Annual Return and Financial Statement Deadlines
A company registered in Singapore must file an annual return with ACRA every year, within a fixed number of months of its financial year end (FYE). Two dates on this site's company pages, the latest annual return and the date the financial statements are due, come from ACRA's record.
What an annual return is
ACRA describes the annual return as an online form. It contains the company's name and registration number; company type, business activities and registered office address; details of the directors, the company secretary and the members; and share information and financial statements (if required). Filing it keeps the company's public information accurate. ACRA states that a company must file even if it is inactive or dormant, or has been granted a tax waiver by IRAS, for as long as it is listed as live.
ACRA's filing deadlines
The deadline depends on the company's FYE and on whether it is listed:
| Company type | Deadline after FYE |
|---|---|
| Non-listed company | 7 months |
| Non-listed company with a share capital and an overseas branch register | 8 months |
| Listed company | 5 months |
| Listed company with a share capital and an overseas branch register | 6 months |
A company cannot change its FYE after the filing deadline has passed. If you are unsure which row applies to a company, ACRA's page is the authority.
Late filing
For filing due dates on or after 14 January 2022, ACRA's late lodgment penalty is $300 when the return is up to three months late and $600 when it is more than three months late. Beyond the penalty, ACRA may offer a composition sum (at least $500) or prosecute in court, with a fine of up to $10,000 per charge on conviction; a director convicted of three or more filing offences in five years is disqualified for five years. A company that needs more time can apply to ACRA for an extension of time.
Persistent non-filing can end the company's registration. ACRA can start striking off when there is reasonable cause to believe a company is not carrying on business, and it names failing to file annual returns for several consecutive years as a common reason. The process includes a 30-day period for objections, during which ACRA says the status is still "Live", and a Final Gazette notice, after which the company's status changes to "Struck off": ACRA says it is then removed from the register and no longer legally exists. Until then the company is still shown as live, here and on ACRA's register — seehow to check if a Singapore company is registered and live.
The dates on a company's page
ACRA's dataset does not describe its annual_return_date and account_due_datefields. In the data, no annual return date is ever in the future, so this site shows it as the date of the company's latest annual return. The account due date is mostly in the future, and this site shows it as the date the next financial statements are due. On a company's page we add a note when the latest annual return is more than a year older than the data itself; check that company onBizfile before relying on its other particulars.
Tax filings with IRAS are separate
The annual return goes to ACRA. Corporate income tax goes to IRAS, and it has its own dates: IRAS says a company must file its Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) within 3 months of the end of its financial year unless it qualifies for the ECI filing waiver or is specifically not required to file, and that Form C-S, Form C-S (Lite) or Form C must be filed by 30 November every year. Filing one does not satisfy the other.
If you run the company yourself
This site is a read-only reference. It cannot file an annual return or remind you of a deadline, and it may lag behind ACRA's own record. File through ACRA's Bizfile service.