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Hong Kong
Hong Kong is made up of a part of mainland China and numerous islands totalling 1,100 square kilometres. Part of the territory was leased from China for 99 years and reverted, together with the rest of the remainder of the colony, on 1st July 1997.
Since then Hong Kong has been a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of The People’s Republic of China. Under the guiding principle of ‘one country two systems’, which was established before the handover, the Chinese Government agreed that Hong Kong’s capitalist system would remain unchanged until the year 2047.
Hong Kong enjoys free port status, an advanced communication network with a well-developed infrastructure and an English common law tradition.
The Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2003 came into force on 13th February 2004, the purpose of which was to make company law more business friendly.
For a private company, limited by shares
- A single member company is allowed.
- A single director is allowed, but the secretary, who must be resident in Hong Kong, must be a separate person.
- A registered office is required, which must be in Hong Kong.
- Directors and shareholders need not be resident in Hong Kong and may be of any nationality. An annual general meeting is required, but may be held outside of Hong Kong.
- There are no minimum capital requirements.
- Shares must be registered. Bearer shares are not permitted.
- Accounts must be prepared, audited and filed. Annual returns are required and must be filed.
- Corporate tax is levied at 17.5% and charged on Hong Kong sourced or derived profits. Income arising from outside of the territory is exempt.
- There are no taxes on passive dividend or interest income.
- Tax losses may be carried forward indefinitely to offset against future profits.
- A company may purchase its own shares out of distributable profits.
- Registration under the Business Registration Ordinance is required, costing approximately US$300.