The gazette is the public notice board for company deaths. ACRA publishes four lists on it: entities about to be struck off, entities already struck off, entities that withdrew their application, and entities restored to the register. The dates on those lists start and end the clocks that decide whether a company survives.
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Most directors never look at it. Most creditors look at it once, far too late, usually the week after a debtor stopped answering email.
That is a mistake in both directions. If you are closing a company, the gazette tells you whether the process is actually running. If someone owes you money, the gazette is the only free, official warning that the debtor is about to cease to legally exist.
What the striking off gazette actually is
A gazette notification is a formal public announcement by the Registrar. It is not a courtesy email and it does not depend on anyone having your correct address. Once a name appears in the gazette, the world is taken to have notice of it.
ACRA publishes the lists as dated notices, and keeps back years of them, so you can look up what was published in any given year rather than only what is current.
There are four striking off lists, plus a separate set of revocation notices:
| List | What it tells you | What it starts or ends |
|---|---|---|
| Entities to be struck off (First Gazette) | The Registrar intends to remove this entity | The 60-day window in which interested parties may object |
| Entities that have been struck off (Final Gazette) | The entity has been removed and no longer legally exists | The dissolution date, and the start of the restoration window |
| Entities that withdrew their striking off applications | The company pulled out; it stays on the register | Nothing. It is a cancellation notice |
| Entities that have been restored | A struck-off entity is back on the register by court order | The entity is treated as live again |
| Revocation Gazette Notices | A company’s registration was ordered to be revoked from a stated date | A different route off the register, not a striking off |
Revocation is worth separating out. It is not the end of a striking off application. It is an order that a registration be revoked with effect from a stated date, published as a standalone notice, and it is rare. If a counterparty of yours appears there, treat it as a serious red flag and ask questions rather than assuming it is the same thing as a strike off.
The clocks, in the order they run
The process takes at least three months from the point ACRA approves the application, and longer if anyone objects. The sequence is fixed:
- Application and endorsement. A director, the company secretary or an appointed corporate service provider applies through Bizfile. Where there are other position holders, all or a majority of directors must endorse within 14 days or the application lapses. There is no fee.
- ACRA review, and the striking off letter. If ACRA is satisfied, it may write to the company’s registered office address and to the officers’ residential addresses. The company’s officers have 30 days from the date of that letter to object.
- First Gazette. If nothing stops it, ACRA publishes the company’s name in the First Gazette within 30 days of approval.
- The 60-day waiting period. This is the window that matters to outsiders. Any interested person may object during it.
- Final Gazette. If no objection stands, ACRA publishes the name in the Final Gazette. The company is struck off on the date stated there. It is removed from the register and it no longer legally exists. ACRA points to section 344A of the Companies Act 1967 for that consequence.
Two of those clocks are commonly confused. The 30 days is the officers’ window, measured from the letter. The 60 days is everyone else’s window, measured from the First Gazette. If you are a creditor, the 60 days is yours, and it is the only one you can actually see from outside.
The same gazette read three ways
| You are | What the First Gazette means to you | What you should do |
|---|---|---|
| The applicant company | The process is live and on track | Nothing, but keep the registered address working |
| A creditor or claimant | You have 60 days before your debtor is gone | Object through Bizfile, with documents |
| A director of a company that did not apply | ACRA has moved to strike you off on its own initiative | Find out why, and fix the underlying default |
Objecting: who can do it, and what it costs
Any interested person can object through Bizfile. Individuals objecting for themselves log in with Singpass, and anyone objecting on behalf of an entity logs in with Corppass, so if you are unsure which route applies to you, start with our notes on logging in to Bizfile as an individual and logging in as a business user. It is free. ACRA states processing of up to 20 working days. You may only object while the entity’s status is not yet “Struck Off”, which is another reason the 60-day window is the real deadline rather than a soft one.
You need the entity’s UEN, your own details as objector, your reason, and, unless you are a government agency, supporting documents. ACRA is explicit that objections without supporting documents may be rejected. Invoices, purchase orders, bank statements, a lease, a signed contract, a notice of assessment, court documents or evidence of an ongoing claim will all do the job. Files must be PDF, up to two of them, and each under 3MB.
If your objection is accepted, ACRA writes to the company naming you and stating your reason. The company then has two months to resolve the matter with you. If it does not, the striking off application lapses and the company cannot reapply until the objection has been cleared.
