Two facts worth establishing upfront. First, foreigners can own 100% of a Singapore company. No local partner, no share-splitting arrangement required โ this is a clean and unambiguous part of Singapore's company law. Second, the law does require at least one director who meets the local residency requirement. If you're not a Singapore resident and don't have a qualifying local contact willing to serve as a director, you'll need a Nominee Director service. For most overseas founders, this is unavoidable โ and it's also where services like Sleek provide their real value.
What Sleek actually is
Sleek is a Singapore-based corporate services platform covering company incorporation, company secretary services, registered address, Nominee Director, accounting, corporate tax, business accounts, and work pass-related services. It's an ACRA-registered Filing Agent. The more accurate way to think about it: a bundled "incorporation + secretarial + accounting + compliance" provider, not a simple portal where you click a few buttons and submit a registration form.
What a Nominee Director is โ and what it isn't
A Nominee Director exists solely to satisfy Singapore's requirement that at least one director be ordinarily resident in Singapore. The nominee does not become a shareholder, does not acquire any ownership stake, and does not take control of your company. That said, one thing needs to be said clearly: a Nominee Director is not a "purely symbolic" role with zero legal exposure. Directors carry legal responsibilities under Singapore law. This is precisely why you should only use a regulated, professional corporate services firm for this arrangement โ informal personal arrangements are non-compliant, and if something goes wrong, the liability exposure is not trivial.
What you'll need to prepare
As an overseas founder, the typical documentation includes: your passport, a recent proof of residential address (utility bill, bank statement), a proposed company name (run a name availability check first โ names touching on banking, finance, or insurance may trigger additional approval requirements), your business activity classification under Singapore's Standard Industrial Classification system (SSIC Code โ select the code that genuinely reflects your operations; avoid using "General Trading" as a catch-all), shareholder information, director information (plus Nominee Director arrangements if needed), a compliant Singapore registered address, and a company secretary โ who must be appointed within six months of incorporation.
The minimum share capital is low โ but that's not the same as low operating cost
Singapore technically allows paid-up share capital starting from S$1. There's no requirement to park a large sum of capital before incorporation. But the cost of incorporation itself tells very little about the real cost of running the company. What you actually need to budget for on an ongoing basis: Nominee Director fees, company secretary, registered address, accounting, tax filing, business banking, potential GST obligations, commercial insurance, and any applicable licenses. These recurring costs are what should drive your decision about whether Singapore incorporation makes sense for your situation.
What things actually cost โ this part needs to be read carefully
The Singapore government's statutory fees are straightforward: S$15 for a name application, S$300 for company registration, totalling S$315. This is ACRA's fixed fee schedule โ it doesn't change based on which service provider you use.
Sleek's bundled packages are a different matter entirely. Their entry-level package for overseas founders currently starts at around S$2,250 โ and that price includes only three months of Nominee Director service. Since Singapore law requires a qualifying local director for as long as the company exists (not just at the moment of incorporation), you'll need to continue paying for this service after the initial period. Market rates for standalone Nominee Director services typically run S$2,000 to S$4,000 per year; Sleek's own standalone price is S$2,000 annually. If you go with their full-year compliance package from the start (currently called "Full Compliance"), the promotional price is approximately S$3,650 โ more than 60% higher than the headline "starting from" figure on their homepage.
These numbers differ substantially from figures that appear in older articles. Before placing any order, go directly to Sleek's current website and verify current pricing. More importantly, ask three specific questions before committing to any provider: Is this firm a registered ACRA Filing Agent? What exactly do the Nominee Director appointment documents say? What does annual renewal cost from year two onward? Those three questions matter more than whatever number appears at the top of a pricing page.
Why the package price is so much higher than the government registration fee
Because they're not the same product. S$315 covers what ACRA charges for the registration itself. Sleek's packages bundle ongoing services โ the incorporation submission, company secretary, registered address, Nominee Director, annual returns, accounting and tax support, digital mail handling โ into a single subscription-style arrangement. Comparing the two figures directly doesn't make sense; they cover entirely different things.
What the registration process looks like
Select a package, fill in company details, submit your passport and proof of address for KYC review, confirm the company name, select your SSIC business activity code, confirm the shareholding structure (in most overseas founder cases this means 100% ownership), arrange for a Resident Director, prepare the company constitution, submit to ACRA. Upon approval, you receive a UEN (Unique Entity Number) and a Business Profile. Sleek's stated process is fully digital and remote โ no trip to Singapore required.
