Registry entry

Singapore Sole Proprietorship Registration (Bizfile)

Register a new one-person sole proprietorship in Singapore via Bizfile (ACRA's digital service portal, formerly branded 'BizFile+' before its 9 December 2024 relaunch), on behalf of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority. This is the single-member-business analogue to gb/companies-house/company-incorporation-in01, ca/on/registration/business-incorporation, ie/cro/company-incorporation, and us/ca/sos/business-entity-llc-formation, and closes out the Business Formation vertical's last open jurisdiction candidate. Scoped to a Singapore Citizen or Singapore Permanent Resident registering themselves as the sole owner of their own sole proprietorship, authenticated with their own Singpass: the two linked Bizfile eServices this requires (first reserving a business name via 'Apply for New Business Entity Name', then 'Register a New Business Entity' with that reservation) are modelled as two steps of one flow, since both are required to complete the single agent task described here. Out of scope, and not modelled: partnerships (two or more owners; this document models the single-owner sole-proprietorship path only), foreign owners residing overseas (who must engage a corporate service provider rather than self-serve via Singpass) and foreign owners without Singpass access, the local-manager appointment such foreign owners must make, corporate (rather than individual) position holders, nominee/trustee ownership arrangements, and referral-authority name approval for professionally-regulated business names — all rarer or gated paths through Bizfile; see VERIFICATION.md. This document does not submit the registration; the live Bizfile (bizfile.gov.sg) and acra.gov.sg sources are always authoritative.

Registry entry

sg/acra/sole-proprietorship-registration

Jurisdiction
Singapore · national
Version
1.0.0
Verification
draft
Authority
Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority

GovSchema spec v0.3

Authoritative source No form number — online self-service registration via Bizfile (bizfile.gov.sg), cross-checked against ACRA's 'Registering a New Business Entity: Sole Proprietorship/Partnership' Bizfile guide (PDF) and 'Who can set up a sole proprietorship or partnership in Singapore' how-to guide

Machine access

Schema document
registry/sg/acra/sole-proprietorship-registration/1.0.0/schema.jsonapplication/schema+json
Verification record
registry/sg/acra/sole-proprietorship-registration/1.0.0/VERIFICATION.mdtext/markdown
Registry catalog
registry/index.jsonone record per schema id

Field reference

26 fields across 5 steps, read from the published schema.json — names, types, requiredness, and validation as the document states them. The live government form remains the authoritative source.

Online registration eligibility

  • ownerHasSingpassAccess boolean required

    Locals and foreigners with their own Singpass can register a sole proprietorship directly on Bizfile. Foreigners without Singpass must instead engage a corporate service provider (CSP) — a law firm, accounting firm, or corporate secretarial firm — to submit the application on their behalf. If false, the flow ends and the applicant must use a CSP-mediated registration instead, which this document does not model.

  • ownerIsForeignResidentOverseas boolean required

    A foreign owner residing overseas must appoint at least one locally resident authorised representative (a Singapore Citizen, Permanent Resident, or holder of an EntrePass/Employment Pass/ONE Pass who is ordinarily resident in Singapore) and, per ownerHasSingpassAccess, typically registers through a corporate service provider. If true, the flow ends; this document only models a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident registering themselves as sole owner, with no local-manager appointment.

Business name reservation

  • proposedBusinessName string required

    The business name to reserve via Bizfile's 'Apply for New Business Entity Name' eService, before registration itself. Entered without a legal suffix. May be rejected if identical or confusingly similar to an existing registered name, or referred to a referral authority for names needing justification (e.g. names implying a professional qualification or a national/international body); referral-authority review is out of scope here.

    length: 1–200
  • primarySsicCode string required

    The Singapore Standard Industrial Classification (SSIC) code, maintained by the Department of Statistics, that best matches the sole proprietorship's principal business activity. Selected by code or industry-name keyword search on Bizfile.

