The Bizfile application to register as a corporate service provider takes about twenty minutes to complete, costs $400 for a two year registration, and is then reviewed by ACRA within roughly 30 working days. The form itself is not hard. What stalls applications is what happens immediately after you pay.
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.
Every registered qualified individual you appoint, other than the one who submitted the application, has to log in separately and endorse their own appointment. Until they all do, your application does not move. We have seen registrations sit idle for a fortnight because one RQI never checked their Bizfile dashboard.
This guide walks through the filing itself, what you should have in front of you before you start, and the five places applicants go wrong. It is the third step of three, and it assumes you have already worked through registering as a corporate service provider.
Before you open the eService
Two threshold questions, and then a short list of things to have ready.
Are you eligible to submit? The application must be filed by a representative of the CSP: a sole proprietor, a partner, or a director. An employee, an office manager or an external adviser cannot submit it, even with Corppass access. If you are unsure whether the person holding your Corppass role is also a director, check before you start, because the eService will stop you.
Have you cleared all four requirements? Entity registered with ACRA, at least one registered qualified individual, fit and proper on everyone in management, and the AML training and proficiency test completed by a director, owner or partner within the past six months. If any of those is outstanding, the application will either be blocked or rejected, and the fee does not come back. We have set them out in full in CSP registration requirements.
What to have on your desk
- The types of corporate services your firm provides, decided in advance and decided honestly. Formation, address services, role services, nominee shareholder services, designated accounting services, filing services, or any combination.
- Your nature of business.
- The identification type and number of every RQI you intend to appoint. Not their name. Their ID type and number.
- The training and proficiency test records for your representative.
- A payment method: credit card, debit card or online banking.
Deciding your service types in advance matters more than it sounds. It is the first thing on the form and it is the thing people fill in fastest and least carefully. If you are not certain which of the six services you actually provide, work through the scope test before you open the eService, not while you are in it.
The fee, and what it does not buy you
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Registration fee | $400, covering a two year registration |
| Payment methods | Credit card, debit card, online banking |
| Refundable? | No. Not if the application is rejected, not if you de-register early, not if ACRA cancels your registration |
| Processing time | Most applications within 30 working days, longer if ACRA needs more information |
| Renewal | Required before expiry. The registration does not roll over on its own |
The non refundability is the point worth absorbing. You are paying for the assessment, not for the outcome. An application that fails the fit and proper test costs you $400 and a rejection on your record, which is a worse starting position for the next attempt than never having applied.
If you are unfamiliar with how ACRA handles payments, failed transactions and receipts generally, our note on paying ACRA fees on Bizfile covers the mechanics.
The steps, in order
- Log in to Bizfile and open the “Register as corporate service provider” eService. You will be logging in as an individual or business user depending on how your Corppass is configured. If your Corppass access for the entity is not yet set up, that comes first and it is a separate exercise. Our guides to logging in as a business user via Corppass and to assigning Corppass e-Service roles cover that ground.
- Complete the required information. Service types, nature of business, RQI identification details, and the training records for your representative.
- Make the fit and proper declaration. This is a declaration, made by you, that everyone in management meets the published criteria. Treat it as the legally significant statement it is rather than as a tick box.
- Appoint at least one registered qualified individual. You appoint by ID type and number. The person must already be a registered RQI.
- Submit the filing.
- Pay the $400.
- Collect the RQI endorsements. Every appointed RQI other than the submitter must log in to Bizfile using Singpass as an individual user, find the endorsement request under “Pending actions” on their dashboard, review it, accept, tick the declaration and submit. They will see a confirmation message. If you appoint three RQIs and one of them submitted the application, the other two each have to do this.
That is the application. Steps 1 to 6 are yours. Step 7 belongs to other people, which is exactly why it is the step that slips.
What happens after you submit
ACRA reviews the application rather than simply processing it. Three things get examined:
Your conduct and compliance history as a CSP or an RQI. If you have operated in this space before, your record travels with you.
Professional misconduct, including breach of fiduciary duty and serious negligence, and anything else bearing on your commercial integrity.
