Why You Should Move to Singapore... Part II
By Graham Summers
August 16, 2007

24 hours.

That's how long it takes to incorporate a company in Singapore. Even if you're a foreigner. And the whole process costs roughly $500.

100% foreign ownership is allowed. You only need $1 in paid-up capital. And your entire operation only needs one employee to act as shareholder and director.

In other words, you could walk off a plane in Singapore, put up $1 in venture capital, and have your company up and running before you got over your jetlag.

America has always prided itself on its business savvy and entrepreneurial spirit. But Singapore has the U.S. beaten when it comes to creating a business friendly environment. Singapore wants to attract 240,000 (roughly 5% of its current population) highly skilled professionals to the region in the next five years. And it's offering some pretty sweet deals to attract entrepreneurs.

For starters, the first S$100,000 in revenue for any new company is tax-free for its first three years of operation. The government won't touch a dime, provided you have less than 20 shareholders. And, starting in 2008, the first S$300,000 in revenue will be taxed at only 9% for every corporation in Singapore.

Even more incredibly, the government is setting a tax ceiling of 18% for income above S$300,000. It's likely to go even lower seeing as the Singaporean government has lowered corporate taxes by 2% each year the last two years. After all, Singapore is competing with other corporate-friendly zones like Hong Kong (17.5% tax) and Ireland (12.5% tax).

As is the case with personal income tax, you would pay taxes on each chunk of income coming from its respective tax bracket, but the overall effect is substantially lower corporate taxes than most developed countries in the world.

And if your company is international, you won't pay Singaporean taxes on foreign segments. Simply put, Singapore's government is opposed to double taxation of any kind – whether it's corporate or personal. Consequently, the Royal Bank of Scotland has moved its global operations center to Singapore. Other companies will soon follow suit.

The World Bank ranked Singapore as the easiest place to do business in the world in its 2007 report, "Doing Business 2007: How to Reform." Singapore has the least amount of bureaucracy and red tape in all of Asia. It's also the least corrupt.

It's heaven for small- and medium sized business owners. You get the quality of life of a developed, wealthy nation – 18 th in the world – at a fraction of the cost you'd pay for that quality virtually anywhere else in the world. And with China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and India within a four-hour flight, you've got access to more than 2.6 billion people to do business worth.

Because of this, small businesses have begun setting up shop here in droves. Currently these groups account for more than 50% of Singapore's employment. And lest you think there's a language barrier, English is the most-widely spoken language in the country.

You get access to Asian markets, everyone speaks English, there's little or no corruption or crime, and the country is cheap by developed standards. The tax breaks are really just the icing on the cake. And it only takes a day to set up shop.

No wonder it's called the easiest place in the world to do business.

Good trading,

Graham