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Guide to Activation of Singapore Custom Account

2025-06-17
A Declaring Entity refers to any importer, exporter, shipping agent, air cargo agent, freight forwarder, common carrier or other person who desires to obtain a customs permit, licence, certificate or any other document or form of approval from Singapore Customs.

Only the Key Personnel (e.g. owner, partner or director) of an entity whose record is registered with ACRA or the relevant UEN Issuance Agency can activate the entity’s Customs Account.

  1. How to Activate a Customs Account

    (1)
    		 For Newly Registered Business Entities

    Upo  n your entity’s successful registration with ACRA, you may activate your entity’s Customs Account from the same ACRA portal.
    (2)
    		 For Existing Business Entities or Non-Business Entities

    The Key Personnel can log in to your entity’s Customs Account to check the status of your entity’s Customs Account. Key Personnel refers to an individual whose particulars are registered with:

    (a) ACRA for the purpose of registering a business entity; or
    (b) The relevant Issuance Agency of the UEN for the purpose of applying for a unique entity number.

    If your entity’s Customs Account is not activated or terminated, the status of Customs Activation will be indicated as ‘Not Active’ and ‘Terminated’ respectively. If your entity’s Customs Account is activated, the status of Customs Activation will be indicated as ‘Approved’  .

  2. Time frame

    Upon submission of the application to activate your entity’s Customs Account, the Contact Person listed will receive a notification of the application outcome within 1 working day   if supporting documents are not required. The standard processing time of an application is 3 working days upon receipt of complete supporting documents.

    After Singapore Customs approves your application to activate your entity’s Customs Account, the Declaring Agent may use your entity’s UEN for permit application.

  3. Registration Requirement

    (1)
    		 To provide two local contacts with local Singapore phone number and FIN   number or NRIC.
    (2)
    		 The Primary Contact Person (or Secondary Contact Person if transmission to the Primary Contact Person fails) listed in the application will receive a notification of the application outcome within : (i) 1 working day   if supporting documents are not required : or (ii) 3 working days upon receipt of complete supporting documents if we contact Primary Contact Person (or Secondary Contact Person if the Primary Contact Person is uncontactable) to request for more supporting documents.

  4. Trader Notification

    You may sign up for the free Trader Notification service to receive notifications on the permit number, name of the Declaring Agent and permit approval date when a permit with your entity’s Unique Entity Number (UEN) is approved, cancelled or amended.

    For payment permits, you will also be notified of the total duty and/or GST payable which would enable you to verify it against the amount that you had paid or would pay.

    To sign up for the free Trader Notification Service, the Key Personnel (e.g. owner, partner, or director) whose record is registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), relevant UEN Issuance Agency, or the Authorised Personnel in Customs Account can log in to the Activate / Update / Terminate Customs Account e-Service to sign up for the service and provide the details of the designated contact.

    In addition, you may also obtain details of your past permit application for reconciliation purposes by Registering as a TradeNet User .

  5. Update of Particulars and Printing of Approval letter

    If there are any changes in the particulars of the Declaring Entity, please update the change in your entity’s Customs Account within 7 days of the effective date of change. Such changes include, but are not limited to:
    (1)
    		 Change in ownership
    (2)
    		 Change in address
    (3)
    		 Change in contact details of primary contact, secondary contact and recipient of trader notification
    (4)
    		 Change in authorised personnel
    (5)
    		 Termination of business

    You need not inform Singapore Customs of a change in your entity’s name if it is still registered under the same UEN.

    If there is a change in your entity’s UEN, the Key Personnel or Authorised Personnel will need to log in to your entity’s Customs Account to terminate your previous entity’s Customs Account and activate the new entity’s Customs Account.

    The Key Personnel or Authorised Personnel authorised by the Key Personnel can also print a copy of the approval letter from your Customs Account. 

All the information and requirement are revised periodically and may be subject to change from time to time by the Singapore government authorities without prior notice. Please consult with Kaizen Consultants for more information.

Kaizen specializes in the areas of business formation and registration, tax filing and planning, audit and assurance, merger and acquisition, intellectual property, human resources management, visa and immigration services and many others. Through our own offices and the network of professional firms that we built up, Kaizen is capable of providing above mentioned services in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, UK, USA, Italy, Germany, Australia and many other jurisdictions.

Disclaimer

All information in this article is only for the purpose of information sharing, instead of professional suggestion. Kaizen will not assume any responsibility for loss or damage.

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