🇭🇰 Hong Kong
Hong Kong taxes only locally-sourced profits and offers a simple, low-rate system — a classic base for trade and investment into Asia.
Who it suits
Who it does not
Living
A dense, dynamic international city with English widely used in business. Cost of living is high, but it remains a major finance and trade hub.
Business
A private limited company is fast to set up and benefits from free capital flows, a respected legal system and proximity to mainland China.
Tax
Profits tax is 8.25% on the first HKD 2m and 16.5% above, charged only on Hong Kong-sourced profits. There is no VAT, no capital-gains tax and no tax on dividends.
Figures are indicative and change over time. We confirm the current rules, rates and requirements for your specific situation before you commit.
How incorporation works
- Name and structureClear the name in English, Chinese or both, and settle directors, shareholders and the company secretary.
- Secretary and officeAppoint a company secretary resident in Hong Kong, or a Hong Kong body corporate, and provide a Hong Kong registered office. Both are mandatory.
- IncorporationFile with the Companies Registry. The certificate of incorporation and the business registration certificate are issued together.
- Significant controllersPrepare the register of significant controllers and keep it at the registered office, available to law enforcement on demand.
- Tax fileThe Inland Revenue Department opens the profits tax file and issues the first return, usually some months after incorporation.
- Bank accountOpen the account. Hong Kong banks want to see the trade behind the company — contracts, counterparties, and why Hong Kong. This is the hardest step, and it should be started early.
- Accounting from day onePut bookkeeping in place from the first invoice. Every Hong Kong company is audited, and reconstructing a year of records afterwards is the expensive way to do it.
- The source positionDecide early whether profits will be claimed as offshore. That claim is built out of the contracts and the operating pattern, not out of a form filed at the end of the year.
What we need from you
- Passport copies and proof of address for every director, shareholder and significant controller
- A preferred company name, with an alternative, in English and Chinese if wanted
- A description of the business, its suppliers, customers and markets
- The share split and the intended capital
- Parent-company documents where a corporate shareholder is used
- Signed consents to act for the directors
- Evidence of the trade — contracts or letters of intent — for the bank
- Powers of attorney where we act on your behalf
What you end up with
- Certificate of incorporation
- Business registration certificate
- Articles of association
- Share certificates and the statutory registers
- Register of significant controllers
- Registered office and company secretary
- A corporate pack banks and counterparties will accept
Every year after that
- An annual return to the Companies Registry
- Renewal of the business registration certificate
- Audited financial statements prepared by a Hong Kong practising CPA — every company, every year
- A profits tax return, with the audit attached
- An employer’s return where anyone is paid
- Keeping the register of significant controllers current
Common questions
What is the actual tax rate?
Profits tax is charged at 8.25% on the first tranche of assessable profits and 16.5% above it. Only one company in a group of connected entities can use the lower band in any given year.
Is Hong Kong tax really territorial?
In principle yes: only profits arising in or derived from Hong Kong are taxable. In practice the Inland Revenue Department tests the claim hard — where the contracts were negotiated and concluded, and where the work was done. The claim is won with documents, not with a declaration.
What is the foreign-source regime?
Since 2023, and extended to disposal gains from 2024, certain foreign dividends, interest, intellectual-property income and disposal gains received in Hong Kong by a member of a multinational group are treated as taxable here unless the economic-substance, nexus or participation conditions are met. It reshapes holding structures rather than ordinary trading.
Is the audit mandatory?
Yes — for every Hong Kong company, by a Hong Kong practising CPA, every year. There is no small-company exemption of the kind the UK or Singapore offers.
Do I need a local director?
No. But you do need a Hong Kong company secretary and a Hong Kong registered office, and the bank will want a genuine reason for the company to be here at all.
How hard is the bank account?
It is the hardest part. Expect an interview, a full explanation of the trade, and a real possibility of refusal where the only connection to Asia is the certificate of incorporation. EMIs are a workable fallback and often the sensible starting point.
Set up your company in Hong Kong
Tell us about your business and we will confirm whether Hong Kong is the right fit — and handle the full incorporation.
- A reply within one working day
- The first consultation is 30 minutes
- Confidential, no obligation