Sole proprietors receive renewal reminders ahead of time

• Sole proprietors receive renewal reminders ahead of time

• Why does ACRA not send reminder SMS?

Lianhe Zaobao, 28 December 2022

Sole proprietors receive renewal reminders ahead of time

We refer to the letter (“Why does ACRA not send reminder SMS?”, 21 December 2022) by Mr Yao Qi Liu who had shared that his friend, a sole-proprietor, did not receive a reminder to renew his business registration before the expiration date and that the ACRA customer service officer his friend spoke to had told him that ACRA does not send reminders.

We would like to clarify that ACRA sends letters to all sole proprietors about 2 months before the expiry of the business registration, to remind them to renew their business registration promptly. If they do not do so by the expiry date, we will send a second letter to inform them that the business registration has expired, giving them an additional 30 days to renew their business registration and pay the late renewal penalty before the registration is cancelled.

We have since contacted Mr Yao’s friend who confirmed he was referring to the second letter when he spoke to our customer service officer. We have apologised to Mr Yao’s friend that our officer had given him the wrong impression that no reminder letter was sent before the business registration expires. We will continue to review and improve on our communications with the public.

We thank Mr Yao for his feedback that reminder notifications should be sent digitally. We plan to send digital reminders when ACRA’s new business filing system is ready. Earlier this year we had invited the public to give feedback on our plans to correspond fully digitally with businesses. The proposals include amending the law so that letters which are now required by law to be sent in print letters, can be sent digitally. We are reviewing the feedback received and more details will be shared in due course.

Ms Shirley Loo

Divisional Director, Corporate Development Division

Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority

Lianhe Zaobao, 21 December 2022

Why does ACRA not send reminder SMS?

In this digital age, paper letters are rarely used when dealing with government agencies as it is mostly through emails or text messages. This is such a big step forward, especially when it comes to text messages as friendly reminders, such as that LTA would send a reminder via text message and email you the application steps when your road tax is due. When your dog's licence is going to expire, you would also receive an email reminder from the National Parks Board. Even when the government is giving out an allowance, you would receive a text message informing that the transaction has been made.

Government agencies have become digitally integrated into people's daily lives. However, a friend of mine recently received a letter from ACRA informing him that his sole-proprietor registration had expired a week ago and he had not paid the renewal fee, so in addition to the renewal fee, he had to pay a fine as well. He called the hotline to enquire and the customer service agent was kind and sincere. She was patient to guide him through the process of going online to renew and pay the fine.

My friend reflected to her that he had not received any reminder text message to renew his registration, and it was unfair that the first letter received was informing him that it had already expired and he had to pay a fine, which he opined that at least a warning letter should have been sent first and the fine should only be imposed after the deadline for not paying the renewal fee. The response was that the ACRA does not normally remind in advance and owners should remember the renewal date.

The issue now is that while other government departments are moving towards digitalisation, why is ACRA still standing still or even going backwards? I hope that all government departments will act in concert to serve the public.

Yao Qi Liu