Registering a sole proprietorship or partnership in Singapore takes less than 15 minutes. What follows registration is the ongoing stream of compliance obligations across ACRA, IRAS, MOM, and CPF that takes considerably longer to figure out if nobody walks you through it.

Most guides stop at registration. This one starts there Running a Sole Proprietorship or Partnership in Singapore: The Regulatory Requirements You Actually Need to Know.

If you've already registered your sole proprietorship (SP) or partnership (P), or you're about to, this article covers every significant regulatory requirement you'll need to stay on top of organised by when they apply and why they matter.

What makes sole proprietorships and partnerships different from companies

Before getting into the obligations, it helps to understand one structural fact that shapes almost everything else.

A sole proprietorship and an ordinary partnership are not separate legal entities from their owners. The business and the individual are, in law, the same person. This means two things with significant consequences:

You carry unlimited personal liability. There is no legal separation between your personal assets and your business debts. If the business owes money it can't pay, creditors can pursue your personal savings, property, and other assets. This is the fundamental trade-off of the simpler SP/P structure versus a private limited company.

Your business income is your personal income. Unlike a company, which pays corporate tax at a flat 17%, you pay personal income tax on your business profits at Singapore's progressive individual rates from 0% on the first S$20,000 of chargeable income up to a top marginal rate of 24% on income above S$1 million. For most early-stage sole proprietors and small partnerships, the effective tax rate will be lower than the corporate rate, but this reverses as income grows.

Keeping these two facts in mind makes many of the compliance requirements below easier to understand because they're designed around this owner-business structure rather than the corporate model.

Step 1 — Before and during registration

Determine your SSIC code and business address

Before registering on GoBusiness, you need two things settled: your Singapore Standard Industrial Classification (SSIC) code, which describes your business activity, and a business address.

The SSIC code matters beyond administration. It determines which licences you may need, which industry-specific regulations apply, and for partnerships applying for grants or schemes which categories of support you're eligible for. Choosing a code that's too narrow can create friction later; choosing one that's too broad can look imprecise to counterparties and regulators. GoBusiness has an SSIC search tool to help you identify the right classification.

Your business address is the address submitted to ACRA and shown on the public register. It must be a physical Singapore address, P.O. boxes are not accepted. For sole proprietors who don't want their home address on the public record, a professional business address from a registered Corporate Service Provider is the most common and straightforward alternative. You can use a virtual office address as your registered business address for ACRA purposes.

Reserve your name and register on GoBusiness

Business name reservation and registration for sole proprietorships and partnerships is completed through GoBusiness, logging in as an individual user with your Singpass. All owners or authorised representatives must endorse the application before payment is made. Foreign nationals who don't have Singpass are required to engage a registered filing agent such as accounting firm, or corporate secretarial firm to submit the application on their behalf.

One requirement that catches people off guard: before registration is approved, all owners must be up to date with their MediSave contributions. If you have outstanding MediSave payable, you'll need to settle it or be on an active GIRO plan before the application can proceed.

Registration fees are modest, and approval for straightforward applications typically comes through within 15 minutes of payment. Some applications are referred to Referral Authorities and may take up to 14 to 60 days.

Set up your Corppass account

After receiving your UEN (Unique Entity Number), register for a Corppass admin account. Corppass is the digital identity system that gives you access to all government digital services such as IRAS myTax Portal, CPF employer services, MOM work pass applications, and more. Without it, you cannot file returns, make contributions, or manage most ongoing regulatory obligations online.

Step 2 — Ongoing compliance: tax

Individual income tax for sole proprietors

As a sole proprietor, your trade income is treated as personal income and taxed under individual income tax rates. You are considered a self-employed person under IRAS's classification, the same category as freelancers, commission agents, and hawkers.

You must report your business income each year using Form B (for self-employed individuals) via IRAS myTax Portal. The filing window opens on 1 March each year and the deadline is 18 April. Your income is assessed in the Year of Assessment following the year in which it was earned and the income earned in 2025 is assessed in YA 2026.

