Comparisons between Limited Company, Foreign Branch Office and Representative Office

	Limited company (private and public companies)	Foreign Branch Office	Representative Office
Entity’s Name	Need not be the same as parent company	Must be the same as the parent company	Must be the same as the parent company
Legal Status	A separate legal entity	Not a separate legal entity. It is considered as an extension of the parent company	Does not have any legal status as it is only a temporary establishment
Business Activities	Can carry on any business activities	The business activities must be the same as the parent company	Not allowed to carry on any business activities with the purpose of generating profits. Can only conduct market research and feasibility studies.
Ownership	Owned by members of the company	No members	Not applicable
Limited Liability	Yes	No	No
Filing of Financial Statements (FS)	FS of the company is required to be filed together with the Annual Return where applicable	Accounts of both the parent company and branch office is required to be filed	Not applicable
Officers	Need to appoint at least 1 local director	Need to appoint at least one local authorised representative	Need to appoint a chief representative who must be from the parent company or a Singapore employee of the parent company.
Tax Status	Generally treated as tax resident entity in Singapore	Not considered as tax resident entity in Singapore	Not applicable
Perpetual Succession	This is a perpetual succession until wound up or struck off	This is a perpetual succession until deregistered or the parent company is liquidated or struck off	The registration is renewable on annual basis of not more than 3 years
Governing Authority	Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA)	Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA)	Enterprise Singapore

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Comparisons between Limited Company, Foreign Branch Office and Representative Office

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