Invoicing under my own name as an SPR

[PNGMK]

From ACRA: Section 35(1)(a)

Any individual proprietor carrying on business under only the individual proprietor's full name is not required to be registered when carrying on business in Singapore.

Subject to the above, a person who is required to be registered may not:

carry on business without being registered;

I recently did some service work for a business here. I simply sent them an invoice for the full amount under my name. No GST added and I included my NRIC number for their records. Obviously I will include the income for my iras statement for taxes and as I am well above the cpf ceiling I don't need to pay self employed cpf on it.

I didn't think there was anything wrong with this but some comments on an article somewhere else made me wonder if I should be registered as a sole proprietorship?

[johnkcp]

It's fine to issue invoice with your own name without register a sole proprietorship. But the income will need to be declared as personal income.

In my opinion, registration of SP is to provide a legal status on your business which in turn make more sense of reliability to your customers and also access to banking facilities for working capital purposes.

[PNGMK]

It's fine to issue invoice with your own name without register a sole proprietorship. But the income will need to be declared as personal income.

In my opinion, registration of SP is to provide a legal status on your business which in turn make more sense of reliability to your customers and also access to banking facilities for working capital purposes.

The first statement is correct, the second is nonsensical as you can only access banking facilities in your own name and on your own merit as a SP so what's the point of being a 'registered SP'? Probably just data collection for the gahmen.

[PNGMK]

I realized the answer to your second point while mulling it over at lunch. It's to show the company you are invoicing that you are a SP (independent contractor) and not an employee - less they be liable to CPF / IR8A etc... If your buyer accepts the risk then no need for SP registration? Thanks Johnkcp.

[johnkcp]

If your business if continual business, then i will suggest to register as SP. In the future, if your business is expanding, you could simply convert SP to private limited. Just my two cents.

[Strong Eagle]

The whole idea of having no registration for people who run businesses in their own names only, is to deal with folks like the Karung guni. These folks are sole proprietors in the strictest sense of the word but they don't have a business storefront, they don't have suppliers, per se, etc.

Under the rules, you could theoretically hang out a sign on your business that was only your name, for example, John Doe could hang a sign that says, "John Doe". Your required invoices could only have "John Doe" on them. The instant you make the sign "John Doe Trading", you must now register with the ACRA.

The gahmen wants you to register. They want to know that you exist as an entity so that they can cross match ACRA to IRAS databases to make sure you are filing your personal taxes on your SP income. Were a lot of people to try and take advantage of no registration, I predict you'd very quickly see a change in regulations, requiring all self employed persons to be registered.

[PNGMK]

The whole idea of having no registration for people who run businesses in their own names only, is to deal with folks like the Karung guni. These folks are sole proprietors in the strictest sense of the word but they don't have a business storefront, they don't have suppliers, per se, etc.

Under the rules, you could theoretically hang out a sign on your business that was only your name, for example, John Doe could hang a sign that says, "John Doe". Your required invoices could only have "John Doe" on them. The instant you make the sign "John Doe Trading", you must now register with the ACRA.

The gahmen wants you to register. They want to know that you exist as an entity so that they can cross match ACRA to IRAS databases to make sure you are filing your personal taxes on your SP income. Were a lot of people to try and take advantage of no registration, I predict you'd very quickly see a change in regulations, requiring all self employed persons to be registered.

Yes I thought as much that it would be about tax. It's impossible now in Australia to run as an unregistered sole proprietor unless selling cash in small amounts as most businesses will not pay on an invoice unless it includes an ABN (Australian Business Number) as they run the risk of audit failure. It's affected quite a few livelihoods.

[PNGMK]

If your business if continual business, then i will suggest to register as SP. In the future, if your business is expanding, you could simply convert SP to private limited. Just my two cents.

There's no point at this time. I know people who do convert and of course it's to limit liabilities... (and reduce tax).