Starting a company in Hong Kong
Incorporating a Hong Kong limited company is quick. Keeping it in good order afterwards is the part people underestimate. Here is the whole path — before, during, and the first eighteen months.
Four steps
- 1Choose a nameEnglish, Chinese, or both. It cannot be the same as a name already on the Companies Registry's index, and some words need approval. We check before anything is filed.
- 2Decide who holds which roleAt least one director who is an individual; at least one shareholder, who can be the same person; a company secretary who lives in Hong Kong or is a Hong Kong company; and a registered office address in Hong Kong. A sole director cannot also be the sole company secretary.
- 3File the incorporationThe incorporation form and the articles of association go to the Companies Registry, and the business registration application goes with them. Electronic filings are usually approved within a day; paper takes a few working days. Government fees are quoted at the time — they change.NNC1
- 4Set the company up to runOpen a bank account, write up the statutory registers — including the significant controllers register, kept at the registered office — and hold the first board meeting to appoint an auditor and fix the financial year end.
What to bring
- A copy of the identity card or passport, and the residential address, of each director, shareholder and the company secretary.
- The proposed name, and one or two alternatives.
- How the shares are to be split, and the share capital.
- A line on what the business will do.
The first eighteen months
- The first financial year can run up to eighteen months from incorporation. Choosing the year end well can make the first audit simpler.
- The first annual return is due within 42 days after the first anniversary of incorporation.
- The first Profits Tax Return usually arrives about eighteen months after incorporation. The accounts filed with it must be audited.
- If you hire: employees' compensation insurance from the first day, MPF enrolment within 60 days, and notice to the Inland Revenue Department within three months.
The filing calendar covers every year after that, and company secretarial covers keeping the registers and filings in order.
Thinking of starting a company? Write to me with what the business will do and who is involved, and I will tell you what it takes.