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Important Notice

Waiver of Business Registration Fees for One Year
(from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017)

The Revenue (Reduction of Business Registration Fees) Order 2016 (”the Order”) was published in the Government Gazette on 24 February 2016. By the Order, the fees payable in respect of business registration certificates and branch registration certificates that commence on or after 1 April 2016 but before 1 April 2017 will be reduced by a sum of $2,000 and $73 respectively. Taking into account of the Order, this Office has not demanded the registration fee for the above period in the renewal certificate and demand note for the business or branch. Levy still remains payable.

Please note that the Order is still subject to scrutiny by the Legislative Council. In the event that the Order is not passed or is amended by the Legislative Council, this Office would notify the proper amount payable for the business or branch.

For further enquiry, please call 187 8088.

Business Registration Office
Inland Revenue Department
March 2016

IRBR202 (2/2016)

• Before BVI company incorporation, the directors’ and shareholders’ original passports and residential proofs must be provided. If not, the certified true copies or notarized copies of the documents must be provided.
• Note that not all companies or organizations are willing to do business with BVI companies. Before forming a BVI company, you may want to ask your suppliers or clients whether they are willing to do business with a BVI company.
• A BVI company can hold properties in Hong Kong without being registered as a non-Hong Kong company.
• A BVI company by itself cannot conduct business or lease property in Hong Kong. By itself, it cannot subscribe to any services in Hong Kong (such as subscribing mobile phone service or courier service.) However, it can be registered in Hong Kong as a non-Hong Kong company. Once it has been registered, it can be operated as if it were a Hong Kong company, and a Hong Kong business registration will be issued to the BVI company. However, the company will need to file Annual Return and yearly audited financial report to the Hong Kong government, and pay tax in Hong Kong if there is any profit generated here.
• A BVI company can open a bank account in Hong Kong. The following documents are required for the account opening:
  • the directors’ and shareholders’ original passports and residential proofs. If not, the certified true copies or notarized copies of the documents;
  • Certificate of Incumbency;
  • Certificate of Incorporation;
  • Memorandum and Articles of Association.
• To obtain a commercial credit card for the BVI company, the commercial credit card will be required to link to a personal bank account in the same bank of the director or shareholder.
• The BVI company will come with a registered office address in BVI, however, the address cannot be used for mailing purpose. There is no need to use our address as the Corresponding Address of the company unless you want us to receive mails for it. You may use a non-Hong Kong / non-BVI address as the Corresponding Address of the company.
• The cost of legalizing the documents of a BVI company will be much higher than that of a Hong Kong company.
• Directors or shareholders of a BVI company who are U.S. citizens or residents will be required to sign a form declaring that all incomes of the company is legal and that they will fulfill their tax filing obligation.
• BVI companies can open investment bank accounts in Hong Kong to trade stocks. However, as profit may arise in Hong Kong, the BVI companies may be required to be registered as a non-Hong Kong company. Therefore, it is recommended to use a personal bank account to trade stocks in Hong Kong. The banks in Hong Kong are unlikely to open investment accounts to the companies in which U.S. or Canadian citizens or residents are shareholders or directors of the companies.
• Our BVI Incorporation Pricing

Chinese New Year Holidays:

• 2010/2/13 (Saturday) -2010/2/17 (Wednesday): closed

Regular Hours:

Monday - Friday, 10:00am - 6:00pm

For emergency, please email us at info@jinetic.com, or SMS at +852 66128714

Thanks.

***(2009/6/25) - The information in this post is outdated. Please refer to this link about the 2009/8/1-2010/7/31 Business Registration fee: http://www.jinetic.com/blog/?p=81

According to the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department web site, the Business Registration fee of year 2009 - 2010 will return to HKD $2,000: http://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/pdf/br_fee_table.pdf

Consequently, our Hong Kong incorporation fees for both Package A and Package B will increase by HKD $2,000 for the companies incorporated on or after April 1st, 2009. The new cost for Package A is HKD $5,380 (up from $3,380), for Package B is HKD $6,280 (up from $4,280). The cost for the pre-formed shelf companies incorporated on or after April 1st, 2009 will also increase by HKD $2,000 to HKD $6,500 (up from $4,500).

If the incorporation order is made before March 31st, 2009, but the company is formed after the date, an additional fee of HKD $2,000 will be requested before obtaining the Business Registration.

