The Private Limited Company
ContactOne – Regulatory, Fee Revision and Client Benefits Update 2015
Dear Valued Client,
Thank you for your continuous support for ContactOne Professional Services. We would like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to you for allowing us to grow from strength to strength since 2009.
We would like to provide some important updates to you with regards to what are in the pipeline from both the regulatory and ContactOne’s perspectives from 2015 onwards.
Please take note of the Cut-Off Promotion listed in Point 4 under Section B Changes ContactOne needs to implement in 2015.
Key Takeaways
A. Changing Landscape in the Regulatory Environment for Singapore Entrepreneurs
1. Increase in Annual Return Lodgement Fees
ACRA has confirmed that annual return lodgement fees will be increased from the current $20 per filing to $60 per filing and this increase will be effective somewhere in the first quarter of 2015.
2. Increase in powers granted to ACRA in enforcement matters
Enforcement powers of ACRA officers
ACRA Officers will now be granted powers to examine a person orally and to reduce such statements into writing, to enter premises for the purpose of investigating an offence, take photographs or video recordings.
Composition sum for offences
The maximum composition sum that ACRA may impose will increase from $1,000 currently to half of the maximum fine or $5,000, whichever is lower.
3. Enhanced Regulatory Framework for Corporate Service Providers (like ContactOne)
Corporate Service Providers (“CSP”) will soon be registered as filing agents and will be governed under this regulatory framework. New requirements will be imposed on filing agents to enable Singapore to fall in line with FATF’s recommendations relating to Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing procedures.
CSP will soon be obligated to perform customer due diligence and transaction monitoring on customers. Filing agents will be required to obtain beneficial ownership information of their customers to increase the transparency of transactions, thus making it more difficult for money laundering and terrorism financing activities to be carried out.
4. Observed New Implementation – Directors’ Training
We have recently encountered cases that for first time directors who are running a first year company and have not filed for the Company’s first annual return before its due date, the Directors will be required to attend a Directors Compliance Program course administered by a course provider designated by ACRA. This compulsory course is not free and course fee (currently at $175 per person) applies.
Important pointers to note in the event you receive such an ACRA letter
In the ACRA letter, it is further stated that if you do not register for the course if you receive the letter, or still fail to hold an AGM and submit your Annual Return within 60 days after attending the course:
ACRA will proceed to prosecute you for the offence of failing to hold the AGM(s) and the offence of not filing the AR(s) and that no composition will be offered to you once a court summons has been issued to you.
This is a significant departure from past practices where a subsequent late submission with payment of composition fine will do.
B. Changes ContactOne needs to implement in 2015
ContactOne would like to share our plans for the year 2015 in advance with you so as to maintain our promise of being transparent in our fees and eliminate any client shocks.
1. GST Registration
ContactOne will be GST-registered during the first quarter of 2015 to ensure that we ourselves stay compliant with existing GST regulations. As such, you will see some adjustments to our service fees.
Our effective registration date is 1 January 2015.
In our bid to continuously remain price competitive and affordable for all entrepreneurs, some of our fees will remain the same even after GST registration as we look to defray some of these added costs from our own pockets.
2. General Fee Revision
Our fees have remain largely the same for the last 3 years notwithstanding the increase in general prices by about 12.2% for the last 3 years. We have listed below the potential fee adjustments, with effect from 1 January 2015.
Please be assured that any renewals or package sign-ups that are fully paid will not have any adjustments. The changes will only affect you on your next renewal.
The following fee information are inclusive of future GST charges:
| Our Services |
Current Fees |
New Fees incl. GST & Filing fee hike |
| Annual Company Secretary Renewal (Effectively, we’ve absorbed 23% of the future GST charges) |
$330 |
$390 |
| Annual Agent Service Renewal (Slight Increase) |
$270 |
$340 |
| All In One Secretarial Service Renewal (Effectively, we’ve absorbed 75% of the future GST charges) |
$738 |
$790 |
| AIO Agent Service Renewal (Effectively, we’ve absorbed 75% of the future GST charges) |
$688 |
$740 |
| Registered Address Service (Effectively, we’ve absorbed 100% of the future GST charges) |
$120 |
$120 |
| Ad-hoc Secretarial Fee (Appoint Directors, Share Transfers etc.) – Most of our ad-hoc secretarial service fees will remain constant. A handful of ad-hoc secretarial service fees will see an increase in fees of not more than $10. | ||
| Accounting & Bookkeeping Fees – Our methodology on determining your accounting and bookkeeping fees remain the same, based on the volume, complexity and organization of your business transactions. | ||
3. Additional Compliance Requirements
In order to satisfy the compliance requirements imposed under the CSP framework, additional due diligence procedures may be added in future. We will strive to make such changes to have minimal impact on changes to the corporate structure of your company. For example, for allotment of shares or share transfer involving significant amounts, we will need to obtain proof and source of funding before/immediate after finalizing the change. Clearer instructions on such new procedures will be provided in future.
4. Cut Off Promotion
Granted that a significant number of companies will need to incur higher lodgement fees in 2015, ContactOne is issuing a one-time cut-off promotion to not charge for the additional lodgement fee hike due in 2015 for clients with no outstanding balances due to us as at 31 December 2014.
For clients with no outstanding renewals due to us, you will automatically enjoy this benefit.
For clients with current outstanding amounts due to us, you may wish to make payments before the end of 2014 to take advantage of this one-time promotion.
If you are unsure if you have outstanding amounts due to us, please give us a call and we can provide you with details of any payments required if any.
Effective 1 January 2015, we will be re-issuing renewal service orders to clients with outstanding renewal amounts due based on the new fee rates.
5. Full Set Bookkeeping* Reward Program
We would also like to take this opportunity to introduce to you a full set bookkeeping Reward Program as a reward for your continuous support. Every existing company secretarial client will be entitled to enjoy preferential bookkeeping service fee rates if you take up our full set bookkeeping services and has no overdue amounts due to ContactOne at the point of service take up.
|
Full Set Bookkeeping Reward Program |
|
|
For Annual Bookkeeping Fees |
Applicable Discount |
|
<= $1,000 |
5% |
|
<= $3,000 |
10% |
|
> $3,000 |
15% |
|
*Full set bookkeeping refers to bookkeeping services provided for the system entry of transactions and preparation of accounting reports and tax. This excludes any additional fees charged to make good inaccurate, incomplete or erroneous accounting reports or templates submitted by our FS and Tax clients. |
|
6. Enhanced Deadline Reminder System
We understand the hectic schedule of an entrepreneur and compliance may be the last thing on your mind in your busy schedule. As part of our role as company secretary and/or accounting service provider, we will provide continuous reminders via emails to keep you aware of your filing due dates. For secretarial clients, you will be able to receive an email detailing your compliance due dates approximately one month before your accounting year end. Subsequently, you will receive instructions and documents relating to your AGM filing matters approximately one month before your AGM due date.
For accounting clients, you will start to receive reminders from us approximately 3 months before your accounting year end, and the reminders will be repeated on a monthly basis until the month just after your financial year end.
In order to correctly receive our emails, please include our domains: @contactonesingapore.com.sg and @contactone.com.sg to your safe sender list, a feature which is readily available in all email clients (Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo)
Conclusion
Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to you once again and we look forward to serving you even better in the coming years.
Yours Sincerely,
ContactOne Professional Services