Has Hong Kong lost its "business" appeal?

[bibing]

I know some of you are running companies in HK.

Do you guys feel that with the recent developments in Hong Kong (US-China troubles, New security law, etc.), it's better to change jurisdiction?

How do you guys feel about it?

Disclaimer: I'm looking to incorporate in Asia and HK was at the top of my list.

 

[Marzio]

Hong Kong's autonomy is dead. You should find another location where to incorporate.

 

[Sols]

I'm seeing a significant decrease in interest in Hong Kong and an uptick in interest for Singapore and other jurisdictions, depending on business activities.

 

[buenosdias]

Some people are fleeing HK.

Good for SG. Though I must say, this will increase the price of doing business there, along with the real estate price.

 

[Silvio]

HK was expensive and not that attractive for a while - high costs, need to yearly apply for offshore status, etc ... but that's the final nail in their coffin

For further reading ...
https://www.chinalawblog.com/2019/08/hong-kong-for-international-business-stick-a-fork-in-it.htmlhttps://www.chinalawblog.com/2019/1...ional-business-stick-a-fork-in-it-part-2.html

 

[buenosdias]

HK was expensive and not that attractive for a while - high costs, need to yearly apply for offshore status, etc ... but that's the final nail in their coffin

For further reading ...
https://www.chinalawblog.com/2019/08/hong-kong-for-international-business-stick-a-fork-in-it.htmlhttps://www.chinalawblog.com/2019/1...ional-business-stick-a-fork-in-it-part-2.html

I wonder whether the same thing will happen to Singapore. It’s already the most expensive in the SE region, and laws are pretty tight.

Or it’d be like Switzerland.

Either way, it’s game over for Hong Kong. Mainland will lock it down with their tentacles, and it’ll ever be the same.

 

[bibing]

Well Singapore is actually an independent country. So for sure they will not experience the same thing happening in HK

 

[Educate]

yes


edit: not sure why I need 30 characters, the answer is "yes"

 

[Clip]

Still the taxes are lower than Singapore. I think HK is good for doing business with China, for the rest get SG.

I live here and still think its better than being in Europe

 

[onemansomewhere]

HK is dead.

It is at least 10 years ago when leaders of HK made decision to change a structure of business in HK. They are not interested in small low risk business from around a world. If you are wealthy individual ro company, you are gladly welcomed, still.

Singapore is not very good option. Every company need a resident director. Hire one and pay a very high fees or to obtain a residence permit, there. If you obtain a residence permit there, you will need to renew it. They will check if you staid in a country for at least 270 days per year.. Many companies advertise a cheap local director service. But they do not tell all the truth. Once you have their local director, they will ask for a lot of paperwork showing a details for each transaction. And they will bell you a hefty fees for examining every one yout transaction. No singapore local director will sign a power of attorney. They want to bill you for every signature on every paper, for every transfer etc..

South-east Asia is dead for foreign businesses. There can be some way how to have a well working business structure in Malaysia. But is is not as easy. Times are changing. And we can forget to south-east asia for at least next decade.

There are other stars in a world for having a companies there. The most of OSPs, which are just a resellers of old solutions will not tell you about. The time of fast and cheap offshore solutions is over. More and more desparate small enterpreneurs are looking for escape from a tax net, which is tighter and tighter every year. Only big fishes can sneak.

Everyone looking for cheap offshore solution will fail sooner or later. There is abolutely not reason to optimize profits which are lower than USD 350,000. Costs for tax optimization are too high, now. And will be higher and higher every one year.

 

[VanguardFortuna]

For people putting a HK company together which operates as offshore, and banks elsewhere, I doubt you will see much change. Even with the CCP having more power in the legal/judicial system. I could be wrong, over time, but it will probably be in their interest to keep a lot of what is in place, in place.

Labuan is another option, but there are some expensive substance requirements for certain types of businesses.

 

[Spinat]

Labuan is another option, but there are some expensive substance requirements for certain types of businesses.

impossible to get a bank account for a company in Labuan.

 

[VanguardFortuna]

impossible to get a bank account for a company in Labuan.

Interesting, I thought there were a lot of options with Labuan branches? Or even Malay banks with Labuan branches?

 

[onemansomewhere]

impossible to get a bank account for a company in Labuan.

It is not difficult to have a bank account with a Labuan company. If you are willing to travel.

 

[eastern]

when does autonomy or politics have a radical impact on businesses? I would bank at a HK bank any day before considering Singapore / Europe / US where they ask for all kind of business proof for transactions upwards of USD30,000. How can you do business with this kind of condition (and they charge a hefty fee on top of that for their KYC).

don't believe the mainstream news, the US banks have been lobbying Trump not to go forward with shutting HK just because of the elections.

 

[onlma]

Yes it is lost, you will probably have wire problems in/out even if your banking is somewhere else, it used to work well except you had to go there in person, which I find amusing with all the incorporation agents that say you need to be there even in 2020, sure, and when you ask to explain how exactly they go blank, as of now that location is the pawn between two superpowers, and you will be one of the pieces, best not to.

 

[sujoe]

impossible to get a bank account for a company in Labuan.

you don't need to travel to Malaysia or Labuan to open a Malaysian onshore bank account even when you are a non-resident. I was talking to my labuan incoporation agent few days ago about this.

 

[JustAnotherNomad]

Isn’t SG much stricter with classifying income as “foreign-sourced”?
You need a local director (nominee) for any company, and then by default the income would be locally sourced - unless there’s a foreign PE, for which taxes would have to be paid in the other country?
I believe they even have a rule that income must have been “subject to tax” to be exempt from taxation in SG?
And for holding companies, I think there are even stricter rules?

Also residency is much stricter in SG, I think you have to spend 183+ days in the country to keep your visa and it’s much harder to get a residency visa in the first place?

Anybody have some insight on SG? Any practical experience?

 

[Mark Rucken]

I would like to ask those saying HK is dead, how exactly did political turbulence in HK in the past 10 years affect your business, given that you are a foreigner banking and doing business outside HK?

On a positive note, if HK is indeed "losing it", maybe local banks start accepting offshore companies.