As the Hong Kong government is finding ways to boost the economy, please stay tuned for the latest fee information.

Financial Secretary announces new measures to support confidence in the Hong Kong banking system

The Financial Secretary, Mr John Tsang, announced today (Tuesday) two new precautionary measures to further strengthen confidence in Hong Kong’s banking system:

• First, the use of the Exchange Fund to guarantee the repayment of all customer deposits held with all Authorized Institutions in Hong Kong following the principles of the existing Deposit Protection Scheme, but including Restricted-Licence Banks and Deposit-Taking Companies as well as Licensed Banks.¹ The guarantee applies to both Hong Kong-dollar and foreign-currency deposits with Authorized Institutions in Hong Kong, including those held with Hong Kong branches of overseas institutions. It will cover the amount of deposits in excess of that protected under the Deposit Protection Scheme.
  

• Secondly, the establishment of a Contingent Bank Capital Facility (CBCF) for the purpose of making available additional capital to locally incorporated licensed banks, should this become necessary.

Both measures take immediate effect and will remain in force until the end of 2010, when a decision will be taken in the light of international financial conditions on whether they should be extended.

Mr Tsang stressed that he did not expect that the new arrangements would need to be triggered, since the Hong Kong banking sector was fundamentally sound.

Commenting on the measures, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Mr Joseph Yam, said that these were precautionary and pre-emptive measures designed to further strengthen confidence in the local banking system.  “The banking sector in Hong Kong continues to be healthy and robust, with capitalisation well above international requirements. Public confidence in the banking system remains strong. However, events around the world in recent weeks make it prudent for us to introduce these arrangements to bolster confidence and safeguard banking stability.  The measures are also consistent with global efforts to support financial stability,” Mr Yam said.

Annex

For further enquiries, please contact:
Thomas Chan, Senior Manager (Press), at 2878 1480 or
Peggy Lo, Manager (Press), at 2878 1687

Hong Kong Monetary Authority
14 October 2008

¹ The guarantee covers all protected deposits as defined in the Deposit Protection Scheme Ordinance, Cap. 581, were the Ordinance to apply to all authorized institutions.

Source: http://www.info.gov.hk/hkma/eng/press/2008/20081014e6_index.htm

HSBC has introduced a new business account called “HSBC Business Direct” that requires no monthly fee and minimum account balance. Compared with the existing business account BusinessVantage, the HSBC Business Direct has the following features:

• No monthly fee;
• No monthly minimum balance;
• Counter service fees: $0 if there are less than 7 counter transactions per month, $75 if there are 7 to 12 transactions per month , and $10 per additional transaction.

Beside introducing the new Business Direct service, HSBC has also revised the fees of the existing BusinessVantage:

• If the average balance of 3 months is less than HKD $100,000, there is a service fee of HKD $150 per month;
• if the average balance is between HKD $100,000 and HKD $1million, the monthly fee is HKD $75;
• there is no monthly fee if the balance is above HKD $1million;
• unlimited free counter service

The service pricings are effective starting this Monday (Oct 27, 2008). For more information, please visit HSBC’s web site: http://www.commercial.hsbc.com.hk/1/2/commercial/accounts/businessdirect/

The Hong Kong government has proposed to reduce the total business registration fee by HKD $2,000. If the proposal is approved by the Legislative Council (of that we are 95% certain), the new fee will be effective between April 1st 2008 to March 31 2009.

Accordingly, we will reduce our packages’ prices by HKD $2,000. Note that any shelf company incorporated before April 1st 2008 will not be benefited by the new reduced fee this year. However, the new fee will apply when the business registration is renewed next year.

If you want to enjoy the saving as soon as the new prices take effect, please provide the incorporation information to us now, and return all signed documents and make the payment on or before March 27th, and then we will submit the incorporation documents to the government on March 28th / 31st. Please note that as the whole incorporation system may be stressed out, we may not be able to meet the six-day incorporation goal.

You may want to incorporate the company now:

• If you want to conduct business immediately;
• If you have a good name for the company;
• If you want to avoid potential chaos, as we expect lots of businesses at the beginning of the period.

More information about the new business registration fee can be found here: http://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/ppr/archives/08022702.htm

Note that if the proposal is rejected or if the reduction is less than the one mentioned above, the prices will remain unchanged or will be adjusted based on the reduction.