How to Start a Marketing Agency in Singapore: SSIC, Creative IP, PDPA and GST

Short answer: To start a marketing agency in Singapore, incorporate a private limited company under SSIC 73100 (advertising activities), get written IP assignments from freelancers, sign data processing terms with clients under the PDPA, check the Do Not Call register before SMS or call campaigns, and register for GST once taxable turnover exceeds S$1 million.

If you want to start a marketing agency in Singapore, the company is the quick part. The problems come later: a freelancer who still owns the campaign video, a leaked customer list or a 0% GST invoice that should have carried 9%. This guide covers set-up, contracts and tax for digital, creative and social media agencies.

Raffles Corporate Services works with a panel of experienced Singapore law firms who offer cost-effective and efficient legal service and advice. This article is general information only and is not legal advice.

Which SSIC code should a marketing or digital agency use?

Most full-service, digital and social media agencies use 73100, advertising activities, because they plan and run campaigns. Pick the primary code for your largest revenue stream.

The Singapore Standard Industrial Classification (SSIC) is the national list of activity codes. ACRA requires a 5-digit code for the primary activity and, where applicable, one secondary code, chosen when you reserve the name on Bizfile. The SSIC 2025 definition of 73100 expressly includes social media advertising and media buying.

See our guide on choosing primary and secondary SSIC codes.

How do you start a marketing agency in Singapore, step by step?

Incorporation takes days; the contracts around it take longer.

1. Reserve the company name on Bizfile and select the SSIC codes.
2. Incorporate the private limited company. Raffles Corporate Services can usually complete incorporation within 1 business day of receiving complete documents, subject to compliance checks.
3. Have founders transfer pre-incorporation templates, content and domain names to the company in writing.
4. Put employment, freelancer and client contracts in place with IP and personal data clauses.
5. Designate a data protection officer and publish their business contact details.
6. Open the bank account and record Singapore and overseas revenue separately for GST.
7. Check work pass eligibility and job advertising rules before making offers to foreign candidates.

Who owns the creative work: the agency, the freelancer or the client?

The agency owns work its employees create in the course of employment. Freelancers and production houses own their work unless they transfer it in writing, and the client owns nothing until the agency passes the rights on.

The Copyright Act 2021, in force since 21 November 2021, made creators the default owners of all commissioned content, including photographs and films. The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) says a business that is not the default owner needs a written agreement with the creator to own the copyright. Paying an invoice does not move ownership.

Creators also have a right to be identified when their work is used in public, so cover attribution in freelancer contracts. See our guides to copyright ownership for Singapore businesses and hiring freelancers as a Singapore company.

What should an agency’s client contract cover?

It should fix the scope, state when IP passes to the client and set rules for personal data. Agencies usually transfer IP in final deliverables on full payment and keep their own templates.

• Scope, deliverables, revision rounds and pricing for change requests.
• A written assignment of final deliverables on payment, plus a licence for any pre-existing agency material built into them.
• Whether the client pays ad platforms directly or the agency pays and recharges.
• A data processing clause covering security, retention and breach notification (see the PDPA section below).
• Payment terms, termination and the handover of ad account and social media access.

Drafting these terms is legal work; you can speak to a lawyer through our panel to have your templates reviewed.

What does the PDPA require when an agency handles customer data?

An agency that processes a client’s customer data on the client’s behalf under a written contract is a data intermediary. Most PDPA obligations stay with the client, but the agency must still protect the data, stop keeping it when no longer needed and report breaches to the client.

Section 4(2) of the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (PDPA) relieves a data intermediary working under a written contract of most obligations, except section 24 (reasonable security arrangements), section 25 (ceasing to retain data) and section 26C(3)(a) (notifying the client of a data breach without undue delay). The Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) confirms the client remains liable for processing done on its behalf, and an agency that uses the data for its own purposes loses intermediary status for that use.

For its own staff and leads, the agency is an organisation in its own right. Section 11 requires it to designate a person responsible for compliance and publish their business contact information.

What are the Do Not Call rules for SMS and WhatsApp campaigns?

Before sending a marketing message or making a marketing call to a Singapore telephone number, the sender must check the number against the Do Not Call (DNC) register, unless the recipient gave clear and unambiguous consent in written or other accessible form.

