Why Choose Hong Kong?

Why Choose Hong Kong?

Being strategically located in the heart of Asia as the region’s commercial and financial centre, Hong Kong is a unique global business city. Many investors and entrepreneurs who are looking to set up or expand their business in an international and open market are choosing Hong Kong because of its tax and business-friendly jurisdiction and open economic policies.

Opening a business in Hong Kong is easy and inexpensive. Here are some more reasons to why you should register a company in Hong Kong

Location

• A strategic gateway and close proximity access the massively expanding Mainland China markets and economy
• Strategic location for business expansion across whole of Asia
• World class air and sea transport facilities providing first-class quality services in shipping, logistics and freight forwarding.
• Stable, efficient and business-friendly city
• 73 million airline passengers in 2017 alone and connecting 220 international destinations worldwide

Economy

• Hong Kong ranks world number 1 in terms of economic freedom index in 2018 ¹
• Bi-cultural combination of from being a British colony in the past and the current Chinese influence creates a significant business advantage of facilitating international entrepreneurs’ on key business customs from both the western and eastern worlds.
• The overall culture of Hong Kong people is business-oriented and highly competitive, great for staffing highly motivated employees if required.
• HK government is highly supportive of businesses with policies structured to attract professionals, talents and investors globally.
• HK is ranked 13^th least corrupted country according to Transparency International – Corruption Perceptions Index 2017 ²
• HK is currently ranked 8^th in the world’s economies with the best prospect in 2017 ³
• HK currently ranks 2^nd in terms of IMD World’s Competitiveness Ranking 2018 thanks to its efficiency in business matters. ⁴

Policy and Taxes

• Business-friendly legal infrastructure
• A low and straightforward tax system
• Hong Kong uses the territorial source of principle taxation. This means that profits made outside of Hong Kong are not subjected to tax.
• Corporate taxes are limited at 8.25% on assessable profits up to HK$2mil and 16.5% on any part of assessable profits over HK$2mil ⁵
• Income tax ranging from 2% to a maximum of 17%, depending on your earnings
• Expats get to enjoy benefit from a generous pension scheme set up
• No sales tax on any products (except tobacco and alcohol)
• No capital gain tax
• Limited VAT
• Foreigners are permitted to own 100% of a Hong Kong company and able to be the sole director and shareholder in a Hong Kong company.
• No requirements to be a local resident or live in HK to open a company
• In Hong Kong, English common law is prevalent and its legal system is separate from that of Mainland China
• A physical address is not necessary and a holding address is sufficient for Hong Kong companies
• Companies in Hong Kong are permitted to open and utilize multi-currency bank accounts.
• English is used as one of the two main languages of Hong Kong (with Chinese being the other)
• Free trade policy without any trade barriers
• No limitation for foreign onshore and offshore investments, allowing unrestricted flow of capital

Resources:

1 –  https://www.heritage.org/index/country/hongkong
2  – https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2017
3 – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-14/most-miserable-economies-of-2018-stay-haunted-by-inflation-beast
4 – https://www.imd.org/news/updates/the-us-overtakes-hong-kong-at-first-place-among-worlds-most-competitive-economies
5 – https://www.gov.hk/en/residents/taxes/taxfiling/taxrates/profitsrates.htm