How to Choose the Right ACRA SSIC Code (2026 Guide)

Choosing the right ACRA SSIC code means matching the five-digit classification to the activity that earns your business the most revenue not the one you spend the most time on, and not a generic guess. It matters more since 9 May 2026, when Singapore moved from SSIC 2020 to SSIC 2025: the codes you’re choosing from have changed, and picking the wrong one can still delay your incorporation, trigger a referral-authority review you didn’t expect, or quietly disqualify you from a grant.

Key Takeaways

• Since 9 May 2026, all new company registrations must use SSIC 2025 codes — SSIC 2020 codes are no longer accepted on new Bizfile applications.
• Choose your SSIC code based on the activity that generates the most revenue or value-added, not the one you spend the most hours on.
• If your business has two significant income streams, you can declare a primary and a secondary SSIC code — but you can’t stack more than two.
• Certain codes still trigger a referral-authority review (MAS, CEA, MOE, Ministry of Law, Enterprise Singapore) — this hasn’t changed with the SSIC 2025 rollout, and it can add 14 to 60 days to your application.
• You can change your SSIC code at any time after incorporation, with no cap on how many times you do it — though each change should reflect a genuine shift in your business activity, not a workaround.
• For the full mechanics of what changed in SSIC 2025 and a reference table of common codes, see our companion guide to SSIC codes.

What Is an ACRA SSIC Code?

An ACRA SSIC code is the five-digit Singapore Standard Industrial Classification number every company must declare when registering a business name on Bizfile. It tells ACRA, IRAS, and the Department of Statistics what your business actually does, and it feeds directly into licensing checks, tax-incentive eligibility, and national economic statistics.

Since 9 May 2026, the codes available for selection sit under SSIC 2025, which replaced SSIC 2020 and revised more than 1,500 classifications. If you’re incorporating a new company, you’re choosing from the SSIC 2025 list by default — there’s no option to register under the old version. If you’re updating an existing company’s code, the same applies: any change filed after the cutover date must reference SSIC 2025. For the detailed breakdown of what actually changed — the Section J split, the new codes for AI and sustainability, how existing companies were auto-remapped — see our full SSIC codes guide.

How to Choose the Right SSIC Code for Your Company

Identify your primary business activity first. Your primary SSIC code should reflect whichever activity generates the highest revenue or value-added for your company — not the one that takes up the most hours in your week, and not the one that sounds more impressive on a pitch deck. A founder who spends most of their time building software but earns most of their revenue from consulting retainers should register under consultancy.

If you have two major income sources, declare both. ACRA allows one primary and one secondary SSIC code. If your business genuinely runs two significant revenue streams — say, product sales and a subscription service — select the code that best represents each, with the primary code reflecting whichever earns more.

Seek clarification when no code fits. If your business activity doesn’t map cleanly onto any SSIC 2025 description, don’t force it into the nearest approximate code. Use ACRA’s keyword search on Bizfile, add a more detailed custom description during registration, or run it past Grof’s SSIC Code Checker or your corporate secretary before you file.

Research industry-specific regulations before you commit. Some SSIC codes carry tax implications (holding companies, for instance, face different treatment and fewer deductions) or trigger licensing requirements you’ll need to plan for. Check what your chosen code implies before incorporation, not after.

Watch for codes ending in “9.” Descriptions ending in the digit 9, followed by “n.e.c.” (not elsewhere classified), are catch-all codes. Use one only when no more specific code accurately describes your activity — picking an n.e.c. code as a shortcut can make your business harder to classify correctly for grants and industry benchmarking later.

SSIC Codes That Trigger Referral Authority Review

Some SSIC codes — and in a few cases, certain words in your proposed business name regardless of SSIC code — route your application to a referral authority for approval before ACRA can register you. This step is unaffected by the move to SSIC 2025: if your activity fell under review before, it still does now, just under the equivalent SSIC 2025 code. Referred applications typically take 14 to 60 days longer to process.

This is a shortlist of the most commonly encountered triggers, not the complete list. ACRA maintains the authoritative version on its referral authorities page — worth checking directly if your activity sits anywhere near a regulated sector.

Licensing After Incorporation

Getting past the referral-authority stage, if any, doesn’t mean you’re done. If your SSIC code indicates a regulated activity — retail or wholesale of liquor, F&B, hotels, employment agencies, travel agencies, and education establishments are common examples — you’ll still need to apply for the relevant operating licence before you start trading. ACRA’s registration and a sector licence are two separate approvals, and confusing the two is a common reason businesses discover a compliance gap only after they’ve already opened their doors.

How to Change Your SSIC Code Later

Your SSIC code isn’t locked in at incorporation. If your business activity shifts, your corporate secretary can file a change of SSIC code through BizFile+ — there’s no limit on how many times you can update it over the life of your company. What matters is that each change genuinely reflects your current activity; an SSIC code chosen to look better for a grant application, without an underlying change in what your business does, creates the same red flags in a future audit that a wrong code does at incorporation. See our SSIC codes guide for the standard 14-day filing window that applies once your activity has changed.

Conclusion

Choosing the right ACRA SSIC code was never just an administrative checkbox, and the move to SSIC 2025 hasn’t made it any less consequential — if anything, a revised classification list means it’s worth double-checking that the code you’d have picked under SSIC 2020 still exists, still means what you think it means, and still keeps you clear of a referral authority you didn’t plan for.

Grof’s corporate secretarial team reviews your business activity against the current SSIC 2025 list as a standard part of incorporation, flags any referral-authority exposure before you file, and handles the update if your activity changes down the line. Book a free consultation and we’ll confirm your SSIC code before it becomes a problem, not after.

Frequently Asked Questions