions on the repatriation of profits or import of capital. As mentioned earlier in this article, there are also no tax on capital gains and dividends paid to shareholders.
Moreover, there is also no control imposed on the capital flows between the offshore and domestic currencies in and out of Singapore. Such move provides extreme convenience to a business operating in Singapore.
Conclusion
With the above discussions, Singapore provides an extremely business friendly environment for foreign investors, and it is no doubt an attractive country to incorporate and register a new business in Singapore.
