Corporate services for Hong Kong companies.

Company formation

We incorporate Hong Kong private companies limited by shares for owners anywhere in the world. No director needs to be resident in Hong Kong, which makes it one of the more straightforward jurisdictions to enter — provided the company is set up with its eventual banking and tax position in mind rather than purely for speed.

• Name availability check and incorporation with the Companies Registry
• Business Registration Certificate and annual renewal
• Articles of association, including tailored provisions for joint ventures
• Registered office address and statutory record keeping
• Registration of non-Hong Kong companies establishing a place of business

Company secretary and compliance

Every Hong Kong company must have a company secretary who is ordinarily resident in Hong Kong or a body corporate with a Hong Kong registered office. We act in that capacity and maintain the statutory records, including the significant controllers register that must be kept available for inspection.

• Named company secretary and registered office
• Significant controllers register and statutory books
• Annual return filing and business registration renewal
• Board and shareholder resolutions, share transfers and allotments
• Director and shareholder changes, and deregistration where a company is being wound down

Accounting, audit liaison and profits tax

Hong Kong requires audited financial statements in support of the profits tax return, so bookkeeping has to be prepared to audit standard from the start. We maintain the records, brief the auditor and manage the filing timetable.

• Bookkeeping and management accounts prepared to audit standard
• Audit coordination with an independent Hong Kong CPA practice
• Profits tax computation and return filing
• Employer’s return and payroll administration
• Catch-up work where several years of audits have been missed

Offshore profits and tax positioning

Hong Kong’s territorial source basis means profits arising outside Hong Kong may fall outside the profits tax charge. Whether that applies to your business is a question of fact, and the Inland Revenue Department tests it thoroughly. We assess the position honestly and build the contemporaneous documentation that a claim requires — or tell you that the claim is not supportable.

Banking and cross-border structuring

Bank onboarding is the most common point of failure for new Hong Kong companies. Banks want to see genuine activity and identified counterparties, and they will decline a shell. We prepare the business profile, ownership documentation and transaction rationale in the form banks expect, and we structure the entity so it can pass that review.

• Corporate account opening support and documentation
• Group structure charts and beneficial ownership records
• Hong Kong holding and trading entities for mainland China operations
• Coordination with our Shanghai team on China-side requirements
• Group reorganisations and entity rationalisation