Almost every Bizfile registration failure comes down to one of four things: the name is blocked by a rule in the Business Names Registration Act 2014, you are not a person ACRA allows to file that transaction, an endorsement or payment step was never completed, or your email was never verified.
Bizfile’s error messages describe the symptom rather than the cause, so people retry the same thing, pay a second non-refundable fee, and get the same result. What follows is a symptom-to-cause-to-fix reference.
The quick triage table
| What you see | What is actually wrong | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| “Identical name exists” | The name is registered or reserved, or you have an unpaid application for it in your own account | Choose another name, submit a name review, or obtain a letter of consent |
| No field for a user-described activity | Bizfile no longer accepts free-text descriptions. Everything is coded to SSIC | Pick the closest primary SSIC, then a secondary code if needed |
| “Pending payment” | The application was never submitted. Nothing is reserved or queued | Reopen the transaction and pay |
| “You are not authorised to file this transaction” | A foreigner is a position holder, or you are registering a foreign branch. Only a registered CSP can file these | Engage a registered CSP |
| “The lodger must hold the position of director/owner” | You are self-filing but do not intend to take a qualifying position | Take the position, or engage a CSP |
| Corporate shareholder rejected for an exempt private company | An EPC cannot have a corporate shareholder unless it is an LLP or accounting LLP | Reapply for the name under a company type that permits it |
| No payment link after endorsements | An endorsement is outstanding, or you are logged in with different credentials | Chase the endorsement, then log in with the original Singpass |
| The receipt does not show a UEN | The receipt is a payment record, not the registration notice | Open your Bizfile inbox for the notice and the UEN |
| Email verification link expired | The link has a short life, or you are logged in as a Business User | Log in with Singpass as an Individual User, then Pending Actions, Resend |
“Identical name exists”: what ACRA is actually blocking
The Registrar has no discretion here. Under section 17(1) of the Business Names Registration Act 2014, registration must be refused where the proposed name is undesirable, is identical to another registered business name or to the name of a corporation or limited partnership, is identical to a name already reserved under that Act or under the Companies Act 1967, the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005 or the Limited Partnerships Act 2008, or is a name the Minister has directed the Registrar not to accept. Two causes surprise people.
The name is blocked by a business that no longer exists
Section 17(2) keeps dead names out of circulation. A name identical to a cancelled business name is blocked for at least a year after cancellation, one identical to a company dissolved after a winding up for at least two years, and one identical to a company struck off the register for at least six years. If you search ACRA’s records, find nothing trading under your preferred name, and still get the error, that is usually why.
You are competing with yourself
If you started an application for the same name earlier and abandoned it before payment, that incomplete application can still block the name. Clear the old transaction before you try again.
Your three options
- Pick a different name. Fastest and cheapest.
- Submit a name review, giving ACRA your reasons and a detailed justification. This is the route where the name needs context, for example where it uses a restricted word. Approval is not automatic.
- Obtain a letter of consent from the owner or director of the business holding the identical name, and attach it.
Whichever you choose, finish the transaction and pay. The fee is $15 and it is not refundable if the application is rejected or you withdraw it. Our companion piece on what ACRA checks before approving your business registration covers the referral process for names needing another agency’s view.
Why there is no box for describing your business in your own words
Bizfile used to let applicants type a free-text description of what the business did. It does not any more. Every activity is now captured as a Singapore Standard Industrial Classification code, so the same activity means the same thing to ACRA, IRAS, MOM and every licensing agency that reads your record.
There is no workaround and none is needed. Choose the primary SSIC that fits your main revenue line, then a secondary code if a meaningful second activity exists. If nothing fits perfectly, choose the closest rather than the most flattering: your SSIC drives which licensing regimes and government schemes recognise you.
“Pending payment” means nothing has been submitted
This is the most common false alarm. People see their application listed in Bizfile, assume it is in a queue, and wait. It is not in a queue. Until payment clears, the name is not reserved, the clock has not started, and someone else can take it.
Reopen the transaction, complete every required field, and pay. Approval for a straightforward name is usually immediate. Where ACRA reviews the name itself, allow up to three working days, and where it goes to a referral authority, up to fifteen. Once approved, note the transaction ID: you need it for the registration filing, and you have 120 days to use it before the name is released.