    length: 1–10
  • secondarySsicCode string optional

    An optional second SSIC code for a secondary business activity. Bizfile allows up to two SSIC codes per business name application.

    length: 0–10
  • businessActivityCustomDescription string optional

    An optional free-text description of the business activity, in addition to the selected SSIC code(s), for activities the standard SSIC industry name does not fully capture.

    length: 0–500
  • nameApplicationEmail string required

    Email address Bizfile uses to send updates on the business name application's outcome.

    length: 1–100classification: pii

Business details

  • nameRegistrationEserviceNumber string required

    The reference number issued when the business name application above was approved. Entering it at the start of the 'Register a New Business Entity' eService retrieves and auto-fills the reserved name. A reserved name remains valid for 120 days from approval.

    length: 1–20
  • proposedCommencementDate date required

    The date the sole proprietorship will start operating.

  • businessAddressLine string required

    The address where the business operates. A post office box alone is not acceptable. A home address (e.g. an HDB flat) may be used as a home office only with prior approval from HDB or URA, not modelled as a separate gate here.

    length: 1–200
  • businessAddressUnitNumber string optional

    Optional unit number of the business operating address, e.g. '#12-34'.

    length: 0–15
  • businessAddressPostalCode string required

    Singapore postal code of the business operating address (6 digits). The 6-digit format is Singapore's general postal code standard, not independently confirmed against Bizfile's own field validation; see VERIFICATION.md.

    patternlength: 6–6
  • businessEmailAddress string required

    A business email address, used for administrative correspondence about the registration.

    length: 1–100

Owner (position holder)

  • ownerNricOrFin string required

    The owner's National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) number (Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents) or Foreign Identification Number (FIN). The exact character format was not independently confirmed against Bizfile's own field validation for this document; see VERIFICATION.md.

    length: 1–20classification: pii
  • ownerFullName string required

    Full name of the sole proprietorship's owner, as it appears on their NRIC.

    length: 1–100classification: pii
  • ownerDateOfBirth date required

    Date of birth of the sole proprietorship's owner.

    classification: pii
  • ownerResidencyStatus enum required

    This document only models an owner who is a Singapore Citizen or Singapore Permanent Resident, consistent with the ownerHasSingpassAccess/ownerIsForeignResidentOverseas eligibility gates above; other residency statuses (e.g. EntrePass/Employment Pass holder acting as a local manager for a foreign owner) are out of scope.

    enum: singapore_citizen | singapore_permanent_resident
  • ownerResidentialAddressLine string required

    The owner's residential address, where ACRA sends official correspondence about the registration.

    length: 1–200classification: pii
  • ownerResidentialAddressUnitNumber string optional

    Optional unit number of the owner's residential address.

    length: 0–15classification: pii
  • ownerResidentialAddressPostalCode string required

    Singapore postal code of the owner's residential address (6 digits).

    patternlength: 6–6classification: pii
  • ownerMobileNumber string required

    The owner's mobile telephone number.

    length: 1–20classification: pii
  • ownerContactEmail string required

    The owner's contact email address.

    length: 1–100classification: pii

Declaration and payment

  • ownersConsentConfirmed boolean required

    Confirmation that the owner has endorsed their consent on Bizfile, a precondition to registration. See documents[].ownerConsentAttestation for the underlying requirement.

  • registrationPeriod enum required

    one_year = register for 1 year (fee SGD 100); three_year = register for 3 years (fee SGD 160), available only when the applicant meets CPF Board eligibility criteria not independently detailed in the sources reviewed for this document.

    enum: one_year | three_year
  • specialUenRequested boolean optional

    Optional add-on: purchase an alternative, easier-to-remember Unique Entity Number (UEN) for an additional fee, instead of the standard system-assigned UEN.

  • paymentMethod enum required

    How the registration fee is paid.

    enum: credit_card | debit_card | online_banking

Verification record

This file is the source-review record for this document version, per the manual-source-review-v1 practice.

