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The registered office is the address ACRA has on record for your company. ACRA sends its letters there, and the company keeps its registers there. Get it wrong and the company risks a fine of up to S$5,000 plus a default penalty.
This page comes from SingaporeCompanySetupGuide.com, an independent guide with no tie to ACRA or any address provider. If you ask for quotes, we pass the request to providers that fit. Some pay us a referral fee when you sign up.
What does ACRA require for a registered address?
ACRA sets three conditions for a Singapore local company, checked :
- It must be a Singapore address.
- It must be open and accessible to the public for at least three hours on each business day.
- It does not have to be where you run your business.
A coworking desk, a serviced office or a company secretary's own premises can all qualify, as long as someone staffs the premises during those hours. A bare mailbox or a PO box does not. That is why you find providers selling an address bundled with a secretary service.
Can I use my home address?
Yes, if it meets the same rule. In practice that means somebody must be at the address to receive visitors for at least three hours on each business day. Most owners are not. Others do not want a home address on a public ACRA record. Both groups use a provider.
Even when you do use a home address, think about the flat: a landlord, a housing association or a lease may not allow business use. Read your own agreement before you list it.
How much does a registered address cost?
ACRA sets no fee, so prices come from providers and differ by what is bundled. Two published figures we read in :
| Provider | What it published | Source page |
|---|---|---|
| Leftright Corporate | Registered office address, S$245 per year, billed separately from its secretary plans | Company secretary services page |
| VOffice Singapore | Self Collection plan S$50 per year, Mail Forwarding S$100 per year, Mail Scanning S$100 per year, each with an ACRA registered address and a contact address for officers | Home page |
Other providers list lower monthly teasers in search results. We have not read those pages, so we do not repeat them. The extra cost to watch is mail: forwarding S$3 for normal mail or S$4 tracked, scanning S$2 per letter, as published by VOffice.
Read more about the product in our virtual office guide.
What must be kept at the registered office?
ACRA says the company's records and registers live at the registered office, or at its corporate service provider's office, in paper or electronic form. That includes the register of nominee directors. If you use a nominee director, the registers must therefore be reachable at the address on record.
Before you sign with an address provider, ask:
- Who staffs the address during opening hours?
- How do ACRA and IRAS letters reach you, and how fast?
- Is the provider registered with ACRA as a corporate service provider? See our CSP guide.
- What is the fee to change address later?
- Will they hold your registers, or only your mail?
How do I give ACRA my registered address?
For a new company, you enter the address in the Bizfile incorporation form. See company incorporation in Singapore for the steps and the order of filings. For an existing company, file a change of registered office through Bizfile and then update your registers. Your ACRA business profile shows the address once the change is processed, and you can use it to confirm that the update went through.
Tell the bank, IRAS and your insurer. ACRA does not tell them for you.
What happens if the address does not meet the rule?
ACRA lists a fine up to S$5,000 plus a default penalty for failing to maintain or report a registered office, under Sections 142 and 143 of the Companies Act. It applies to the company and to officers in default. The practical cost is missed post: ACRA writes to this address, so letters you never see are easy to miss.
You can also run into trouble with banks. They check the address, and an address that cannot take a visitor raises questions. Our business bank account page explains what banks look at.
Want a provider to arrange the address and the secretary together? Send the quote form on this page and tell us whether you need mail scanning.
Sources
- ACRA: registered office address: three-hour rule, Singapore address, no need to match the business location.
- ACRA: common offences: fine up to S$5,000 and default penalty.
- ACRA: company registers: where registers are kept.
- Leftright Corporate: published registered office price, read .
- VOffice Singapore: published plan and mail prices, read .
