Comparison of 5 Common Types of Business Entities

	Sole-proprietorship	General Partnership	Limited Liability Partnership	Limited Partnership	Private Limited Company
Suitable for you who is …	to run a low risk business on your own.	to run a low risk business together with other partner(s).	to run a professional business together with other partner(s).	to run a medium risk business together with other partner(s).	to run a relatively high risk business, whether or not with other partner(s).
Who can be the owner(s)?	A Singapore resident A local company A foreigner or a foreign company, provided a local resident manager is appointed.	Singapore residents Local companies Foreigners or foreign companies, provided: a local resident manager is appointed; or one of the partners is residing in Singapore.	Singapore residents Local companies Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) Foreigners or foreign companies, provided: a local resident manager is appointed; or one of the partners is residing in Singapore.	Singapore residents Local companies Foreigners or foreign companies, provided: a local resident manager is appointed; or one of the partners is residing in Singapore.	Singapore residents Local companies Foreigners Foreign Companies
Number of owner	1	2 to maximum of 20	At least 2	At least 2	1 to maximum of 50
Limitation on liability	Unlimited	Unlimited	Limited	Unlimited for the general partner Limited for the limited partner	Limited
Audit requirement	No	No	No	No	Yes, if: The annual turnover is more than S$5 million; or One of the owners is a company.
Tax implication	At owner’s level.	At owner’s level.	At owner’s level.	At owner’s level.	At company’s level.

For more details, please see Sole-proprietorship, General Partnership, Limited Liability Partnership, Limited Partnership and Private Limited Company.

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