The two authorisation errors, and why they exist
“You are not authorised to file this transaction”
This appears when your proposed entity has a foreigner among its position holders, or when you are registering a branch of a foreign company. In both cases ACRA requires a registered corporate service provider to file, because the provider carries the customer due diligence obligation for the people behind the entity. The fix is not a setting you can change. You engage a CSP. Our Corporate Service Providers Act 2024 compliance FAQ explains what that provider must collect from you.
“The lodger must hold the position of director/owner”
Self-filing is a route for people with skin in the game. If you are not a CSP, you must intend to hold one of the qualifying positions: owner of a sole proprietorship or partnership, director of a local company, partner of an LLP, general partner of a limited partnership, or one of the partner and director positions the Accountants Act 2004 specifies for public accounting entities.
File for a friend, a client or a family member without intending to hold a position yourself, and Bizfile will stop you. That is the rule working as designed. Who can register a business in Singapore sets out the eligibility conditions in full.
The exempt private company shareholder trap
An exempt private company has a restricted membership: no more than twenty members, and no corporate shareholder unless that shareholder is a limited liability partnership or an accounting LLP. Add an ordinary corporate shareholder and Bizfile will refuse.
Here is the expensive part. You cannot switch entity type or company type partway through registration. You must apply for a new business entity name under the correct type, which means a second $15 fee. Settle your structure first, using our note on choosing a business structure in Singapore.
Endorsement and payment: the sequence that trips people up
Registration is not one act by one person. Every position holder other than the lodger endorses their own appointment, and only then does payment unlock.
- The lodger submits the registration.
- Each individual position holder logs in and endorses.
- A corporate position holder or shareholder endorses through an authorised officer, typically a director or secretary who can act for that entity.
- Once every other endorsement is in, the lodger logs back in using the same Singpass credentials as the original application, opens Pending Actions, and pays.
If the payment link is not there, an endorsement is outstanding or you are logged in as somebody else. Our note on the ACRA alerts companies miss covers the notifications ACRA sends when an endorsement sits unactioned.
After registration: the receipt, the UEN and the free profile
Three complaints come up again and again.
The receipt has no UEN on it. It never will. The receipt evidences payment. The UEN arrives separately, in your Bizfile inbox, with the notice of successful registration and a link to your free Business Profile.
The free Business Profile link does not work. If a CSP registered the entity for you, the link in the notification is not their route. The CSP downloads it through the entity’s own profile instead. Either way, download it promptly: the free copy expires 60 days after issue.
The email verification link is expired or invalid. Verification must be completed within three days of the request or lodgement date. For a fresh link, log in with Singpass as an Individual User, not Corppass, then go to Pending Actions and click Resend. This catches out people who live in Bizfile as a Business User.
What goes wrong, and what it costs
The costly failure is not any single error message. It is retrying. Every name application costs $15 and the fee is gone whether the application is approved, rejected or withdrawn. An owner who guesses at a name three times, then discovers the entity type was wrong and starts again, has spent sixty dollars and a fortnight before registering anything.
The second is letting the approval lapse. You have 120 days to complete the registration. Miss it and the name goes back into the pool, sometimes to somebody who has been watching for it.
The third is quieter. Unverified emails and unendorsed appointments do not fail loudly. They produce a transaction that sits there, and six weeks later the founder discovers the company they thought they had is not registered at all. Check your Bizfile inbox rather than assuming silence means success.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get my $15 name application fee back if ACRA rejects the name?
No. The fee is not refundable if the application is rejected, and not refundable if you withdraw it. Check the register and the Business Names Registration Act restrictions before you apply, rather than treating the application itself as the search.
Why does Bizfile say a name is taken when nothing is trading under it?
Because dead names stay blocked. A cancelled business name is blocked for at least a year, a company dissolved after winding up for at least two years, and a company struck off the register for at least six years. The Registrar must refuse identical names within those windows.
I am a foreigner registering a Singapore business. Can I file it myself?
No. Where any position holder is a foreigner, the filing must be made by a registered corporate service provider, and the same applies to a branch of a foreign company. It is a filing restriction, not a restriction on owning the business.
Why can I not see the payment button after everyone endorsed?
Either one position holder has not actually endorsed yet, or you are logged in with different credentials from the ones used to lodge the application. The payment step sits under Pending Actions for the original lodger only.
Getting it right the first time
None of these errors are difficult. They are badly signposted, and each one costs a fee, a week, or both.
Raffles Corporate Services files new business and company registrations on Bizfile every week, so we know before we start which names will be refused, which structures cannot take your shareholders, and who will need to endorse. If you have an application that has stalled, that is a short conversation.
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