The PDPC applies the DNC rules to organisations that send telemarketing messages and to those that cause or authorise them, so both the agency and the client are exposed.

• DNC check results are valid for up to 30 days; after that the numbers must be checked again.
• A message asking for consent, sent to a Singapore number, is itself a marketing message and needs a DNC check first.
• Each message must include the contact information of the organisation sending or authorising it, and marketing calls must not hide the caller’s number.

The PDPC’s DNC Registry pages explain how to check numbers.

Do you charge GST to overseas clients?

If you are GST-registered, it depends on the service and the client. Media planning, creative and production, and brand PR services can be zero-rated under section 21(3)(j) of the GST Act only where the contract is with an overseas person and the services directly benefit an overseas person outside Singapore when the services are performed, or a GST-registered person in Singapore.

IRAS treats your contractual client as the sole direct beneficiary if the agreement does not require the services to be provided to anyone else and you deal only with that client. Since 1 January 2022, media sales follow the same test.

When must a marketing agency register for GST, and what about overseas ad platforms?

Registration is compulsory once taxable turnover exceeds S$1 million in a calendar year, or is reasonably expected to in the next 12 months. Zero-rated sales to overseas clients count towards the threshold.

Under the IRAS registration rules, on the calendar-year test you apply between 1 and 30 January and are registered from 1 March. On the forecast test you apply within 30 days of the forecast date and are registered 2 months from that date. Agencies with wholly or mainly zero-rated turnover can apply for exemption. Late registration may attract a fine of up to S$10,000 and a penalty of 10% of the GST due.

Agencies also buy ad platforms and software from overseas. Overseas vendors with global turnover above S$1 million and over S$100,000 a year of remote services to non-GST-registered Singapore customers must register and charge GST. Once your agency is registered, give them your GST registration number so they do not charge GST; reverse charge applies only if you are not entitled to full input tax credit. See our guides to compulsory and voluntary GST registration and the overseas vendor registration regime, and try our free tools.

How is a new agency taxed on its profits?

Corporate income tax is a flat 17% of chargeable income, with a start-up exemption for qualifying new companies.

For its first 3 consecutive Years of Assessment, a qualifying new company gets a 75% exemption on the first S$100,000 of normal chargeable income and a further 50% on the next S$100,000. Conditions include Singapore incorporation, tax residence and no more than 20 shareholders.

How do you hire foreign staff for a marketing agency?

Senior hires usually need an Employment Pass (EP); mid-level staff may qualify for an S Pass, subject to quota.

Under MOM’s EP eligibility rules, the minimum salary rises with age, and most applications must also score 40 points under COMPASS, MOM’s points-based framework; candidates with a fixed monthly salary of at least S$22,500 are exempt. EP and S Pass applications normally require a MyCareersFuture job advertisement open for at least 14 consecutive days, but companies with fewer than 10 employees are exempt.

The S Pass quota uses the average number of local employees over the last 3 months, from CPF records, so an agency with no local staff cannot hire S Pass holders. Work passes for our clients are handled by our associated MOM-licensed agency, Little Big Employment Agency (Singapore Employment Agency).

Frequently asked questions

Can our agency send SMS or WhatsApp promotions to Singapore numbers for a client?

Only after checking the numbers against the DNC register within the last 30 days, or with each recipient’s clear and unambiguous consent kept in written or other accessible form, as section 43 of the PDPA requires.

Can I charge 0% GST to every overseas client?

No. Zero-rating under section 21(3)(j) needs both an overseas contracting party and an overseas (or GST-registered Singapore) direct beneficiary. Work delivered to a client’s non-registered Singapore subsidiary or branch is usually standard-rated.

Does my client automatically own the designs we create for them?

No. Copyright stays with the agency (for employee work) or the freelancer until it is assigned in writing.

Is my agency responsible if a client’s customer list leaks from our systems?

Yes, in part. As a data intermediary you must have reasonable security arrangements under section 24 and must notify the client without undue delay under section 26C(3)(a). The client remains liable for processing done on its behalf.

Last reviewed: 26 October 2026. The Editorial Team, Raffles Corporate Services.