How to Choose a Company Formation Service: Hong Kong Agent Fees, Process, and the TCSP Licence You Must Check

The government fees for incorporating a company in Hong Kong are fixed — they are identical no matter who files on your behalf. The only figure that genuinely moves on a quotation is the agent's service fee. Before you start comparing prices, check whether the provider holds a TCSP licence: in Hong Kong, providing company secretary, registered address, or nominee director services without one is a criminal offence. Below we start with costs and timelines, then explain how to check the licence yourself.

What Does a Company Formation Service Actually Include? Split It Into Four Parts Before Comparing

If a quotation is hard to read, it is usually because four completely different types of cost have been rolled into a single number. Separate them first, and you will see where the price difference actually comes from.

1. Government Fees (Unavoidable, Identical for Everyone)

• Incorporation fee: HK$1,545 for electronic submission via the e-Registry; HK$1,720 for paper submission.
• Business Registration Certificate: the 1-year and 3-year certificates are priced separately, and the amount changes with each year's Budget levy waiver or adjustment. Always refer to the latest announcement on the Inland Revenue Department business registration fee page, not a figure reposted on a blog — this is the line most often quoted incorrectly.

Both of these are paid to the government, so no service provider can offer them cheaper than anyone else. If someone advertises a "discount" here, they have usually just shifted the service fee into another line item.

2. Mandatory Annual Services (Often Bundled Into the First Year)

Company secretary, registered address, and maintenance of the statutory registers. These three are not optional add-ons; they are conditions for a limited company to continue to exist. They are frequently bundled into an "all-in-one package" for the first year, which makes it easy to assume they are a one-off payment. For the scope of a company secretary's duties and common misconceptions, see our Hong Kong company secretary guide.

3. Optional Extras (Where the Price Gap Is Widest)

Company chop and seal, virtual office, bank account opening accompaniment, customised articles of association. Whether a "package" includes these items can double the total price.

4. Costs Excluded at Formation but Certain to Arrive Within a Year

Annual return, audit, and profits tax filing. These three are usually not part of an incorporation quotation, yet they make up the bulk of your second-year bill. The full annual cost structure is set out in Hong Kong company annual maintenance costs — make sure you ask about them when comparing quotes.

Hong Kong Incorporation Costs at a Glance (Government Fees vs Market Rates)

Government fees plus basic first-year services put the baseline cost of incorporating on your own at roughly HK$5,000–8,000. All third-party amounts in the table are market rate ranges, not quotations from this site; actual costs depend on each provider's own quotation.

The 5-Step Process and Realistic Timeline

1. Decide the structure and basic details (1–3 days, depending on how quickly you decide): limited or unlimited company, company name search, list of directors and shareholders, registered address.
2. Prepare the documents: incorporation form NNC1, articles of association, and business registration application IRBR1. Form templates and filing requirements are available from the Companies Registry.
3. Identity and address proof: non-Hong Kong residents usually need a passport copy plus proof of address issued within the last 3 months (a bank statement or utility bill).
4. Electronic submission: approval normally takes 1–2 working days, with the Certificate of Incorporation and Business Registration Certificate issued together under the one-stop service — no separate filing with two departments. Paper submission takes about 4 working days.
5. Open a bank or payment collection account: this is the longest bottleneck in the whole process, and it is not a government procedure. It can take a few weeks at best, or several months, depending on the nature of your business and how complete your documents are. For preparation, see Hong Kong bank account opening in practice.

Electronic vs Paper: What You Save Is Days, Not Money

The difference is only HK$175, but the timeline differs by 2–3 working days. Unless you have a specific reason to file on paper — for example, a signatory who cannot complete electronic identity verification — go with electronic submission.

5 Criteria for Choosing a Company Formation Service

Criterion 1: Does the Provider Hold a TCSP Licence? (The Only Hard Requirement)

Company formation agency, company secretary services, nominee director or shareholder services, and bank account opening assistance all fall under "trust or company services" regulated by the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance in Hong Kong. Operators must hold a TCSP licence issued by the Companies Registry. Operating without one carries a maximum penalty of a HK$100,000 fine and 6 months' imprisonment.

Checking the licence yourself takes three steps:

1. Open the Companies Registry's Trust or Company Service Providers Registry website.
2. Enter the provider's company name, or the licence number shown on the quotation.
3. Verify three things: that the licensed entity matches the party you are contracting with, that the licence is still valid, and that there is no record of it having lapsed.

If you cannot find them, do not hand your company over to them. Checking the licence is free and does not require going through anyone.

Criterion 2: Does the Quotation Hide Renewal Fees?

