How To Change My Singapore Company Name
After choosing a name and incorporating your Singapore company, you and the shareholders may decide to change the Singapore company name for the following reasons:
- For the purpose of a rebranding exercise; or
- You simply wanted a new name that is more representative of what your company is doing.
In this article, we will explain how to change your Singapore company name.
1. Choosing the appropriate name
The company’s new name has to be appropriate. With reference to the Companies Act, your company’s new name must not be:
- Prohibited under the directions from the Minister of Finance;
- Identical to any other registered business and/or company’s name;
- Identical to a reserved name by another registered business and/or company; or
- Undesirable
For more information, you can refer to our article about restrictions on the names of businesses here.
2. Applying for approval with ACRA
After you and other stakeholders have decided on the new company name, you must submit an application to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) for approval.
3. Passing a Special Resolution for the Change of Company Name
Once ACRA has approved the new company name, you need a special resolution to effect that change. The steps of passing such a special resolution are:
- Prepare a written resolution for changing the company name.
- Deciding on the date for a general meeting and informing all shareholders of the meeting objective, which is to pass a special resolution for changing the company name.
- Written notice of at least 14 days must be given for the meeting for private companies. The meeting can be held at shorter notice if members holding voting rights of at least 95% agree to it.
- During the meeting, members collectively holding at least 75% of the voting rights, must agree to the special resolution.
- Submit a copy of this resolution to ACRA within 14 days of its passing.
The company’s new name will be updated after filing the resolution with ACRA. Notice of incorporation will be issued under the company’s new name and name change is effective upon the issuing of that notice.
You can go online on BizFile+, to check whether it has been changed.
4. What is next?
After changing your company name, you should ensure that the new name replaces the former (old) company name on its:
- Signage
- Letterhead
- Brochures
- Website
- Social media accounts
You need to replace the company’s rubber stamp as well to reflect the change.
If the old name of your company is registered as a trademark, you should register a new trademark for the company’s new name.
For tax assessment purposes, informing the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) about the change in your company’s name is not necessary, as IRAS updates its records based on ACRA’s records automatically.
However, if you are expecting any correspondences from IRAS, such as notification of filing corporate taxes, within 2 weeks of filing the company name change, you should notify IRAS. You can visit IRAS’ guide here.
Do note that the changing of the company’s name does not change the company’s rights or obligations at all. For example, notwithstanding the change in the company name, the company’s debts remain payable.
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