ACRA COMPLIANCE GUIDE · UPDATED AUGUST 2026
XBRL filing in Singapore: which template your company actually files
XBRL is not a separate filing — it is how your financial statements go into the annual return. The real questions are which of four formats applies to your company, whether you are exempt altogether, and how to get the mapping through validation without the figures drifting from your AGM statements. All of it now happens on the Bizfile portal, and the tooling changed again in early 2026.
THE FOUR FORMATS
Which filing format applies.
Eligibility decides the template — there is no choosing a lighter one because the accounts are simple. The element counts are ACRA’s approximations, but the difference in preparation effort between about 120 and about 210 tagged elements is real.
Simplified XBRL
Smaller companies that are not publicly accountable — including insolvent EPCs that pass the size test.
About 120 data elements covering the full statements of financial performance and position plus selected notes. A PDF copy of the directors-authorised financial statements is uploaded alongside.
Full XBRL
Every other Singapore-incorporated company that must file financial statements.
About 210 data elements — primary statements and selected notes — plus the complete set of statements in a text block that becomes publicly available with annual return extracts.
XBRL FSH (Banks / Insurance)
Banks, finance companies and insurers regulated by MAS.
A financial statements highlights template of about 80 data elements, filed together with a PDF copy of the financial statements.
PDF only
Companies limited by guarantee, foreign companies with Singapore branches, and companies ACRA has allowed to use other accounting standards.
No XBRL at all — the financial statements are filed as a PDF with the annual return.
THE SIZE TEST
“Smaller company” means S$500,000 — twice.
Revenue ≤ S$500,000 and total assets ≤ S$500,000
Both limbs must hold for the current financial year. The threshold does not change for a longer or shorter financial period — S$500,000 is S$500,000 whether your year ran 8 months or 15.
Consolidated figures if you have subsidiaries
A company with subsidiaries, associates or joint ventures applies the test to consolidated revenue and consolidated assets, unless it is exempt from preparing consolidated statements.
Foreign-currency accounts get translated
Revenue translates at the average rate across the financial year; total assets at the closing rate on the year-end date. A company hovering near the threshold can tip over on exchange movement alone.
Publicly accountable companies are out regardless of size
Listed companies and a list of MAS-regulated entities — banking, insurance, licensed trade repositories and similar — cannot use Simplified XBRL however small the numbers are.
EXEMPTIONS
Who does not file financial statements at all.
Solvent exempt private companies (EPCs)
An EPC — a private company with fewer than 20 members and no corporate shareholder — that can pay its debts as they fall due does not have to file financial statements at all. It makes an online declaration of solvency in the annual return instead, and can still file voluntarily if banks or counterparties want statements on record.
Insolvent EPCs lose the exemption
An EPC that cannot pay its debts as they fall due must file — Simplified XBRL if it passes the size test and is not publicly accountable, Full XBRL otherwise. Solvency is declared each year; the answer can change.
Dormant relevant companies
A dormant company that is unlisted, not a subsidiary of a listed company, and holds total assets of S$500,000 or less (consolidated, for a parent) is exempt from preparing and filing financial statements — provided it has been dormant since formation or since the end of the previous financial year.
HOW FILING WORKS
Three routes to a lodged return.
Since December 2024 filings go through the Bizfile portal — the guides still calling it BizFile+ are describing the old system. From 25 February 2026 the BizFinx tools moved to the ACRA Taxonomy 2026, with a hard transition deadline of 15 April 2026; a file prepared in an old tool version will not lodge.
BizFinx Preparation Tool, then Bizfile
The free offline tool: map your AGM financial statements to the ACRA taxonomy, validate offline, upload, then select the uploaded XBRL documents inside the annual return eService on the Bizfile portal. The Multi-Upload Tool handles several files at once.
Seamless filing from accounting software
Approved accounting software can prepare and file the annual return with Simplified XBRL directly through ACRA's API — no separate preparation tool, no re-keying. For a small company on supported software this is usually the cleanest route.
A corporate services provider files for you
A CSP prepares the XBRL and lodges the annual return on the company's behalf. What you are paying for is the mapping judgment — the taxonomy decisions that determine whether validation passes and the filing matches the AGM statements.
Whichever route you take, a PDF copy of the directors-authorised statements is uploaded with the return unless a full set was filed in XBRL, and the annual return itself carries a S$60 filing fee.
VALIDATION
Where XBRL filings actually fail.
XBRL that does not match the AGM statements
The filed figures must be identical to the statements tabled at the AGM — same numbers, same rounding, same currency, same presentation format. Thousands-vs-millions rounding and wrong currency indicators are the mismatches ACRA calls out most.
Totals that do not add up
Validation checks that child fields sum to totals and that opening balance plus movements equals closing balance. A hand-adjusted total that drifted from its components fails the rules.
First-time consolidation entered as zero
Filing group statements for the first time, the prior-year group column should be left blank — entering S$0 creates errors that then need explaining. A blank comparative here is a genuine, accepted answer.
Missing breakdowns behind the face of the accounts
If property, plant and equipment appears in the balance sheet, its breakdown must be completed; net cash flow fields and discontinued-operations lines are the other frequent omissions.
Common questions.
What is XBRL filing in Singapore?
XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is the structured data format in which most Singapore-incorporated companies file their financial statements with ACRA as part of the annual return, on the Bizfile portal. Instead of only a PDF, line items are tagged against the ACRA taxonomy so the data is machine-readable.
Does my company file Full or Simplified XBRL?
Simplified XBRL (about 120 data elements) applies if the company is both smaller — revenue and total assets each at or below S$500,000 for the year, consolidated where applicable — and not publicly accountable. Everyone else required to file financial statements uses Full XBRL (about 210 elements), except MAS-regulated banks and insurers (XBRL FSH) and PDF-only categories such as companies limited by guarantee.
Is my company exempt from XBRL filing?
A solvent exempt private company does not need to file financial statements at all — it declares solvency in the annual return instead. Dormant relevant companies with total assets of S$500,000 or less are exempt from preparing and filing statements. An insolvent EPC must file in XBRL.
When is XBRL due?
XBRL financial statements are lodged as part of the annual return, so the deadline is the annual return deadline: within 7 months after the financial year end for a non-listed company (5 months for a listed company). There is no separate XBRL deadline.
What happens if the annual return is filed late?
ACRA applies a late lodgement penalty automatically when the return is filed: S$300 if it is up to 3 months late, S$600 beyond that. Continued default can bring composition sums of at least S$500 per breach or prosecution, and a late AGM counts as a separate breach from a late annual return.
What changed for XBRL filing in 2026?
ACRA released the ACRA Taxonomy 2026 and new versions of the BizFinx Preparation Tool and Multi-Upload Tool from 25 February 2026, with a transition deadline of 15 April 2026. The update also reclassified several validation rules from genuine errors to possible errors, which means fewer exemption applications for edge cases. Filings happen on the Bizfile portal, which replaced BizFile+ in December 2024.
Official sources
Filing requirements, thresholds and penalty amounts are as published by ACRA, checked on 23 August 2026.
This guide provides general information, not professional advice. XBRL requirements depend on the company’s size, public accountability, solvency and accounting standards, and ACRA’s taxonomy, tools and portal features change from time to time.
WRITTEN BY
Jacqueline May
Principal Accountant · Chartered Accountant (Singapore), ISCA member
Jacqueline is a Chartered Accountant (Singapore) and ISCA member, and the Principal Accountant at Synergy Accounting, a Singapore practice established in 2013. She works on corporate tax, GST and ACRA compliance for small and medium businesses — the filings, deadlines and judgement calls most owners would rather hand over. These guides are written from what she sees in practice.