Every company incorporated in Hong Kong must keep a Significant Controllers Register (SCR) — an internal record of the individuals and legal entities that control the company. The register is neither published nor filed with the registry: it is held by the company and produced on demand to authorised officers. The requirement sits in the new Division 2A of Part 12 of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622) and has applied since 1 March 2018.
Hong Kong’s banking ecosystem for corporate clients consists of three tiers: traditional licensed banks (HSBC, Standard Chartered, Bank of China), eight HKMA-licensed virtual banks, and fintech platforms (Electronic Money Institutions).
A Hong Kong company carries two parallel, procedurally unconnected annual obligations: filing an Annual Return (Form NAR1) with the Companies Registry, and filing a Profits Tax Return (Form BIR51) with attached audited financial statements with the Inland Revenue Department (IRD).
Hong Kong charges profits tax only on profits arising in or derived from Hong Kong. The residence of the taxpayer is irrelevant. A Hong Kong company may therefore lawfully pay no profits tax where the operations that produced the profits were carried out outside Hong Kong. That position is asserted through an offshore claim, which is neither a relief nor a permissive procedure: it is the application of section 14 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112).
Hong Kong offers four main immigration pathways for foreign entrepreneurs and professionals: the General Employment Policy (GEP) — including an investment track for establishing a business, the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS), the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS), and the new Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (New CIES).
Registering a Private Company Limited by Shares in Hong Kong is done entirely online through e-Registry, takes 1–2 working days, and requires no physical presence from a non-resident founder or director.
Trademark registration in Hong Kong is handled by the Trade Marks Registry under the Intellectual Property Department (IPD), under the Trade Marks Ordinance (Cap. 559), which took effect on 4 April 2003.
Hong Kong charges Profits Tax only on profits arising in or derived from Hong Kong; profits from foreign sources are not taxed, but only if the company can document that the activity generating the profit genuinely took place outside Hong Kong.