That is a genuinely useful piece of leverage, and it is underused. A company that wants to close cannot close past an unresolved debt.
What goes wrong in practice
The letters go to an address nobody reads. ACRA sends the striking off letter to the registered office and to officers’ residential addresses. If the registered office is a former agent’s premises, or the residential address on file is three homes out of date, the letter lands nowhere. For the applicant, the consequence is a failed strike off and a company that quietly returns to “Live” status, which means annual returns, an AGM and financial statements continue to accrue against it. Companies discover this eighteen months later when the late lodgement penalties arrive.
The director assumes silence means success. No news from ACRA is not confirmation. The only confirmation is the entity’s name in the Final Gazette on the stated date. Check it.
The creditor finds out at the Final Gazette. Once the entity is struck off, objecting is no longer available to you. The route back is restoration, which means a court order, and ACRA allows that only within six years of the striking off. That is a solicitor’s job and a materially more expensive one than a free Bizfile objection lodged inside 60 days.
Somebody objects for the wrong reason. An objection you cannot support with documents will be rejected, and you will have spent your window. If the debt is disputed, say so plainly and lodge the contract and the invoices rather than a bare assertion.
The company was being struck off by ACRA, not by itself. ACRA can initiate striking off where a company appears to have stopped carrying on business, typically after a long run of unfiled annual returns. Directors in that position often assume someone applied on their behalf. Nobody did. A long run of unfiled annual returns sits behind most of these cases, and the filing obligations that caused it are set out in our Companies Act 1967 deep-dive FAQ. Directors with several companies struck off in the same period face disqualification consequences of their own.
Using the gazette as a routine check
Three moments where a two-minute gazette check pays for itself:
Before you extend credit or sign a supply contract. A name in the First Gazette means the counterparty either intends to close or is being closed. Neither is a good basis for 60-day payment terms.
When a customer goes quiet. Debtors do not usually announce a strike off. The gazette does.
A month after you file your own striking off application. You are checking that the First Gazette entry exists. If it does not, something in the endorsement or the review stage stalled and you want to know now, not in three months.
If the company you are checking has nominee officers, the picture is more complicated than the gazette shows, and our note on the trapped nominee director’s exit covers what happens when the nominee wants out and the beneficial owner has vanished. If your company was struck off and you are working back from a court order, restoring statutory registers and records after reinstatement is the step most people forget.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to object after a company appears in the First Gazette?
Sixty days. The First Gazette opens a 60-day waiting period during which any interested person may object through Bizfile. You can only object while the entity’s status is not yet “Struck Off”, so treat the 60 days as a hard deadline rather than a guide.
Does it cost anything to object to a striking off?
No. Submitting an objection through Bizfile is free. ACRA states a processing time of up to 20 working days. The real cost is the evidence: objections lodged without supporting documents may be rejected, and you will have used up your window.
My company appeared in the First Gazette but I never applied. What happened?
ACRA can start a striking off on its own initiative where a company appears to have stopped carrying on business, usually after repeated failures to file. Objecting keeps the company alive, but only for as long as the underlying defaults remain unfixed. Deal with the filings.
What happens if nobody resolves an objection?
The company gets two months from ACRA’s letter to resolve the matter with the objector. If it is not resolved in that time, the striking off application lapses. The company cannot apply again until the objection has been cleared.
Can a struck-off company come back?
Yes, within six years, by obtaining a court order and filing it on Bizfile. The status returns to “Live” once ACRA has processed it, and the name appears in the list of restored entities. It is considerably more expensive than objecting in time.
Is a gazette notice the same as a revocation notice?
No. Revocation notices are published separately and record that a company’s registration was ordered to be revoked with effect from a stated date. It is a different route off the register and it is rare. If a counterparty appears there, ask questions before relying on anything they have told you.
Someone should be watching these dates
The gazette is free, public and permanent. The reason it fails as a safeguard is not that the information is hidden. It is that nobody has the job of looking.
Raffles Corporate Services monitors striking off exposure for the companies we act for, on both sides: making sure a client’s own closure runs to the gazette dates without a failed strike off, and flagging when a counterparty appears in the First Gazette while there is still time to object. If you have a debtor who has gone quiet, or a company you thought you had closed two years ago, both are short conversations.
You can reach us through Raffles Corporate Services, or read more on Singapore corporate secretarial practice at Singapore Secretary Services. ACRA’s own gazette lists are published on the ACRA website.
— The Editorial Team, Raffles Corporate Services
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