If your annual revenue is S$200,000 or below, you report using a simplified 2-line statement: revenue and adjusted profit/loss. If your revenue exceeds S$200,000, a more detailed 4-line statement is required. Keep proper business records regardless. IRAS recommends retaining all business records for at least five years.

You must file even if your business made a loss. The loss is reportable and may be offset against other personal income in the same assessment year, subject to conditions.

Income tax for partnerships : Form P and individual filings

Partnerships are tax-transparent, meaning the partnership itself is not taxed. Instead, each partner is individually taxed on their share of the partnership's profits.

There are two separate filing obligations for partnerships:

Form P — filed by the precedent partner (the first-named partner, or the partner designated to handle tax filings) on behalf of the partnership. Form P reports the total income, expenses, and profit or loss of the partnership for the relevant accounting period, along with each partner's allocated share. The deadline for Form P is 15 April each year. If Form P is filed electronically by 28 February, the partnership income allocation is pre-filled in each partner's individual return from 1 March, a useful time-saver.

Form B/B1 — filed individually by each partner, reporting their allocated share of partnership profit or loss as part of their total personal income. The precedent partner must inform other partners of their respective shares if Form P is not filed electronically with pre-filling.

Partners who earn income from both the partnership and other sources , employment, freelance work, rental declare everything together in their individual Form B.

GST registration

GST registration is compulsory when your total taxable revenue exceeds S$1 million at the end of a calendar year, or when it is expected to exceed S$1 million in the next 12 months. Voluntary registration is also available if your revenue is below the threshold and you wish to claim input tax on business purchases.

For sole proprietors with multiple sole proprietorship businesses, the GST threshold applies to the combined revenue of all your sole proprietorships. You register once and all businesses are covered under that registration.

Once registered, GST returns (Form F5) are filed quarterly via IRAS myTax Portal or through Seamless Filing From Software (SFFS), within one month of each quarter's end. Both the return and payment are due at the same time.

From the GST InvoiceNow Requirement currently being phased in, all GST-registered businesses will eventually be required to transmit invoice data to IRAS via the InvoiceNow network. Check IRAS's website for the timeline applicable to your business size.

Step 3 — Ongoing compliance: if you hire employees

CPF contributions and Skills Development Levy

If you hire Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents, you are required to make monthly CPF contributions for each eligible employee. CPF contributions must be paid by the last day of the month. IRAS will take enforcement action against employers who fail to pay by the 14th of the following month, so in practice, paying on or before the last day of the month is essential.

To submit CPF contributions, you need a CPF Submission Number (CSN). Apply for one after setting up your Corppass account before your first employee starts work, not after.

From January 2026, the Ordinary Wage CPF ceiling increased to S$8,000 per month, up from S$6,800. CPF contributions are calculated only on the first S$8,000 of monthly salary.

Alongside CPF, employers must also pay the Skills Development Levy (SDL) at 0.25% of each employee's total monthly remuneration, including remuneration of foreign workers. SDL is payable together with CPF contributions.

Work Injury Compensation insurance

Before any employee starts work, you are required to obtain Work Injury Compensation (WIC) insurance if they are manual workers, or non-manual workers earning less than S$2,600 per month. This is a mandatory requirement under the Work Injury Compensation Act, not optional. The insurance must be in place before the employment commences not retroactively arranged after an incident.

Occupational Employment Dataset updates

Every quarter, by the 14th day after the quarter ends, businesses are required to update MOM's Occupational Employment Dataset (OED) with any changes to the occupational and employment details of their workforce. This applies to most employers and feeds into MOM's workforce planning and policy functions.

If you hire foreign workers

Hiring foreign workers introduces an additional layer of requirements. Before any foreign worker starts, you need to:

Assign the Work Pass eService to the relevant officers in your Corppass account, register for a MOM services account (Work Pass Account Registration eService), and declare your business activity to MOM.