Current claim

  • status: draft
  • verification.method: manual-source-review-v1
  • verification.lastVerifiedAt: 2026-07-02

Sources examined

What was confirmed against the source

| Source element | Field(s) | |---|---| | "Who can set up a sole proprietorship or partnership in Singapore" / "Requirements for local residency" | ownerHasSingpassAccess, ownerIsForeignResidentOverseas | | "Reserving a business name via Bizfile" / "Applying for a new business entity name" | proposedBusinessName, primarySsicCode, secondarySsicCode, businessActivityCustomDescription, nameApplicationEmail | | Bizfile Guide, Step 2, Business Details | nameRegistrationEserviceNumber, proposedCommencementDate, businessEmailAddress | | "Registering a sole proprietorship or partnership" — business address requirements | businessAddressLine, businessAddressUnitNumber, businessAddressPostalCode | | Bizfile Guide, Step 3, Position Holders | ownerNricOrFin, ownerFullName, ownerDateOfBirth, ownerResidentialAddressLine, ownerResidentialAddressUnitNumber, ownerResidentialAddressPostalCode, ownerMobileNumber, ownerContactEmail | | "Requirements for local residency" | ownerResidencyStatus (scoped enum) | | "Registering a sole proprietorship or partnership" — consent requirement | ownersConsentConfirmed, documents[].ownerConsentAttestation | | Bizfile Guide, Step 4, Registration Confirmation & Payment | registrationPeriod, specialUenRequested, paymentMethod | | "Reserving a business name via Bizfile" — 120-day validity | nameRegistrationEserviceNumber description |

Fees ($15 name application; $100/1-year or $160/3-year registration) were confirmed across multiple independent source pages but, consistent with every other schema in this registry, are not modelled as authoritative structured data — only referenced in field descriptions for context.

What is NOT independently confirmed / out of scope

  • Exact NRIC/FIN and postal code validation patterns. The reviewed sources state that an NRIC-or-FIN and a postal code are collected, but none of them publish Bizfile's own field-level format validation (character count, regex). ownerNricOrFin is modelled as free text bounded only by a generous maxLength, deliberately not asserting Singapore's commonly-cited public NRIC/FIN letter-digit-letter shape as a pattern, since that shape was not confirmed against Bizfile's own form — the same discipline ca/on/registration/business-incorporation applied to numberNameLegalElement. businessAddressPostalCode / ownerResidentialAddressPostalCode do carry a ^[0-9]{6}$ pattern, since Singapore's 6-digit postal code format is a well-established public fact independent of Bizfile (Singapore Post's national addressing standard), not a Bizfile-specific claim.
  • Partnerships. Bizfile's shared registration flow also covers partnerships (two or more owners) and professional partnerships; this document scopes to the single-owner sole-proprietorship path only, consistent with the single-entity/single-owner scoping convention used throughout this registry (e.g. ca/on/registration/business-incorporation's single director/incorporator, ie/cro/company-incorporation's single director/secretary/subscriber). The "Professional Partnership Status" field noted in the Bizfile guide's Business Details section applies only to the partnership path and is out of scope here.
  • Foreign owners. Both the "without Singpass" and "residing overseas" foreign-owner paths are modelled only as eligibility gates that exit the flow (ownerHasSingpassAccess, ownerIsForeignResidentOverseas), not followed through to the corporate-service-provider engagement or local-manager appointment process — genuinely different, CSP-mediated flows outside this document's scope.
  • Corporate position holders, nominee/trustee arrangements. The Bizfile guide's Position Holders section also supports a corporate entity as position holder and nominee/beneficiary sub-fields (class of children, corporate beneficiary, etc.); out of scope, matching the individual-owner scoping above.
  • Referral-authority name review. Some proposed names are referred to a referral authority for approval (e.g. names implying a professional qualification), taking up to 15 working days; not modelled as a distinct gate or field, only mentioned in proposedBusinessName's description.
  • Home office (HDB/URA) approval. businessAddressLine's description notes that a home address requires prior HDB/URA approval to be used as a business address, but this is not modelled as a separate boolean gate — unlike the licence-renewal-style eligibility gates elsewhere in this document, ACRA's own pages describe this as a prerequisite the applicant arranges separately with HDB/URA, not a Bizfile registration-screen question.
  • CPF Board eligibility criteria for the 3-year registration period. registrationPeriod's three_year option is conditional on "CPF Board criteria" per the source, but the criteria themselves were not detailed in any source reviewed for this document.

