Hong Kong Private Company Incorporation Guide
Part 12 - Incorporation Costs

1. Introduction

The registration of a private company is a straight and fast process. The laws in Hong Kong does not require the engagement of professional agent to handle the registration itself. In other words, the founder (the investor or shareholder) can prepare the registration documents and handle the registration process by himself.

Normally, the costs incurred for the registration of a private company will be lower should the founder decides to handle it by himself. In this case, the founder is only required to pay the official registration filing fee, business registration fee and costs for making the company chop. If professional agent is appointed, professional service fees will need to be incurred in addition to the official filing fees.

2. Registration Costs (Founder Handles the Registration)

As mentioned above, the founder of a company can choose to handle the registration of a company in Hong Kong by himself. Assuming that the founder does decide to handle the registration process by himself, and he will have someone to act as the company secretary and also has an address to be used as registered office of the company, then the costs need to be incurred for the registration of a private company in Hong Kong will be around HKD5,000. A detailed breakdown is provided below:
(1) Registration official filing fee: HKD1,720
(2) Business registration fee: HKD2,250
(3) Company kit: HKD800 - HKD1,000
Total: Around HKD5,000.

3. Registration Costs (Handled by Agent)

Most of the corporate service agents, law firms and accounting can provide company secretary and registered office services. If the founder cannot provide or do not want to use their own company secretary and/or registered office, they can utilize the services offered by professional service provider.

(1) Incorporation Only

If the founder can provide his own company secretary and registered office and engage a service agent to handle only paperwork and registration, then he should expect to pay around HKD5,000 to HKD15,000 to the professional agent. The fees would normally include the official filing fee and first year business registration fee and a company kit.

(2) Incorporation with Company Secretary and Registered Office

If the found is resided outside Hong Kong and does not plan to set up a physical office in Hong Kong, or for whatever reasons does not want to provide his own company secretary and registered office, he can engage the services of a professional agent for those services. In this case, he should expect to pay around HKD10,000 to HKD25,000 for the registration, together with the company secretary and registered office services. Again, the fees would normally include the official filing fee and first year business registration fee and a company kit. It should be noted that bigger professional firm would normally charge a high amount of fees.

The table below illustrates the amount of fees charged by Kaizen for the registration of a private company in Hong Kong:

Note: The fees charged above are only applicable to registration of a private company with standard Articles of Association. In any case that the client wishes to alter the terms of the Articles of Association, extra fees will be charged.

For a more detailed quotation of fees charged by Kaizen, please download our incorporation packages from our website.

4. A Final Word

There are many professional agents in Hong Kong, including corporate services agents, public accounting firms and law firms, offering company registration services. Normally, those agents will charge a service fee from HKD3,000 to HKD15,000 for their services. It should be noted, however, that some bigger professional firms could charge as high as HKD30,000 or even higher for their registration services.

Of course, the amount of costs for registration should not be the only consideration. It is advised that the founder should take into consideration the quality of services into consideration when he is choosing a professional agent for the registration.