ACRA Annual Return Filing: What Changed on 20 October 2026

ACRA annual return filing changed on 20 October 2026. Any company filing its annual return from that date must confirm that the particulars ACRA holds for its directors, chief executive officer, secretary, auditors and relevant members are accurate, and must answer a new question on whether anyone performs the role of CEO. ACRA's 6 October 2026 announcement tells companies and authorised filers to review their records in Bizfile and fix anything out of date before they submit. It lists no change to when the return is due.

For a small private company, the annual return is now a declaration that ACRA's records are right, so the real work moves to the week before you file.

What changed in the ACRA annual return?

ACRA's announcement adds two things to annual return filing:

1. A confirmation of particulars. The filer confirms that the latest particulars provided to ACRA are accurate for the company's directors, CEOs, secretaries, auditors and relevant members. The announcement does not define "relevant members"; ask your company secretary if your structure is unusual.
2. A CEO question. The filer must indicate whether any individuals perform the role of Chief Executive Officer in the company.

Companies limited by guarantee have one more line: the total number of members last reported through Bizfile must be accurate.

The announcement states no new fee or deadline. What changes is the cost of a stale record: a wrong address or a director who left last year is now something the filer confirms as correct.

Who counts as the CEO on the annual return?

The question asks whether anyone performs the role, not whether anyone holds the title. In many owner-run firms nobody is called CEO, yet a managing director, general manager or founder runs the business day to day and may be the person the question is about.

ACRA's announcement does not define the role, and we could not open the Companies Act definition today. If two people share the running of the company, or the person in charge is not a director, settle the answer with your company secretary and minute who was named and why.

A pre-filing check before you submit

1. Pull your company's profile in Bizfile and list every officer on record: directors, CEO (if any), secretary, auditor.
2. Check each person's particulars against what you know today: name as on their identity document, identification details, nationality, contact address and appointment date.
3. Look for leavers never ceased and joiners never added.
4. Check the registered office address. IRAS's page on updating company particulars (updated 10 April 2026) says it sends forms and notices only to the registered address on ACRA's records, so a stale address means missed tax letters.
5. Check the shareholding against your register of members and any transfers this year.
6. Decide the CEO answer and minute it.
7. File the corrections first, check that they show in Bizfile, then file the annual return.

For a free outside view, ACRA publishes information on corporate entities on data.gov.sg, updated monthly in 27 files (one per letter, plus an 'others' file). The 'A' file (last updated 14 October 2026) has columns for the registered address, primary activity code, "Annual Return Date", "Account Due Date", "No Of Officers" and audit firm names. It shows a count of officers, not their names, and it lags by up to a month, so treat it as a cross-check rather than the record.

Worked example: a design studio's first filing under the new rules (illustrative)

A fictional private company, a four-person interior design studio in Tai Seng, is due to file its annual return in November. Farah is a director and runs the studio; her title is Managing Director. Wei Ming, the second director, moved flat in March. The company moved office in August. Their part-time bookkeeper resigned as company secretary in May and an outside secretary took over.

Running the checklist turns up four problems:

• Wei Ming's contact address still shows the old flat. He updates it before the return is filed.
• The registered office still shows the old office. It should have been filed within 14 days of the August move; it is filed now, and IRAS's weekly update from ACRA's records will follow.
• The old secretary was never ceased and the new one never appointed. Both are corrected.
• The CEO question. Nobody is called CEO, but Farah runs the business day to day, so the directors agree she performs the role, answer accordingly and minute the decision.

The studio also changed its principal activity with ACRA this year, after furniture retail overtook design work. IRAS's same page says a change of principal activity filed with ACRA is not passed on to IRAS, so the studio informs IRAS separately. Only then does it file the annual return, a week later than planned and with nothing confirmed on trust.

What changes for registered offices and record inspection?

The rule that a registered office must be open to the public for minimum hours on each business day has been removed, so a company can set its own opening hours. The duty to make records available for inspection stays. Under the new rules a person who wants to inspect must give the company reasonable notice, and the company must then make the records available for at least two hours on each of the relevant business days.

If you use a corporate service provider's address, agree how an inspection request will reach you and who produces the registers. Our guide to how long to keep business records covers what you should be able to produce.

Striking off and restoration: shorter timelines

ACRA says the striking-off process is shorter for companies, LLPs and VCCs. For voluntary striking-off, the Gazette notice can be published as early as the same day the notice is sent; for striking-off started by the Registrar, 15 days after the letter is sent to the company. A company is dissolved, or restored, at the date and time the Registrar acts, and ACRA publishes that date and time in the Government Gazette.

Restoration is tighter: the Court or the Registrar must refuse an application where the restored entity is likely to be used for an unlawful purpose or for purposes prejudicial to public peace, welfare or good order in Singapore, or where restoring it would be contrary to national security or interest.

The same phase removed the requirement to file a statement in lieu of prospectus in prescribed circumstances and the statutory meetings and reports required of public companies with a share capital, and changed registration and insurance rules for public accountants and accounting firms.

How this fits the year-end filings

The annual return is ACRA's filing; the corporate income tax return is IRAS's. IRAS's Filing Season 2026 page (updated 30 September 2026) says every company must file its YA 2026 return by 30 November 2026, including one that did not carry on business or made a loss, unless IRAS has granted it a waiver, and its Form C-S guidance repeats the 30 November date. If both fall in the same weeks, fix the ACRA record first: IRAS reads your name, address and financial year end from it. See our Form C-S guide, the SME compliance calendar and more under operations.

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