Scope and jurisdiction notes

  • Conditional flow-exit is expressed with transitions/exitReason (GSP-0013), following the ca/on/mto/drivers-licence-renewal / gb/dvla/driving-licence-first-provisional eligibility-gate precedent — the first time this registry applies that pattern to a Business Formation schema rather than a DMV one. ownerHasSingpassAccess/ownerIsForeignResidentOverseas are both marked fieldRole: eligibility and genuinely exit the flow, unlike ca/on/registration/business-incorporation's directorIsResidentCanadian, which is informational-only.
  • This document models Bizfile's two linked eServices — "Apply for New Business Entity Name" and "Register a New Business Entity" — as two sequential steps of one flow (business_name_reservation then business_details/owner/declaration_and_payment), per the open question flagged in the original discovery/catalog.json candidate note ("likely two linked processes or a two-step flow within one document; confirm at authoring time"). This differs from ca/on/registration/business-incorporation's treatment of its own name-reservation prerequisite (the NUANS Report), which is issued by a third-party NUANS-licensed search house external to the Ontario Business Registry and is therefore only referenced as an input (nuansReportReferenceNumber/nuansReportDate), not modelled as a step of that document — the difference reflects that Bizfile's name reservation is ACRA's own first-party eService, not a third-party process.
  • This is the fifth company-formation jurisdiction in the registry, after gb/companies-house/company-incorporation-in01, us/ca/sos/business-entity-llc-formation, ie/cro/company-incorporation, and ca/on/registration/business-incorporation — and the first sole-proprietorship (rather than company/LLC-incorporation) form of business formation modelled in this registry. It closes the discovery/catalog.json Business Formation vertical's last open candidate.
  • Consistent with gb/dvla/driving-licence-first-provisional and ca/on/mto/drivers-licence-renewal (both prose-guidance-sourced, not form-PDF-sourced), this document's addresses are modelled as flat addressLine/unitNumber/postalCode string triples rather than a fully decomposed address object, since no source reviewed exposes Bizfile's own screen-level address field breakdown to decompose further.

Path to a verified claim (next step)

To advance to status: verified, a reviewer with Singpass access drives the live Bizfile "Apply for New Business Entity Name" and "Register a New Business Entity" eServices with a mock (test) sole-proprietorship application, confirms the exact screen-by-screen field list, the ownerNricOrFin and postal code validation patterns, and the CPF Board 3-year-registration criteria noted above, and records the outcome here — shipping a new schema version if discrepancies are found (VERSIONING.md §3, immutability). Independently re-deriving the Bizfile guide PDF's field text via pdfjs-dist (rather than relying on the automated-fetch summary used for this version) would also strengthen this record even before a live-eService walkthrough is possible, per the gov-form-pdf-extraction lesson that a prior version's stated extraction method should be independently re-confirmed, not assumed reproducible.

Re-verification

Per the practice's Cadence, nextReviewBy is set to 2027-01-01 (6 months).

View the raw record (VERIFICATION.md)

Version history

  • 1.0.0 draft latest this page has verification record schema.json

Independent and non-affiliated

GovSchema is an independent, open-source project. This reference is not produced, reviewed, or endorsed by Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority or any government. The authoritative source is always the live government form and its official instructions.