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by Strong Eagle » Mon, 08 Jun 2015 10:45 pm
You are going to screw yourself. I know exactly what you are trying to do. Because there is no corporate tax on the first $100,000 of profit (and essentially the first $300,000 of profit), you've decided that you are going to avoid all tax by:
a) Instead of paying salaries, you will pay no salaries and instead show a large profit.
b) Because there is no corporate tax on startup profits, you will pay no corporate tax.
c) You issue yourself dividends because dividends are not taxable as personal income in Singapore whereas a salary or directors fees are personally taxable, and a salary is also subject to CPF.
All your talk about loans and advances is just so much monkey business. How the hell can a loan to the shareholder not be a loan to the director when you are both? In any event, advances against future income are quite standard and you don't need to do that if you simply hold an EGM and specify how often dividends are to be paid. However...
Do you think the authorities are stupid? Do you think that they created the zero tax policy for company startups so that you could avoid paying any tax, not even your fair share?
They created the zero tax to encourage companies to develop some girth, to be able to have retained earnings for future capital or personnel investment. They don't want companies to increase expenses to avoid corporate income tax, they want to encourage capital growth.
I could have done exactly what you think you want to do but I chose to take my remuneration in salary plus directors fees. I paid personal income tax. I max'ed out my CPF contributions. My business partner did the same. And you know what? Our company never had an issue with obtaining EP's for our employees. And when the financial crunch hit, my company received tax credits to keep people hired that far exceeded what I paid personally in income tax.
So... maybe the two are unrelated but I don't think so. IRAS knows what the deal is. They know you're a sole shareholder and director. They're connected with ACRA databases. And MOM certainly is connected with one or both as they attempt to determine whether they should issue a work permit. And the ICA? Connected as well. My online REP was approved in minutes... and you can bet they checked my employment status, my earnings, my taxes... all through linked databases.
I'll leave you with one final anecdote as you ponder whether you really want to do this or not. I knew a fellow who did exactly what you think you want to do. Started a one man, private limited consulting company. PR. Paid no taxes for 3 years. When it came time to get his REP renewed, guess what happened? It didn't get renewed. And why should it? The man contributed nothing to the Singapore economy. He hired no locals. He didn't even pay his fair share of tax to keep Singapore running.
Do you think the authorities will look upon you any differently?
Edited to add: IRAS may well come back and hammer your ass anyway. They will insist that the job functions you perform must be paid for at a certain taxable wage rate. ie, nobody works for nothing. Or, they may determine that as managing director, you must be paid some minimum amount in taxable directors fees. I don't have direct experience with this in Singapore, and in the US, I've seen the IRS hammer individuals who work too cheap in order to scam the system.
