Every Singapore company runs on a clock. Annual returns, tax filings, GST submissions, AGMs, CPF contributions, work pass renewals — each has its own deadline, its own statutory authority, and its own penalty scheme. Miss one and the consequences range from late-filing fees that creep up monthly to director liability under the Companies Act 1967.
The good news: the calendar is predictable. The bad news: most directors discover it only when something goes wrong. This guide pulls the entire annual compliance cycle into one reference, written for directors, founders, and finance teams who would rather plan than react.
The dates here assume a calendar-year financial year end (31 December). If your FYE is different, shift the deadlines accordingly — the obligations are the same, only the offsets change.
The Big Picture: Five Authorities, One Calendar
Singapore companies report to up to five distinct authorities each year:
- ACRA — incorporation, annual returns, AGM, statutory registers, officer changes.
- IRAS — corporate income tax, ECI, GST, withholding tax, transfer pricing.
- CPF Board — monthly CPF contributions for local employees.
- MOM — work pass renewals, foreign worker levies, FCF declarations.
- MAS — for licensed entities only (financial institutions, fund managers, family offices on the class exemption).
The calendar below is structured chronologically. Most companies will not touch every item — but every director should know which apply.
Monthly Obligations
Some obligations recur every month rather than annually. Set these up as standing operations rather than one-off tasks.
- CPF contributions: Due by the 14th day of the following month for local employees and PRs. Late contributions attract 1.5% interest per month, with a minimum of S$5.
- Skills Development Levy (SDL): 0.25% of monthly wages, capped at S$11.25 per employee per month, paid alongside CPF.
- Foreign Worker Levy: Due by the 17th of each month for Work Permit and S Pass holders.
- GST returns: Quarterly for most GST-registered businesses, due one month after the end of each accounting period. Companies on monthly returns must file monthly. For our explainer on the registration thresholds, see GST registration in Singapore.
Within Days of an Event: Real-Time Filings
Some changes do not wait for an annual cycle. Failing to file these within the prescribed window is a separate offence.
| Event | Window | Authority / Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Change of director, secretary, or registered office | 14 days | ACRA / Companies Act s.143 |
| Change of company name | 14 days post-resolution | ACRA / Companies Act s.27 |
| Allotment of new shares | 14 days | ACRA / Companies Act s.63 |
| Update to register of registrable controllers | 30 days of becoming aware | ACRA |
| Update to nominee director / nominee shareholder register | 7 days | ACRA / RAID Act 2017 |
| Stamp duty on share transfers | 14 days (Singapore) / 30 days (overseas) | IRAS |
| Notification of work pass cancellation | 1 working day after cancellation | MOM |
For more on the share allotment and transfer mechanics, see our guide to transferring shares in a Singapore private company.
The Annual Cycle (FYE 31 December)
For a calendar-year FYE, this is the year-by-year flow.
Q1: Closing the Books and Filing ECI
By 31 March: file the Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) with IRAS for the financial year just ended. Companies with annual revenue of S$5 million or less and zero ECI are exempt from filing — but should still document the basis for non-filing internally.
Q1 is also when most companies finalise their financial statements and engage auditors (where audit is required). For directors, this is the right moment to hold the year-end board meeting reviewing performance and approving the dividend policy.
Q2: Audit (if required) and AGM Preparation
Audit is mandatory unless the company qualifies as a “small company” — broadly, a private company satisfying at least two of: total revenue not exceeding S$10 million, total assets not exceeding S$10 million, and not more than 50 employees. Group consolidation tests apply at the parent level.
For non-listed companies, the financial statements should be tabled at AGM within 6 months of FYE. That means a 30 December FYE company should hold its AGM by 30 June. AGM notice (14 days for ordinary resolutions, 21 for special) should be issued in advance. See our explainer on AGM requirements in Singapore.
Q3: Annual Return Filing
Non-listed companies must file the Annual Return with ACRA within 7 months of FYE (listed companies: 5 months). For a 31 December FYE, that is 31 July. The Annual Return includes details of officers, registered office, share capital, financial statements (in XBRL where required), and confirmation that the AGM has been held.
