Starting July 30, all companies, foreign companies, and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) will be required to file the information in their Register of Registrable Controllers (RORC) to the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority’s (ACRA’s) Central Register of Controllers.
The RORC contains information of individuals and legal entities that have considerable interest or control over the company, foreign company or LLP.
The law comes as part of ACRA’s ongoing efforts to reinforcing Singapore’s reputation as a trusted financial hub and reputation, as well as increasing the transparency of proprietorship and control of companies.
Under the law, companies are required to file their information through BizFile+ (hyperlink to www.bizfile.gov.sg) within 30 days from July 30. Any changes in RORC information must be updated to ACRA’s Central Register of Controllers within two business days.
Law enforcement agencies will have access to the files stored in ACRA’s Central Register of Controllers to investigate crimes such as money laundering. ACRA says the privacy of companies will still be protected as the public will have no access to the information.
Since Mar 31, 2017, all companies, foreign companies, and LLPs (unless exempted) were required to create RORCs at registered office addresses or at registered office addresses of their Registered Filing Agents (RFAs), and to update an changes in RORC information within two business days.
ACRA acknowledges that some business entities may struggle to ease into the recommencement of normal business activities, so they will be allowing entities to file in their RORC information by September 29, 2020.
Through feedback from a number of corporate entities, ACRA has made an effort to make filing RORC information through BizFile+ relatively simple.
Entities that fail to meet these requirements can be fined up to $5,000.
