Straight answers about setting up and running a company in Hong Kong and across Asia. All of it comes from what clients actually ask me, not from a textbook.
Company secretary, audit, payroll, trademarks, advisory. Which ones you legally have to have, which can wait, and roughly what each should cost.
Read the guideThe incorporation takes about three days and happens entirely online. It's everything after it that catches people out.
Incorporation takes three days. A traditional bank account can take three months and it's never guaranteed. Here's how to close that gap.
Fifteen minutes with this list before you file will save you days of stopping and starting halfway through.
Tax rates and forum threads won't settle this. Where your customers actually are will settle it in about a minute.
The reason isn't the tax rate. It's having a common law jurisdiction sitting above everything that happens in the mainland.
Legal, common, and widely misunderstood. The duties don't transfer, and the arrangement doesn't hide anything from your bank.
Most founders tick this box during setup and never think about it again. That's usually where the trouble starts.
Quotes run from a few hundred dollars to several thousand for what looks like the same service. The difference is always in what's included.
The deadline that catches more founders out than any other, purely because it's tied to a date everyone forgets.
The mechanics take about three days. The decision is what people sit on for a year.
The fee climbs in steps, so the cheapest day to file is always today. Here's the scale and how to close it out.
The form is simple and the deadline is short. Almost every problem here is about timing, not paperwork.
Hong Kong keeps payroll simpler than most places. The catch is that the setup steps have real deadlines from day one.
It looks like simple monthly maths. In practice it's MPF deadlines, employer's returns and rules that bite when you get them wrong.
HKD 2,000, about six months, ten years of exclusive rights. Few permanent assets cost this little.
Which parts of your business could a competitor legally copy tomorrow? Usually more than you'd think.
Accounting looks backwards at what happened. Advisory looks forwards at what to do. The timing is the whole point.
Most founders run on instinct, and early on that works fine. Then the decisions get bigger.
Every founder has a number in their head. The moments that matter need a number that survives scrutiny.
No regulator is waiting for your ESG report. Your biggest customer might be, and that's the pressure that actually bites.
The headline rate is 16.5%. Most small companies pay considerably less than that.
It isn't a loophole, it's written into the law. But it needs substance, and the IRD checks.
No size exemption, no revenue threshold, no way around it. But the cost is almost entirely within your control.
The IRD sends the return and you have a month. Most directors have never been told what actually goes in it.
Failing to keep proper records isn't just untidy. It's a criminal offence, and it's the director who carries it.
Bookkeeping done well is invisible. Done badly, it shows up on your audit invoice with interest.
There's no PAYE here, so nothing comes out of anyone's pay. That shifts the whole burden onto your annual reporting.
Seven years from the end of the accounting period, not from the date on the document. That distinction matters.
The IRD doesn't let it slide. And an estimated assessment is usually far bigger than what you actually owed.
Low rates, short deadlines. Getting the timing wrong turns a simple transfer into an expensive problem.
Most directors work this out as they go. That's fine right up until the moment it isn't.
Switching feels complicated, disloyal and more hassle than it's worth. It's usually none of those things.
If you would rather just tell someone your situation and get a straight answer, that is a fifteen-minute call and it costs nothing.