Guides

Cross-border planning guides

Practical guides to family offices, international tax, residency and expanding into Southeast Asia — each dated and sourced to the issuing regulator.

Family office

Setting Up a Singapore Family Office: Conditions, 13O/13U/13D and the 2026 Framework

A complete walk-through of establishing a single family office in Singapore: the two separate regulatory regimes, how 13O, 13U and 13D differ, the framework effective June 2026, the tax environment, and the sequence and pinch points of a typical project.

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Family officeUpdated 1 Sept 2026

Singapore's Revised Single Family Office Framework (effective 15 June 2026): Class Exemption, Notification and Transition

MAS's revised Single Family Office framework took effect on 15 June 2026, replacing case-by-case approval with a class exemption. This guide sets out the four qualifying conditions, the 14-day notification duty, annual reporting, and what existing SFOs must do before 15 June 2027.

Family officeUpdated 1 Sept 2026

Singapore Family Office 13O vs 13U: Minimum AUM, Investment Professionals and Local Spending

13O and 13U differ on minimum designated investments, headcount of investment professionals, and tiered local business spending. This guide tables every hard condition side by side, explains where 13D fits, covers the screening report mandatory since October 2024, and flags the three details most often missed before filing.

Identity planningUpdated 1 Sept 2026

Singapore Residency Routes: Employment Pass vs Global Investor Programme

The Employment Pass and the Global Investor Programme are fundamentally different routes — one built on employment and salary, the other on invested capital. This guide compares current thresholds, the COMPASS framework and who each suits, including the EP increase from January 2027.

Corporate & complianceUpdated 1 Sept 2026

Singapore Company Incorporation and Annual Compliance: Requirements, Tax and Common Pitfalls

Incorporating a Singapore company is the starting line; the real cost is annual compliance. This guide covers the hard requirements, the actual corporate tax and GST burden, the filings due every year, and the three things foreign shareholders most often overlook.

Going globalUpdated 1 Sept 2026

China+1 and Moving into Southeast Asia: Singapore Holding Structures, Landing Routes and Compliance

Tariff cycles have turned China+1 from an option into a requirement. This guide approaches it structurally rather than rhetorically: what a Singapore holding platform actually does, how Vietnam and Indonesia differ as landing points, why ODI filing must precede offshore funding, and the four mistakes companies make most often.

Global Business Regions