Starting A Business In Singapore

If you are moving from a job to working from home in Singapore, you must first register as a sole trader.
The Singaporean Government has well designed business sites to help you through the process. The best place to start is the Enterprise One Register a Sole-Proprietorship or Partnership page

Here you will find a flow-chart of the requirements for starting your business and the times taken for approval. This would probably be the best designed government information site I have ever seen as far as ease of navigation and quality of information provided.

Can you legitimately base your office in your home in Singapore?
Under the Singapore Home Office Scheme (HO), you can operate your business from your home or flat, provided you are the owner, tenant or legal occupier of the dwelling.

There are certain regulations, relating to disturbance to other residents, for instance, You can't run business where you have large numbers of people visiting to attend seminars, dance tuition etc. See the complete list of excluded businesses.

If the residential property is in a Housing & Development Board (HDB) flat, you need to apply to HDB, While If the residential property is in a private home, then you need to apply to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). There is a non-refundable registration fee of $20(inclusive of GST) is required when you register the HO use with URA.

It is quite possible that if you plan to run a Network Marketing or Intellectual Distribution business, you do not need to apply for this scheme as this type of business meets the following guidelines:

Small Business Guidelines

The Small Business Guidelines apply to all residential premises including residential zones. Under these guidelines, certain non-residential activities could be allowed where the change of use is not considered as material.

These activities are to be of small scale in operation and should not materially affect the use of the premises as a residential unit. The residential amenity of the surrounding area should not be adversely affected.To ensure this, the activities that can be allowed should meet all the following criteria:

1. no person outside the household is to be employed
2. no external advertisement/business signboard is to be displayed
3. no extraneous traffic is introduced to the site
4. no noise, smoke, smell, effluent or dust nuisances or danger should be posed to the surrounding residents
5. no loading and unloading of goods by vans and trucks
6. the activities must comply with the rules and regulations of other authorities e.g. NEA
   HDB flats address cannot be used for business registration. The use of private residential premises address for business registration does not require planning permission provided there is no material change of use of the residential premises.

Before you set up your business, however it would be advisable to check with the relevant authorities.

Finally, check the frequently asked questions page on the Home Office Scheme.