Most compliance trouble we see does not come from companies refusing to file. It comes from directors who did not know a deadline existed, or did not realise it had already started running. Almost every date below is calculated from a single choice you make once.
Everything hangs off your financial year end
Your financial year end (FYE) is not a formality. It is the anchor from which your filing obligations are measured, so choosing it casually means inheriting a calendar you did not design. Once it is set, the sequence follows.
The sequence
- Estimated Chargeable Income (ECI) — filed with IRAS within three months of FYE. A waiver applies in defined circumstances, but assume you must file unless you have confirmed otherwise.
- Annual General Meeting (AGM) — section 175 of the Companies Act requires every company to hold an AGM. A listed company must hold it within four months after FYE; any other company, within six months after FYE.
- Annual Return (AR) — section 197 of the Act requires a listed company to file its AR within five months after FYE, and every other company within seven months after FYE. The AR can only be filed once the AGM has been held, so a late AGM makes a late annual return almost automatic.
- Corporate tax return (Form C-S or Form C) — filed with IRAS by 30 November. Which 30 November is the part people miss: your accounts are assessed in the Year of Assessment (YA) that follows the calendar year your financial year ends in. A company with a 31 March 2026 FYE is assessed in YA 2027 and files by 30 November 2027, not November 2026.
That last point catches people out. The first three dates are counted in months from your FYE. The tax return is not — it falls on a fixed day, 30 November — but your FYE still decides which year’s 30 November applies to you.
What else may apply
- Audit — many small companies qualify for audit exemption, but qualification is tested against specific criteria and is not automatic or permanent.
- GST returns — only once registered, and on their own cycle.
- Payroll and CPF — monthly, from the moment you have your first employee.
- Register of registrable controllers — to be kept and maintained, separately from your other registers.
Why the cascade matters
These deadlines are not independent. A late set of accounts delays the AGM, and potentially the corporate tax return; a delayed AGM delays the annual return; a rushed annual return tends to surface errors in the registers that then need correcting. One slipped date at the start of the chain typically produces three problems at the end of it.
That is the argument for holding the corporate secretarial, accounting and tax work in one place. Not because it is tidier, but because the person tracking the AGM is then the same person who knows whether the accounts are ready.
If you are already behind
File anyway, and file soon. Late filing is a manageable problem. Continued non-filing is a different category of problem, and the gap between the two widens quickly.
This article is general information about Singapore corporate requirements, current at the date of publication. It is not legal, tax or accounting advice, and deadlines and exemption criteria change. Verify your own position with ACRA and IRAS, or speak to us about your specific circumstances.
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