Setting up a Business in HK

[borgie100796]

Guys,

Need your advise on this, my boss who is a non HK Resident wants to set up an office in Hong Kong, more like a trading company. Please advise what process he needs to go through and needed documents. He DOES NOT HOLD HK ID and never stayed in HK for that long.

We have contact factories in China and he felt setting up an office in HK will lessen cost of travelling back and forth to HK/China.

Thanks!

[Oldtimer]

Any one can register a business in HK. You do not have to be a resident.
However to manage the company you need some one who is a resident of HK, and has right to work.

[DarrenChan]

A limited company needs the following:

1. At least 1 director (non-resident is OK).
2. At least 1 shareholder (non-resident is OK).
3. A company secretary (must be resident).

[ALAU]

BTW if you cannot find someone who is a resident to be the company secretary for you, you can easily go to any accountant in HK who would do it for about HKD3500 a year. A company secretary has to do the annual return and other filings, and it is a criminal offence for him if it is not done in time, so you HAVE to pay for such services unless you got your own guy doing it.

Seeing as it is a real trading business you will need to have an accountant anyway as auditor, so if you have everything done by him it will work out cheaper - the audit, tax filing, and being the company secretary.

You can also have the accountant set up the company for you to save all the hassle, or they would have readily-opened shell companies for you to use (you can easily change the company name later), which will be immediate instead of the usual 10 day waiting time for a new company set up from scratch.

Go to [url=http://www.cr.gov.hk]Companies Registry website and it is very informative.

I once set up a company myself, cost about HKD2100 for the certificate and the business registration and was a bit of a hassle as the government has a very particular requirement for the format, etc. for the M&A, printing, font size, what not. Another time I set up a company via an accountant at HKD6000 all inclusive and that was painless. If you are not ultra strapped for cash, I would have an accountant do it.

If you need any recommendation for certified accountants, private message me, I know a couple at different price ranges. Although I stress I have only used their services before and am unrelated to them so cannot vouch for anyone's credentials.

[borgie100796]

thanks ALAU, as soon as my boss have his mind fix, I will really need a hand on this.. contact you soon!