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Comment by nirvana | Hacker News Reader

I'm curious as one of the places Singapore highly ranked was the difficulty in starting a business. Yet it seems from the company formation services online, Singapore costs around $5,000 to open a business. (compared to $50 in Texas, for instance). I would think if it is straightforward (and really starting a business is nothing more than registering it with the government so they can tax you-- essentially the creation of a database entry) -- why is it so expensive?

Maybe it can be done online for cheap, and thus those who are charging all that money are people who are giving a lot of advice. (I haven't looked into it closely.)

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It costs $300 SGD to register a company in Singapore. $5000 probably includes cost of other services such as legal and secretary fees.

I think the issue is the requirement to have a registered director located in Singapore.

Also, if you plan to apply for residency using the EntrePass it appears you need to have $50k SGD in "paid up capital", which is about $40,000 USD. I'm not sure what "paid up capital" means, though. (EG: is a business making $4,000 a year in profit valued at $40,000 thus considered to have $40k in paid up capital? Or does it mean you need to put $50k SGD in a local bank to sit there as a form of a bond?)

Ah, you're referring to the $3000 deposit + $3000/year requirement that professional nominated "Directors" require to setup the business. Yes, this can be an issue if you do not have relationships with any locals.

I believe many countries have restrictions on foreigners incorporating without a local director/shareholder?

But yes, it is a little bit annoying. What we ended up doing is getting a mentor/investor to become a nominee director.

when you incorporate a limited liability company, you must inject capital to this entity. This is the paid up capital. retained profit is not capital, if my rusty accounting can be trusted. valuation is definitely not capital.

I setup a business in Singapore last week.

We used a professional services firm - they cover all the Gov't requirements regarding minutes, company secretary etc.,

Was SGD$800

Sounds great. Were you happy enough whit them to recommend them? Are you located in Singapore our outside of it? (one of the issues is we're located outside of Singapore)

"$5,000 to open a business" -- citation?

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