Preparing documents for a Singapore small claims application

You start with a pre-filing assessment ID, add the contact details for you and the respondent, write a short summary of the claim, and attach your supporting evidence as PDF files. If the respondent is a business rather than a person, one more document is required: that company’s ACRA business profile, obtained within one month of filing. Here is each item in turn.

The pre-filing assessment ID comes first

The ID is generated through CJTS, the Judiciary’s online case management system. If you do not have one, the Judiciary directs you to complete the pre-filing assessment in CJTS before you continue. The rest of your application attaches to that ID, so sorting it out at the start avoids a stalled submission later.

Your details and the respondent’s details

For yourself, the form asks for your name, contact number, email and address.

For the respondent, it asks for their name and address. If the respondent is a company, this is where the registered details of the entity matter, because service later on a company is addressed to its ACRA registered address.

The claim summary

Write a short summary of what you are claiming. This is the part readers most often overthink. Keep it to the core of the claim — what happened, what you are owed — and let the attachments carry the detail.

Supporting documents, as PDFs

The Tribunal expects your evidence in PDF form. The Judiciary lists the kinds of documents that typically support a claim:

• invoices
• receipts
• contracts
• tenancy agreements
• stamp duty certificates
• photographs
• emails or messages

Any of these that relate to your claim can go in. Convert scans and photographs to PDF before uploading rather than attaching them in whatever format they happen to sit in.

The extra step when the respondent is a business

Where the respondent is a business entity, you need that entity’s ACRA business profile, and it must have been obtained within one month of filing. That timing condition is the part worth planning around: buying the profile early and filing much later can leave you out of date.

ACRA sells the business profile online through its own website, and its guide on buying business profile information explains the options. Alternatively, the Judiciary notes that you may enquire with ACRA-accredited service providers, such as CrimsonLogic. Purchasing it is your own step to arrange — it is not something filed on your behalf.

What happens to these documents after you assemble them

Once the set is ready, the filing path is short and runs entirely through CJTS:

1. Log in to CJTS.
2. Open the Online Applications tab.
3. Select Claim Form.
4. Fill in the required information.
5. Pay the filing fees — the application is only processed after payment.
6. Choose a consultation date and time.
7. Save and print a copy of the claim and the Notice of Consultation.

That last item is the handoff point from preparation to action. The documents you assembled go to the Tribunal through CJTS; nothing is submitted to this site.

Serving and confirming service

After filing, you must serve the claim and the Notice of Consultation on the respondent within seven days. The Judiciary describes personal delivery and registered post as ways of serving, with the mechanics differing for an individual and a company — for a company, registered post goes to the ACRA registered address in an envelope addressed to the respondent.

Once service is done, you file a Declaration of Service (DOS) with proof of service in CJTS, before the first consultation. Log in, go to Online Applications, and select Declaration Of Service.

One timing point sits above all of this: the claim is to be filed within two years of the date of the cause of action.

A short checklist

• Pre-filing assessment ID from CJTS
• Your name, contact number, email and address
• Respondent’s name and address
• A short summary of the claim
• Supporting documents converted to PDF
• If the respondent is a business: ACRA business profile obtained within one month of filing
• After filing: serve within seven days, then file the DOS before the first consultation

This covers the documents and the sequence only. Whether your claim is eligible, and how it should be framed, depends on facts specific to your situation.

Sources

• How to file and serve a small claim — Singapore Judiciary
• CJTS — Singapore Judiciary
• Guide to buying business profile information — ACRA