Singapore Expats

You've made my day too!

I've been reading this thread intensely as I'm in the exact same situation - on a DP wanting to set up my own consulting sole-proprietorship and I've not been able to find any clear info!
bethnalgreen and movingtospore - if you want to exchange notes re. all this please PM me...

I'll try the route that movingtospore described - I'll let you know how I go!

I just hope you all are not being led into a minefield. Not saying it can't be done, but as of this point all we have is somebody who has gotten a LoC but hasn't been through a full accounting cycle. Hopefully, there won't be a spanner thrown in the works come tax time or when he loses the LoC due to partner losing job. Could get messy. Tread carefully is the only advice I can give at this juncture.

mhtiemroth wrote:You've made my day too!

I've been reading this thread intensely as I'm in the exact same situation - on a DP wanting to set up my own consulting sole-proprietorship and I've not been able to find any clear info!
bethnalgreen and movingtospore - if you want to exchange notes re. all this please PM me...

I'll try the route that movingtospore described - I'll let you know how I go!

Hi mhtiemroth: I've only just checked back on this thread now. It's good to meet others in the same situation. I'd love to PM you, but don't have permission to. (I don't have enough posts yet).

What type of consulting do you do? movingtosingapore PM'd me and it turns out we are in a similar line of work.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:I just hope you all are not being led into a minefield. Not saying it can't be done, but as of this point all we have is somebody who has gotten a LoC but hasn't been through a full accounting cycle. Hopefully, there won't be a spanner thrown in the works come tax time or when he loses the LoC due to partner losing job. Could get messy. Tread carefully is the only advice I can give at this juncture.

Thanks for your concern. However, I'm not particularly worried. I would say the description "minefield" is a tad dramatic in the context of setting up consulting-based sole proprietorships. Even if there is a chance that the LoC is later revoked, these endeavours are in themselves lower risk; with no employees, little to no overhead, little to no up front investment, typically very portable skills, often in global demand, etc.

The biggest thing I worry about for my sole-proprietorship is losing my professional reputation, which thankfully I have complete control over as it is determined by the quality of work I provide to my clients.

bethnalgreen wrote:

mhtiemroth wrote:You've made my day too!

I've been reading this thread intensely as I'm in the exact same situation - on a DP wanting to set up my own consulting sole-proprietorship and I've not been able to find any clear info!
bethnalgreen and movingtospore - if you want to exchange notes re. all this please PM me...

I'll try the route that movingtospore described - I'll let you know how I go!

Hi mhtiemroth: I've only just checked back on this thread now. It's good to meet others in the same situation. I'd love to PM you, but don't have permission to. (I don't have enough posts yet).
What type of consulting do you do? movingtosingapore PM'd me and it turns out we are in a similar line of work.

Hi again, unfortunately I don't have enough posts to PM either... I've set up my sole proprietorship this week and am now preparing the LoC as per your recommendations. I'm in arts management - and you?
Can I ask if you have the LoC in your hand now?
How long did it take to get it from when you manually submitted it?

bethnalgreen wrote:

sundaymorningstaple wrote:I just hope you all are not being led into a minefield. Not saying it can't be done, but as of this point all we have is somebody who has gotten a LoC but hasn't been through a full accounting cycle. Hopefully, there won't be a spanner thrown in the works come tax time or when he loses the LoC due to partner losing job. Could get messy. Tread carefully is the only advice I can give at this juncture.

Thanks for your concern. However, I'm not particularly worried. I would say the description "minefield" is a tad dramatic in the context of setting up consulting-based sole proprietorships. Even if there is a chance that the LoC is later revoked, these endeavours are in themselves lower risk; with no employees, little to no overhead, little to no up front investment, typically very portable skills, often in global demand, etc.

The biggest thing I worry about for my sole-proprietorship is losing my professional reputation, which thankfully I have complete control over as it is determined by the quality of work I provide to my clients.