Late filing penalties: S$300 within 3 months of the due date, S$600 thereafter. From January 2026, ACRA has tightened enforcement of these dates — informal grace periods no longer apply. For our walkthrough of the AR filing itself, see our Annual Return filing guide with BizFile+.
Q4: Corporate Income Tax Return
By 30 November: e-file the Form C-S, C-S (Lite), or Form C with IRAS for the previous Year of Assessment. The form to use depends on revenue, eligibility for simplified filing, and whether the company has tax incentives or transfer pricing exposure.
Q4 is also the right time to plan for the next financial year — refreshing the budget, reviewing director compensation, planning capex, and assessing whether GST registration thresholds are likely to be breached in the coming year.
Other Annual Obligations
Several recurring obligations don’t fall neatly into the FYE-driven calendar.
- Auto-Inclusion Scheme (AIS) for employment income: Employers with more than five employees (or under directive from IRAS) must submit employment income data to IRAS by 1 March of each year, covering the prior calendar year.
- IR8A / Appendix 8A / 8B: Where AIS does not apply, employers must furnish IR8A forms to employees by 1 March.
- Form IR21: When a foreign employee leaves Singapore or stops working, the employer must file Form IR21 at least one month before departure or last working day, and withhold final salary pending tax clearance.
- Transfer pricing documentation: Required where related-party transactions exceed prescribed thresholds — must be in place before the corporate tax return is filed.
- Withholding tax filings: Within 15 days of the second month following payment, where applicable. See our withholding tax practical guide.
Penalties and Director Liability
Late filing is not just a fee. Under amendments tabled in the 2026 Companies Act revision, maximum fines for director-level breaches of filing duties are increased substantially, with composition fines doubled for repeat offenders. Persistent non-compliance can lead to:
- ACRA composition fines up to S$5,000 per breach.
- Court-imposed fines up to S$20,000 for serious or repeated breaches.
- Disqualification of directors for up to five years (Companies Act s.155A).
- Striking off of the company by ACRA where the company appears to have ceased operations.
Beyond the legal exposure, late or missed filings cause practical problems: bank account reviews trigger, work pass approvals are delayed, audit opinions are qualified, and grants are deferred or rejected. For an overview of director duties more broadly, see our guide on appointing your first directors.
How to Operationalise the Calendar
The calendar is a tool only if someone owns it. We recommend three operational practices:
- Assign a single owner. Whether internal (a finance manager, COO, or company secretary) or external (a corporate services provider), one person should be accountable for the full calendar — not just the items they personally execute.
- Set tickets 30 days ahead of every deadline. Late filing is rarely the result of forgetting the deadline; it’s the result of starting the work too late. Build a 30-day-ahead trigger into your project management tool.
- Conduct a quarterly compliance review. A 60-minute review at the start of each quarter — covering items completed, items pending, and items added by regulatory change — catches problems before they become breaches.
For companies that prefer to outsource the calendar entirely, our company secretary service handles ACRA, IRAS, and MOM filings end to end, including all the within-days-of-event obligations that catch directors out most often.
What Changes in 2026
Two changes worth flagging for the coming year:
- Stricter ACRA enforcement: From January 2026, ACRA enforces strict calendar deadlines without informal grace. The previously common “fix it within a week and we’ll waive the penalty” practice no longer applies.
- Increased director-duty fines: The April 2026 Companies Act amendments raise maximum fines for breaches of directors’ filing duties to S$20,000.
- Continued shift to InvoiceNow / GST e-invoicing: Phased rollout of mandatory e-invoicing for GST-registered businesses — see our GST filing guide.
For a useful complementary reference, our sister site has a year-at-a-glance compliance calendar at Singapore Company Compliance Calendar 2026.
Closing Thoughts
Compliance, done well, is invisible. Done poorly, it consumes weeks of director time, hundreds of dollars of penalties, and — in the worst cases — the company itself. The work is largely scheduling: knowing what is due, by when, to whom, and assigning the responsibility before the deadline arrives.
If you’d rather have someone else hold the calendar, Raffles Corporate Services handles the full annual cycle — ACRA, IRAS, MOM, CPF, and MAS where applicable — for hundreds of Singapore companies. Our work is built around your FYE, not the other way around.
— The Editorial Team, Raffles Corporate Services