SINGAPORE: Come January 1 next year, businesses in Singapore will have a Unique Entity Number (UEN) to identify themselves when dealing with all government agencies.

This single identification number will be issued by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) to all entities registered in Singapore in a move that is aimed at streamlining processes.

Phoon Chew Ping, director, Managing for Excellence, Ministry of Finance, said: "UEN will bring convenience to entities as well as efficiency for the government. With UEN, there will be just one number that entities have to use and remember, when they interact with government agencies."

Under the new system, a UEN will be issued by ACRA to all entities that have multiple interactions with government agencies by October this year.

About 330,000 or 85 per cent of companies and businesses here will use their current ACRA company registration number as their UEN, while about 55,000 or 15 per cent of entities in Singapore will be issued a new number.

These entities include Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), foreign companies, societies and management corporations.

Businesses have welcomed the move, saying that this will simplify and reduce possible errors caused by the use of multiple numbers. Other government agencies have also echoed the same view.

Karen Lim, head, Procedures & Processing, Singapore Customs, said: "Today, there are about 99,000 entities registered with Singapore Customs. They declare about 9 million transactions, import export permits through our trading system every year.

"With this UEN initiative, they no longer have to come to Customs for a separate registration."

Currently, companies in Singapore use up to four different numbers when corresponding with different government agencies.


- CNA/so