It might be dramatic or not. But at this point no one knows what will happen, but as there is still confusion over the obviously glaring discrepancy between the various government agencies, one hopes, that in the haste of trying to get around the requirements of one agency, one does not fall foul of another and somehow, not only lose their LoC (minor) but also have their DP revoked. I don't have a clue, but we do know that there are major discrepancies and that the gahmen have a tendency to go for overkill when it's realized. Anyway, just voicing our concern, nothing more. I wish you luck in your endeavours, because frankly, I also think what is happening here is BS as well.

sundaymorningstaple wrote: It might be dramatic or not. But at this point no one knows what will happen, but as there is still confusion over the obviously glaring discrepancy between the various government agencies, one hopes, that in the haste of trying to get around the requirements of one agency, one does not fall foul of another and somehow, not only lose their LoC (minor) but also have their DP revoked. I don't have a clue, but we do know that there are major discrepancies and that the gahmen have a tendency to go for overkill when it's realized. Anyway, just voicing our concern, nothing more. I wish you luck in your endeavours, because frankly, I also think what is happening here is BS as well.

Thanks again. As a newcomer it is helpful to get insight into the local bureaucratic culture.

I suppose we are fortunate because for us should the worst case scenario occur and my DP is withdrawn, we would just leave. My partner has good job prospects and I have clients who would be thrilled to see me in person as opposed to over Skype. Thus it is better to push on, rather than do nothing out of fear. So long as there is no threat of caning we are not concerned.

Obviously others will be in different situations, so your cautionary advice is well noted.

mhtiemroth wrote: Hi again, unfortunately I don't have enough posts to PM either... I've set up my sole proprietorship this week and am now preparing the LoC as per your recommendations. I'm in arts management - and you?
Can I ask if you have the LoC in your hand now?
How long did it take to get it from when you manually submitted it?

Still don't have enough posts to PM you, but I think I can at five - which means hopefully after this one....

Just wanted to let you all know that I was just granted a Letter of Consent from MoM to work for my own sole-proprietorship registered here in Singapore.

Did anyone else succeed?

Congratulations to you, and thank you for posting the update... it's the only way we have some sense of what the gahmen is up to.

Dear All,

My wife and I are new in town and we should be very grateful to receive any helpful information in respect of this process, a DP holder setting up a a sole proprietorship and then applying for (and obtaining!) a Letter of Consent. In particular, we are interested in hearing some guidance in respect of filling in the LOC application form. For example, how did successful applicants deal with the fixed salary element? Sole proprietorships won't generally have a fixed income or "pay" a fixed salary. And how about the signature on behalf of the company - I assume this must be the same signature as the applicant, no? And should a business plan be provided in all instances, together with the LOC application form, or should the LOC application simply be sent in completed on its own?? This is a tricky subject to find information on!

We would be very interested in hearing your guidance, and also to speak with someone helpful at the MOM who understands this process. We are new to this forum and cannot yet send PMs, but if anyone who has a contact would be kind enough to PM me, we would be very grateful indeed. Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards,

eastcoastdan

Hi eastcoastdan,
I've just been through the whole process and now have my sole proprietorship AND an LOC to allow me to work for it.
I'm not exactly sure about the fixed salary, but I know it has to be more than $2500 per month.
It's a pretty simple process, and I've not yet had to talk to anyone at MOM directly - filling out the forms correctly, etc. seems to be sufficient.
If you want to email me for more info, let me know and I'll PM you...

Dear mhtiemroth,

Thanks so much for your quick response - that's already very helpful in itself. We have a few questions and would love to pick your brains. Would much appreciate it if you would drop us a PM so we can discuss. Filling in the forms correctly and attaching all of the required side letters is the plan in the first instance. Thanks so much for assisting!

Best regards,

eastcoastdan

Hi eastcoastdan

Seems like I still don't have enough posts to PM you - but maybe after this one...

mhtiemroth wrote:Hi eastcoastdan

Seems like I still don't have enough posts to PM you - but maybe after this one...

mhtiemroth, now you can PM. You need 5.