The mistake with striking off a company usually isn’t doing it wrong, it’s assuming it can be skipped entirely. A company that’s stopped trading doesn’t stop being a legal entity. It still has to file annual returns, and ACRA can take compliance action against a company and its directors for missed filings regardless of whether the company is actually doing business. “We’re not trading anymore” doesn’t pause any of the statutory obligations on its own.
What actually has to be cleared before ACRA approves a strike-off. The company needs no outstanding tax liabilities, IRAS has to confirm there’s nothing owed before the application goes through, and this clearance step is where most applications stall, because it surfaces whatever’s been quietly building up during a period of inactivity. There can’t be any outstanding debts, pending legal proceedings, or charges registered against the company. All directors and shareholders need to consent to the strike-off. And the company has to have genuinely ceased operations, this isn’t a formality ACRA skips over if something still looks active.
Where applications actually get held up. Unfiled annual returns from the period the company was quietly inactive, these have to be brought current before, not after, applying. Unfiled tax returns, for the same reason, IRAS won’t issue the clearance needed for strike-off while there’s an outstanding filing, even a zero-dollar one. And overlooking that a dormant company doesn’t automatically qualify for a waiver of its tax filing obligation, a dormant company can apply to IRAS for that waiver, but it has to be applied for; it isn’t automatic just because there’s been no activity.
When strike-off isn’t actually the right tool. If the company has assets that still need to be distributed to shareholders, or genuine creditors to settle, a members’ voluntary winding up is usually the correct process instead, it has a formal mechanism for distributing assets and settling claims that a straightforward strike-off doesn’t provide. Using strike-off when winding up was actually needed is one of the more common and more costly mistakes, because it can mean assets effectively get stranded once the company is no longer legally in existence to claim them.
The practical fix. Before applying, do what’s effectively a mini compliance audit: confirm all annual returns are filed up to date, confirm all tax returns are filed (or the dormant-company waiver has actually been granted, not just assumed), confirm there are no outstanding debts or charges, and confirm every director and shareholder is actually available to give consent, a director who’s become unreachable is a surprisingly common reason applications drag on for months.