Keep your UEN and company documents organized from day one
The UEN is your company's permanent identifier in Singapore. You'll need it for opening bank accounts, dealing with government agencies, filing taxes, signing commercial contracts, applying for business services, and registering on various platforms. Store your UEN, Business Profile, and company constitution somewhere you can reliably access them.
Incorporation is not the end of the process
A company secretary must be appointed within six months of incorporation. Your registered address must remain compliant on an ongoing basis. Annual Returns must be filed with ACRA on schedule (currently S$60 per filing). Accounting records must be properly maintained. Corporate tax must be handled in accordance with IRAS requirements. Getting ACRA's approval to incorporate means the company exists โ it does not mean you've completed every compliance obligation. The ongoing requirements are where the sustained time and money investment actually lives.
The 17% corporate tax rate โ what it actually means
Singapore's standard corporate income tax rate is 17%. But this shouldn't be read as "all Singapore companies pay 17% on everything." Actual tax liability depends on taxable income, allowable deductions, and whether the company qualifies for new company tax exemptions, partial tax remissions, foreign-sourced income rules, and applicable double taxation treaties. Newly incorporated companies that meet the qualifying criteria typically benefit from additional tax concessions during the first few assessment years.
Incorporating in Singapore does not automatically make you a Singapore tax resident
This distinction matters enormously for cross-border founders and tends to get overlooked. Singapore's tax authority (IRAS) determines tax residency based on where a company's "control and management" is actually exercised โ not simply where it's incorporated. If your company's strategic decisions and day-to-day management are effectively being made from China or another country, you cannot assume that Singapore incorporation automatically confers Singapore tax resident status. The analysis requires looking at the actual facts of how the company operates. For anything involving specific tax treatment, get advice from a qualified tax professional.
GST (Goods and Services Tax) is a separate set of rules and should not be conflated with corporate income tax. Whether GST registration is required depends on your taxable turnover and the nature of your business. If you're operating a cross-border e-commerce store, there's a further layer of distinction between your Singapore company's tax obligations and the VAT, GST, or consumption tax requirements in the countries where you're actually selling โ these are two separate compliance dimensions.
Opening a bank account is an entirely separate process
Sleek offers business account services, and some packages include the option to apply for a multi-currency account covering SGD and a range of other currencies โ but they explicitly note this is subject to approval. It is not guaranteed upon package purchase. Beyond Sleek, options include DBS, OCBC, UOB, and fintech platforms such as Aspire and Airwallex. The critical point: company registration and bank account approval are two independent processes with separate underwriting criteria. A successfully incorporated company does not guarantee that any bank or financial institution will approve an account application.
Doing it yourself through ACRA vs. using Sleek
If you already have a Singapore-resident director, your own registered address, a company secretary, and an accounting arrangement, registering directly through ACRA's Bizfile system costs S$315 in government fees. If you're an overseas founder without any of those local resources, a bundled provider like Sleek solves the Nominee Director, registered address, and company secretary requirements in one place โ eliminating the need to source each element separately. That convenience has a price. Whether it's worth paying comes down to whether you have local contacts and the time to manage the pieces yourself.
What the reviews say
Sleek currently has over 3,700 reviews on Trustpilot with an overall rating of approximately 3.9 out of 5. That's a reasonably large sample, and the rating suggests the service functions adequately for most users โ though recurring complaints do appear in the reviews. Read the full, unfiltered Trustpilot page for yourself rather than relying on the curated testimonials on Sleek's own website. The two are not the same thing.
Is this the right service for you
If you're a foreign national with no Singapore-resident director, prefer to complete the process remotely, don't want to navigate ACRA's systems yourself, and need company secretary and registered address services bundled in, Sleek is a legitimate option to consider โ provided you go in understanding that Nominee Director is an ongoing annual cost, not a one-time expense. If you already have a local director, your own secretarial and address arrangements, or are comfortable working directly with ACRA, incorporating yourself costs significantly less and the bundled service adds little value.
One final point worth keeping distinct
"Incorporating a company in Singapore," "becoming a Singapore tax resident," "holding a Singapore bank account," and "being eligible for Stripe, PayPal, or Shopify Payments" are four separate things, each governed by its own rules and approval processes. Tax residency turns on where control and management is actually exercised. Banking and payment platform approvals involve independent KYC and KYB reviews that proceed regardless of where your company is registered. Keeping these concepts clearly separated will give you a realistic picture of what Singapore incorporation can and cannot deliver โ rather than letting a "from S$1 share capital" or a headline starting price set expectations that the actual process won't meet.
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