Applying for an EOT to File Financial Statements for Foreign Companies

A foreign company branch that needs more time to file its financial statements with ACRA applies for an extension of time in Bizfile under section 373(10) of the Companies Act 1967. ACRA grants up to 60 days, the fee is $200, and the outcome is immediate.

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.

The catch is in who qualifies. The extension is available where the foreign company is not required to table financial statements at an annual general meeting in its country of incorporation. If your home jurisdiction does require an AGM, your Singapore deadline is already pegged to that AGM and this is not your route.

Apply before the deadline, not after it. An extension extends a live deadline. It does not retrospectively cure a missed one.

What section 373(10) actually grants

Section 373(10) of the Companies Act 1967 says the Registrar may, on application by a foreign company and payment of the prescribed application fee, extend the period referred to in section 373(3) within which the company must comply with any or all of the requirements of section 373(3)(b) and section 373(7).

Read that carefully, because two things follow.

First, the power is discretionary. The Registrar may extend. You are making an application with reasons, not exercising an entitlement. In practice ACRA processes these immediately for a properly completed application, but that is administrative efficiency, not a right.

Second, the extension attaches to section 373(3)(b). That is the limb for a foreign company whose home law does not require financial statements to be tabled at an AGM. It is not the limb for a company that must table at an AGM, which falls under section 373(3)(a) and runs 60 days from the AGM date. That is exactly why the Bizfile form asks whether the foreign company must table financial statements or hold an AGM in its country of incorporation.

The extension covers the branch documents in section 373(7) as well: the audited statement of Singapore assets and liabilities, the audited Singapore profit and loss account, and the auditor’s name. If your problem is that the branch audit will not finish in time, this is the right application.

Who can apply

The application is made through the entity’s own Bizfile access, so whoever files needs Corppass rights to the branch. If nobody at the branch has been set up, that is a prerequisite and it takes longer than the application itself. Our guides on setting up Corppass for a new company and who should have Bizfile access cover the set-up and the role assignment.

What to prepare before you start

Three things, and none of them should take long if the branch file is in order:

• The branch’s unique entity number
• The financial year end date, exactly as recorded with ACRA
• The reason for the extension

Have the answer to the AGM question settled before you open the form. If you are not certain whether your home jurisdiction requires financial statements to be tabled at an AGM, get that confirmed by counsel in that jurisdiction rather than guessing on a Bizfile declaration you are about to tick.

The fee and the timing

The fee is payable on submission. If a payment fails partway through, our note on paying ACRA on Bizfile explains what happens next and how refunds and receipts work.

The steps, in order

1. Log in to Bizfile as a Business User through Corppass. The route is covered in our walkthrough on logging in to Bizfile as a business user.
2. Check the entity name on the top menu bar and on the dashboard. If you act for more than one entity, switch profile to the branch first. Filing an extension for the wrong entity is a $200 mistake with no refund.
3. From the main menu, open Manage, then select Apply for extension of time.
4. On the introduction page, start the application.
5. Confirm the entity details, then select the extension type for filing of financial statements for a foreign company.
6. Enter the financial year end date.
7. Answer the question on whether the foreign company must table financial statements or hold an AGM in its country of incorporation. This is the eligibility gate, so answer it accurately.
8. State the reason for the extension.
9. Review everything, complete the declaration, and proceed to payment.
10. Pay, then download the receipt from the acknowledgement screen.
11. Watch your Bizfile inbox for the notification confirming approval.

Keep the receipt and the approval notification together with the branch’s filing file. Both are useful later if a question arises about whether the eventual lodgement was on time, and both will be sitting in your Bizfile transaction history if you lose them.

What counts as a good reason

There is no published list, and there does not need to be one. Write two or three factual sentences that a reader who knows nothing about your group can follow.

Reasons that read well are concrete and specific to the branch. The Singapore audit is incomplete because a named subsidiary reporting pack arrived late. The head office accounts require certified English translation and the translator has quoted a date beyond the deadline. A change in the branch’s auditor has pushed the sign-off timetable.

Reasons that read badly are generic. “Additional time required” tells the Registrar nothing. Neither does “internal delays”. You are not writing a submission, but you are creating a record, and a thin record is a poor thing to have on file if the branch is later asked why it filed late two years running.

What goes wrong in practice

Applying after the deadline has already passed. This is the big one. Section 373(10) extends the period within which the company is required to comply. Once that period has expired, there is nothing left to extend, and a default under section 373 has already occurred. Under section 373(18) the company, and every director or equivalent person and every authorised representative who knowingly and wilfully authorises or permits the default, is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000. Diarise the application, not just the filing.

Answering the AGM question wrong. If your home jurisdiction requires tabling at an AGM, your deadline runs 60 days from that AGM under section 373(3)(a), and the extension route is not designed for you. Ticking the box the other way to get the extension through is a false declaration, which is a materially worse problem than a late filing.

Assuming 60 days is enough. It usually is, but only if the audit is genuinely close. A branch audit that has not started will not finish in 60 days either. If the real issue is that nobody scoped the Singapore engagement, the extension buys you a fortnight of comfort and then the same cliff.

Confusing this with a waiver or relief. An extension changes the date. It does not change what you file. If the branch documents themselves are the problem, because the operations are minimal or the cost is out of proportion, the applications to look at are the section 373(12) waiver and the section 373(13A) relief, which we cover in our guide to annual filing for foreign companies. Those are made through the General Lodgement eService, not this one, and they carry their own $200 fee.

Forgetting the branch is not the only clock. Tax and corporate secretarial deadlines run separately. If you are also thinking about moving the year end to align with the group, our note on changing a Singapore company’s financial year end explains how a change interacts with the filing calendar.

Frequently asked questions

How long an extension will ACRA give?
Up to 60 days for a foreign company branch under section 373(10). Treat it as one 60-day buffer rather than a renewable facility, and plan the audit timetable so you do not need it in the first place.

Can I apply for an extension more than once for the same financial year?
Plan on the basis that you cannot. The application is designed as a single 60-day extension of the section 373(3) period. If your circumstances are genuinely exceptional, raise them with ACRA before the extended deadline rather than after it.

Is the $200 fee refundable if the application is refused?
No. ACRA application fees of this kind are payable on submission and are not refunded. Check the entity, the financial year end and the AGM answer before you pay, because each of those is a way to waste the fee.

We are a foreign company that must hold an AGM at home. Can we still get an extension?
The EOT route under section 373(10) is aimed at companies whose home law does not require tabling at an AGM. If yours does, your deadline is 60 days after the AGM under section 373(3)(a). Take advice on your options rather than filing a declaration that does not match your position.

Does the extension also cover the Singapore branch accounts?
Yes. Section 373(10) allows the Registrar to extend the period for the requirements of section 373(3)(b) and section 373(7), and section 373(7) is the branch set: the audited Singapore assets and liabilities statement, the audited Singapore profit and loss account, and the auditor’s name.

How quickly will we know?
Processing is immediate. The approval notification arrives in the branch’s Bizfile inbox, and you can download the payment receipt straight from the acknowledgement screen.

The version where you never need this

The best outcome is an extension you apply for because a translator was slow, not because nobody scoped the branch audit. That distinction is entirely about when the year end conversation happens.

Raffles Corporate Services acts for foreign company branches in Singapore, sets the section 373 calendar against your group reporting timetable rather than behind it, and files the extension where one is genuinely needed. If your branch financial year end has just passed and the audit scope is still open, that is worth a short conversation now rather than in month six.

You can reach us through Raffles Corporate Services, or read more on Singapore corporate secretarial practice at Singapore Secretary Services.

— The Editorial Team, Raffles Corporate Services