In this guide · 7 sections
Short answer
ACRA's free Business Profile goes to the person who filed for their own entity, in the Bizfile inbox within 15 minutes, downloadable for 60 days. To check another company, use Bizfile's free entity search, then buy its Business Profile for S$5.50.
What ACRA changed on 27 March 2026
ACRA's announcement, Simplified Free Business Profile Download, dated 27 March 2026, says your free Business Profile is now delivered to your Bizfile inbox as an attachment within 15 minutes of a successful filing. You no longer need to switch entity profiles or click through extra pages to get it.
- Who qualifies: newly registered entities, and existing entities after completing renewals, annual returns or annual declarations.
- Who receives it: the filing person, called the lodger.
- How long: downloads are available for 60 days from the notification, so save it promptly.
- Eligibility: ACRA says it "remains the same"; only the delivery changed.
This is useful for your own paperwork: banks, landlords, tenders and payment providers often ask for a recent Business Profile. Save the PDF in a shared company folder rather than leaving it in one person's Bizfile inbox.
What you can check about a supplier for free, and for S$5.50
ACRA's page on types of ACRA information products (updated 4 February 2026) says Bizfile's free search shows basic information such as an entity's status and registered address, and you do not need to log in. Paid products add the detail.
| Check | What it shows | Cost (ACRA, Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Bizfile free entity search | Name, UEN, status (for example live or struck off), registered address | Free, no login |
| Business Profile | Basic entity information plus position holders, owners or partners, date of registration | S$5.50 |
| People Profile | A person's involvement in different businesses | S$33 |
| Corporate Compliance and Financial Profile (CCFP) | Business Profile information plus financial profile, ratios and audit opinion | S$50 |
ACRA's guide to buying a Business Profile via Bizfile says you can buy as a guest with a card or online banking, the profile arrives within 15 minutes, and there are no refunds for buying the wrong entity, so match the UEN carefully.
New-supplier check before the first payment
ACRA's own advice on basic risk assessments starts with a free entity search and moves to a Business Profile for detailed checks. Combine that with a bank-detail rule and you cover the two ways supplier fraud works: a company that is not what it claims, and a real company whose bank details have been swapped.
Get the UEN from the supplier, not the invoice alone
Ask for the UEN on their quotation or website and compare it with the invoice. Our guide to UEN display rules explains where it should appear.
Run the free Bizfile entity search
Confirm the status is live and the name matches exactly. ACRA advises caution if you cannot reach them at the registered address or they seem to have moved suddenly.
Buy the Business Profile for larger or ongoing suppliers
Check the registration date, the people listed and the paid-up capital. ACRA suggests checking the role of the person contacting you if they are not listed.
If they charge GST, check GST registration
IRAS's GST Registered Business Search confirms whether the UEN is GST-registered.
Verify bank details by calling a number you already trust
Call the supplier using a number from their website, an earlier contract or your records, never the number on the new invoice or email. Ask them to confirm the account name and number.
Record the check in the supplier file
Save the ACRA result, the date, who called and who approved. Two people should sign off on any new payee.
Warning signs ACRA highlights
ACRA's risk assessment page lists patterns worth a second look, particularly when a business seems to have replaced an earlier one:
- The same people or the same registered address as a business that caused problems before.
- A new entity set up soon after the first one, which you can no longer contact.
- A claim that the new business has taken over from the old one, with a request to sign a new contract and pay first.
- Frequent changes in the people involved, or very small paid-up capital compared with the value of the deal.
Our guides on fake supplier invoices and freight forwarder invoice fraud cover the email side, including what to do within the first hour if you have already paid.
Saving your own free Business Profile properly
Because the free profile now arrives as an attachment and expires after 60 days, it is easy to lose. A simple routine helps:
- After each annual return or declaration, the lodger downloads the profile from the Bizfile inbox the same day.
- Save it to a shared company drive with the filing date in the file name.
- Replace the copy in your bank, payment provider or tender folders when a newer one exists.
- If someone outside your company files for you, such as a corporate secretary, ask them to send you the profile, since they are the lodger.
Do it yourself or get help?
The ACRA and IRAS checks are quick and cheap, and any accounts staff member can run them. What usually fails is the habit: urgent payments skip the call-back, or one person both adds a new payee and approves the transfer.
New supplier rule
IT Sorted is a Singapore-based team of developers with over 10 years of experience. Our Security Awareness Training (S$390) sets up short online lessons in your own account with Singapore-specific scam topics, including fake PayNow and payment-change scams, plus completion tracking so you can see who has done them. Platform licence fees are paid to the vendor.
Frequently asked questions
Only for your own entity in specific cases. ACRA gives a free Business Profile to newly registered entities and to existing entities after renewals, annual returns or annual declarations, sent to the lodger's Bizfile inbox within 15 minutes since 27 March 2026. Business Profiles of other entities cost S$5.50 each on Bizfile.
ACRA says downloads are available for 60 days from the notification in your Bizfile inbox, so download it promptly. Only the person who made the filing, called the lodger, receives it. Save a copy to a shared company folder so others can find it later.
Yes. Bizfile's free entity search shows basic information such as the entity's name, UEN, status and registered address, and you do not need to log in. For position holders, owners and registration history, ACRA sells a Business Profile for S$5.50.
No. ACRA records show that a business exists and who is behind it, but not which bank account it uses. Fraudsters often send invoices in the name of real suppliers with changed bank details. Confirm any new or changed account by calling the supplier on a number you already have.
ACRA describes the Business Profile as basic entity information such as UEN, entity name, date of registration and information about position holders, business owners or partners. ACRA suggests using it to check how long a business has operated, who is involved and the paid-up share capital before a significant deal.