Your understanding of terrorist designation legislation and targeted financial sanctions. This is a competence check, not a declaration check, and it is one reason the AML proficiency test sits upstream of the application.
Most applications are decided within 30 working days. ACRA will tell you if it needs longer, which usually means it is asking questions rather than refusing.
On approval you receive a unique CSP number. From that point you log in to Bizfile via Corppass and select the corporate service providers profile in order to act for clients. If you hold several profiles, selecting the wrong one is a common and annoying error, and our note on switching profiles on Bizfile explains how to avoid it.
One more thing is required before you can file anything for anyone: you have to add your clients to your CSP client list. Approval alone does not let you file. The client relationship has to be recorded first.
What goes wrong in the form
The RQI is appointed but not registered. The single most common blocker. You need the individual’s RQI registration to be complete before you name them. Appointing a well qualified company secretary who has not been through the RQI process does not work, however experienced they are.
Nobody tells the RQIs to endorse. The endorsement request lands quietly in a Bizfile dashboard that most people never open. Send an email the moment you have paid, telling each appointed RQI exactly what to do: log in with Singpass as an individual user, look under “Pending actions”, endorse. If they are not Singpass ready, our note on logging in to Bizfile as an individual will help.
Service types are under declared. Applicants tick the services they think of as their business and leave off the ones they do occasionally. Registration that does not cover what you actually sell is a compliance problem rather than a saving. If you provide address services alongside your secretarial work, declare address services.
The training has quietly expired. The AML course has to have been completed within six months before the application. A firm that sorts out its RQI slowly can easily let that window close, and then the course and the fee have to be repeated.
The wrong person submits. Corppass access is not the same as being a representative of the CSP. The submitter must be a sole proprietor, partner or director. Finance managers with broad Corppass rights are a frequent false start.
Email verification blocks the transaction. A separate Bizfile quirk that catches new users: if your email address has not been verified, the transaction will not proceed, and the error message will not tell you why. The fix is documented in our note on verifying your email for Bizfile.
Frequently asked questions
Who can submit the CSP registration application?
A representative of the CSP: a sole proprietor, a partner, or a director. Corppass access alone is not enough. If the person who normally handles your ACRA filings is an employee rather than an officer, they cannot submit this particular application on the firm’s behalf.
How much does CSP registration cost and how long does it last?
$400 for a two year registration, paid by card or online banking at the point of submission. The fee is non refundable in every scenario, including rejection, early de-registration and cancellation by ACRA. You must renew before expiry, as the registration does not renew automatically.
How long does ACRA take to approve a CSP application?
Most applications are processed within 30 working days. ACRA will notify you if it needs more time, which typically means it is raising queries on conduct history or on the fit and proper declaration rather than refusing outright.
Do all my RQIs have to endorse the application?
Yes, except the RQI who submitted it. Each of the others logs in to Bizfile using Singpass as an individual user, opens the endorsement request under “Pending actions”, accepts, ticks the declaration and submits. The application does not progress until they have all done so.
Can I start filing for clients as soon as I am approved?
Not quite. Once approved you receive a unique CSP number and log in via Corppass under the corporate service providers profile. Before you can file for a client, you have to add that client to your CSP client list. Approval and client onboarding are two separate steps.
What if my application is rejected?
You lose the $400 and you carry a rejection. There is no automatic bar on reapplying after a rejection, but a cancellation by ACRA is different: that carries a two year waiting period before you can apply again. Fix the underlying issue before you file a second time.
The part worth getting right first time
The Bizfile form is the easiest stage of CSP registration and the one people rush. Everything expensive about this process sits either side of it: the eligibility work that should have been finished before you started, and the endorsement and review that happen after your money has gone.
Raffles Corporate Services holds its own CSP registration and maintains registrations and client lists as part of ongoing practice, so we know where this particular form is unforgiving. If you are preparing an application and want a second pair of eyes on your service types or your RQI arrangement before you pay, that is a short conversation. The registration process and the criteria behind it are published by ACRA, and you can read more on Singapore corporate secretarial practice at Singapore Secretary Services.
The Editorial Team, Raffles Corporate Services
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