Once a liquidator or provisional liquidator has been appointed over a Singapore company or LLP, someone has to tell the Registrar. That is done through the Manage winding up eService in Bizfile, it costs $20, and it is processed immediately. The appointment itself happens outside Bizfile. The filing only records it.
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That distinction is where most of the confusion sits. A liquidator is appointed by a resolution of members, by a resolution of creditors, or by an order of the Court, depending on which route the company has taken. A provisional liquidator is appointed earlier, to hold the position while the substantive application or the creditors’ process runs. None of those appointments become effective because of a Bizfile filing. They become a matter of public record because of it.
Here is who files, what you need in front of you before you start, and the handful of things that go wrong.
Who files the notice, and who does not
The filing is made by the entity, not by the liquidator.
- Directors of a local company
- Partners of an LLP
- A registered corporate service provider filing on the entity’s behalf
The liquidator can prepare the information, and in practice usually does, but the lodgement sits with the company or its filing agent. A liquidator who assumes the company will file, and a director who assumes the liquidator will file, is the classic way a notice sits unlodged for a month.
Note also that this Bizfile notice is separate from the liquidator’s own statutory publication obligations. Section 191 of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 deals with notice of appointment and address of the liquidator, and section 194 deals with notification that the company is in liquidation, which is why invoices, letterhead and websites of a company in liquidation have to say so. Filing the Bizfile notice does not discharge those duties. Check the Act itself on sso.agc.gov.sg if you are the one carrying the obligation.
What you need before you open the eService
Have all of this to hand. The form retrieves names from identification numbers, so a wrong digit produces the wrong person rather than an error message.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Entity UEN and name | The entity being wound up, not the liquidator’s firm |
| Appointment date | Must be today or a past date, never a future date |
| Liquidator type | The category the appointee falls into (see below) |
| Identification details | Identification type and number, or the licence or approval number, depending on type |
| Contact details | The liquidator’s email address and mobile number |
| Address | For individual liquidators, a local or foreign address |
| Firm UEN | Where the liquidator is an accounting LLP, a local company or an audit firm |
The liquidator types, and why the choice matters
Bizfile asks you to classify the appointee. The categories run across accounting limited liability partnership, local company, audit firm, individual, approved insolvency practitioner, approved liquidator, and the Official Receiver.
The category you select changes the fields you then have to complete. An approved insolvency practitioner is identified by licence number. An approved liquidator is identified by an approved liquidator number. A firm is identified by UEN. An individual needs a residential or correspondence address. Selecting the wrong category is the most common reason a filer has to abandon a half-completed form and start again, because the identifier they are holding does not fit the boxes on screen.
If the Official Receiver is the liquidator, you do not key contact details at all. The system supplies the Ministry of Law’s official contact information. That reflects the reality that the Official Receiver takes on companies where no private practitioner will act, usually because there are no assets to fund one.
The filing, step by step
- Log in to Bizfile as a Business User through Corppass. Check that the entity name and UEN at the top of the dashboard are the entity being wound up, not a related company. If you file for the wrong entity, see our note on switching profiles in Bizfile before you go any further.
- Corporate service providers should select the Corporate Service Provider profile, and the correct CSP firm if they act for more than one.
- Open the Manage winding up eService and select the appointment and cessation lodgement, then start.
- Confirm the entity details on screen.
- Choose to appoint a liquidator, state whether the appointee is a liquidator or a provisional liquidator, enter the appointment date and pick the liquidator type.
- Enter the identification or licence details and retrieve the name. Check the retrieved name against the appointment document in front of you.
- Add contact details, address or firm UEN as the type requires, and save.
- Repeat for each additional appointee if there is more than one.
- Confirm each appointee is tagged as being added, review, tick the declaration and pay.
The fee is $20 and the transaction is processed immediately. A confirmation lands in the Bizfile inbox of the filer.
Provisional liquidator or liquidator: get the label right
The form makes you choose, and the two are not interchangeable.
A provisional liquidator holds office in the gap before the substantive appointment, with powers that are typically narrower and directed at preserving assets. In a creditors’ voluntary winding up, the directors appoint one at the point the declaration of inability to continue business is made. In a compulsory winding up, one may be appointed after the application is filed but before the order is made. Our article on appointing a provisional liquidator before the winding up order sets out how the Court approaches that.
A liquidator holds the substantive office, with the powers and duties described in our guide to the powers and duties of a liquidator in a Singapore winding up.
Label a provisional liquidator as a liquidator in the notice and the register will be wrong, and correcting it later is a cessation filing plus a fresh appointment filing, at $20 each, plus the awkward conversation about which capacity the person was actually acting in during the intervening weeks.
What goes wrong in practice
The appointment date is backdated to a date nobody can evidence. The field accepts any past date. The resolution, the creditors’ meeting minutes or the Court order will not. Use the date on the instrument that made the appointment.
Nobody files at all. In a members’ voluntary winding up the sequence is a declaration of solvency, then the members’ resolution, then the appointment. Our walk-throughs of filing the declaration of solvency and appointing a liquidator in a voluntary winding up cover the first two. Companies frequently complete the resolution filing, treat the matter as closed, and never lodge the appointment notice, which then surfaces months later when a bank or a counterparty pulls the entity’s profile and sees no liquidator on record.
Only one of several liquidators is entered. Joint appointments are common where the estate is substantial. The form allows additional appointees to be added before submission. Adding them afterwards means a second transaction and a second fee.
The wrong firm UEN. Where the liquidator acts through a firm, the UEN of that firm is required, not the UEN of the company in liquidation. The two fields sit close together in the flow and get crossed more often than you would expect.
Frequently asked questions
Does the liquidator’s appointment take effect when I file the notice?
No. The appointment takes effect under the resolution or Court order that made it. The Bizfile notice records the appointment on the public register so that creditors, banks and counterparties can see who now controls the company.
How much does it cost and how long does it take?
The lodgement fee is $20 and processing is immediate. You receive an acknowledgement and a notification in your Bizfile inbox once payment goes through.
Can I file a future appointment date?
No. The appointment date must be the current date or a past date. If the appointment is due to take effect next week, wait until it has taken effect and then file.
Who files if the Official Receiver is appointed?
The entity or its corporate service provider still files the notice. When you select the Official Receiver as the liquidator type, the system populates the Ministry of Law’s contact details rather than asking you for them.
What if the liquidator later resigns or is released?
That is a separate transaction. See our guide to filing a notice of cessation of a liquidator or provisional liquidator, and note that periodic accounts continue to fall due throughout the winding up.
Getting the winding up filings in the right order
Winding up is a sequence, and the filings only make sense in order. The resolution or order comes first, the appointment notice follows, periodic accounts run through the life of the liquidation, and a cessation notice closes out each appointment. Miss one and the register tells a story that does not match the file.
Raffles Corporate Services handles the ACRA side of winding up for companies and for the insolvency practitioners who act on them, which means the Bizfile lodgements happen when they should rather than when someone notices. If you are partway through a winding up and are not certain the register reflects it, we can check that quickly. You can also read more on Singapore corporate secretarial practice at Singapore Secretary Services, and ACRA’s own overview of winding up a local company sets out the statutory routes.
The Editorial Team, Raffles Corporate Services
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