Ask item by item whether renewals, changes of registered address, adding or removing shareholders, and refiling after a rejection are included or charged separately. A low first year followed by a catch-up in the second year is a common pricing approach in this industry.

Criterion 3: Does the First Year Include Company Secretary and Registered Address?

If not, add HK$2,300–6,000 per year to the package price to get the real cost.

Criterion 4: Does the Provider Also Handle Annual Compliance and Tax Filing?

Incorporation, annual review, audit, and tax filing all draw on the same chain of records (timelines are summarised in Hong Kong audit and tax filing). If you switch providers in the second year, the new one often has to rebuild the statutory registers and accounting working papers — and the extra money and time usually exceed whatever you saved on price.

Criterion 5: Does Anyone There Genuinely Understand Cross-Border Situations?

Non-resident shareholding, offshore income, cross-border payment collection, and multiple tax residencies may never come up for a purely local client, but cross-border businesses can rarely avoid them. If you are operating from Taiwan, Malaysia, or mainland China, ask how many similar structures they have handled.

What Non-Hong Kong Residents (Taiwan / Malaysia / China) Need to Know

Non-Hong Kong residents can own 100% of a Hong Kong company. There is no nationality requirement for local directors or shareholders, and no need to find a local nominee.

The real hurdle in practice is opening a bank account. Common reasons for rejection include: insufficient proof of business activity, address proof that does not match the declared address, a virtual address with no operational footprint, an industry classified as high risk, and unclear explanation of the source of funds.

Before the account opening interview, prepare:

• Signed business contracts or recent invoices
• Transaction records with upstream suppliers and downstream customers
• Evidence of real operations: website, product catalogue, company email domain
• Shareholder background and source of funds explanation

Bank account review standards, and the offerings and thresholds of individual banks, are market conditions and external services rather than services provided by this site — and no one can guarantee an account will be approved.

What You Must Do Every Year After Incorporation

A limited company must file an annual return each year, appoint a practising accountant to complete a mandatory audit, and file its profits tax return. Both onshore and offshore income must be reported, but reporting and taxation are two different things and should not be confused. It is best to ask about the timeline and cost of all three at the point of incorporation, so you do not discover a budget gap at the end of the first year.

Service Disclosure for This Article

Chan & Chung provides coordination of Hong Kong company formation, coordination of company secretary and annual compliance services, and advisory services on cross-border tax, source-of-income determination, and banking payment collection arrangements.

Regulated trust or company services are provided by Intelligent Services Limited (TCSP licence number TC010349), not by Chan & Chung itself. The banks, auditors, virtual office suppliers, and other agents mentioned in this article are market context or external services and fall outside the scope of this site's services.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Can a non-Hong Kong resident own 100% of a Hong Kong company?

Yes. The Hong Kong Companies Ordinance imposes no nationality or residency requirement on directors and shareholders, and does not require a local director. In practice, the sticking point is not the shareholding but the bank account opening review that follows.

Q2: Is an audit required every year after incorporation?

Yes. A Hong Kong limited company must appoint a practising accountant to complete an audit each year, and file both an annual return and a profits tax return. Filing is required even in a year with no turnover — "no income" is not a reason to skip it.

Q3: Can offshore income be tax-exempt?

You can apply for an offshore income exemption, but it is assessed by the Inland Revenue Department case by case. You must submit contracts, transaction records, and evidence of where operations take place, and in practice it often takes 6–12 months and several rounds of enquiries (application conditions are covered in Hong Kong offshore profits tax exemption). The FSIE regime introduced in 2023 adds further conditions such as economic substance and shareholding thresholds. No service provider can guarantee tax exemption — if you see such a guarantee, rule that provider out.

Q4: Should I buy a 1-year or 3-year Business Registration Certificate?

Two factors decide it. First, cash flow: the 3-year certificate is paid in one go, which lowers the amortised annual cost but increases the upfront burden. Second, business certainty: if you are unsure whether the company will still be operating in three years, the 1-year certificate offers more flexibility. For actual amounts, refer to the latest IRD announcement.

Q5: How do I confirm an agent is operating legally?

Go to the Companies Registry's TCSP registry website and search by company name or licence number, checking that the licensed entity matches the party you are contracting with and that the licence is valid. If you cannot find them, do not engage them — this is the one point on which there is no compromise.

Next Steps

Start by identifying your own situation: purely local Hong Kong operations, or cross-border payment collection with possible offshore income. The two call for entirely different structural design, account opening strategy, and annual compliance costs. Once that is clear, you can decide whether to incorporate and which provider to engage. If you would like to talk through your specific situation, you can reach us via the services page on our website.