Apply for the appropriate work pass for each foreign hire, a Work Permit, S Pass, or Employment Pass, depending on the role and salary level.

If you hire Work Permit or S Pass holders, set up GIRO with MOM for the Foreign Worker Levy, which is due monthly.

Step 4 — Keeping your ACRA records current

Unlike a private limited company, sole proprietorships and partnerships don't have Annual Return filing obligations in the same way companies do. However, you are required to keep your ACRA business information up to date whenever anything changes, business address, owner details, business activities, or cessation of business.

Update ACRA promptly when any registered information changes. Letting your ACRA record drift from reality particularly your business address creates problems when government agencies send correspondence to an outdated address, and can complicate banking, contract execution, and government scheme applications.

Your business registration must also be renewed with ACRA. Unlike companies, sole proprietorships and partnerships register for one or three years rather than indefinitely, so renewal deadlines apply. ACRA typically sends a renewal reminder, but the responsibility to renew rests with you.

Practical note: your business address and the public register

Everything you register with ACRA including your business address appears on the public business register, accessible to anyone who looks up your business online.

For sole proprietors working from home, this is worth thinking about carefully. Your residential address on the public register is visible to clients, competitors, and anyone else who searches for your business. Some sole proprietors are comfortable with this. Others particularly those in client-facing service businesses, or those who simply prefer to keep home and business clearly separated, choose to register a professional business address instead.

A virtual office address from a registered Corporate Service Provider satisfies ACRA's business address requirements for sole proprietorships and partnerships. It gives you a professional Paya Lebar Square address on the public register, handles your official correspondence, and keeps your home address private.

At VCO Office, sole proprietorship and partnership plans work the same way as company plans. you subscribe online, receive your address confirmation, use it for your ACRA registration, and manage mail through self-collection, forwarding, or daily scanning depending on your preference.

View our plans → | Subscribe today →

Considering upgrading to a private limited company?

Some of the requirements above particularly unlimited personal liability and personal income tax on business profits lead sole proprietors and partners to eventually consider incorporating a private limited company instead.

A Pte Ltd structure gives you a separate legal entity (meaning personal assets are protected from business debts in most circumstances), a flat 17% corporate tax rate with generous startup tax exemptions in the first three years, and a more formal governance structure that many banks, investors, and larger clients expect to see.

The trade-off is more compliance: company secretarial requirements, annual returns, financial statements, and corporate tax filings that don't apply to sole proprietorships and partnerships.

If you're at the stage of evaluating a structure change, our guide on How to Register a Company in Singapore Using a Virtual Office Address walks through what the incorporation process looks like in practice.

Quick-reference compliance checklist for sole proprietors and partners

Obligation	Authority	When
Register business and business address	ACRA via GoBusiness	Before commencing business
Set up Corppass	Corppass	After receiving UEN
Apply for CSN (if hiring staff)	CPF Board	Before first employee starts
Obtain WIC insurance (if applicable)	MOM	Before employee starts work
File personal income tax (Form B/B1)	IRAS	1 March – 18 April annually
File partnership return (Form P)	IRAS	By 15 April (precedent partner)
Register for GST (if turnover ≥ S$1M)	IRAS	When threshold is reached
File and pay GST (if registered)	IRAS	Within 1 month after quarter end
Pay CPF and SDL contributions	CPF Board	By last day of month (enforce by 14th of following month)
Update OED with employee details	MOM	By 14th day after each quarter end
Update ACRA on any business changes	ACRA	Promptly when changes occur
Renew business registration	ACRA	Before expiry (1 or 3 year cycles)

VCO Office is a registered Corporate Service Provider in Singapore (CSP Registration Number: FA20170051). It is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or regulatory advice. Requirements may change always verify current obligations with the relevant authority or a qualified professional.