How to register a company in Hong Kong in 2026

A company in an hour, an account in months. Step by step: what a Russian citizen needs, 2026 government fees, the bank, taxes, audit and Russian tax notices.

In detail

A Hong Kong company certificate usually arrives about an hour after an online filing, and first-year government fees stay around $500. The company appears faster than the tea cools at the Companies Registry. The bank account, the annual audit and the first tax return take months, and they decide whether the company ever starts trading.

Below are the step-by-step process, the 2026 government fees, the reporting calendar and what matters for Russian citizens, from bank checks to filings with the Russian tax service.

Can a Russian citizen open a company in Hong Kong

Yes. The Hong Kong Companies Ordinance does not restrict shareholders or directors by nationality or residence. A Russian citizen can be the sole owner and director without ever flying to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong enforces only United Nations Security Council sanctions. The Hong Kong government states plainly that it does not implement unilateral sanctions imposed by other jurisdictions and has no legal authority to do so. The Companies Registry therefore registers a company owned by a Russian on the same terms as any other.

Banks are a different story. They clear US dollars through foreign correspondent banks, so they treat a Russian link more strictly than the law does. Since December 2023 a US executive order allows sanctions against foreign banks that handle transactions for the Russian military-industrial sector. Hence the long checks and the questions about every counterparty.

The double tax agreement between Russia and Hong Kong has been in force since 29 July 2016. An owner who is Russian tax resident also has reporting duties at home, covered in the section on Russian taxes below. All Hong Kong options are summarised on the page Hong Kong: all programmes.

What a Hong Kong company needs

The standard vehicle is a private company limited by shares. No local partner, no owner residence and no minimum capital are required. Two local elements are mandatory: a Hong Kong address and a company secretary.

If the company has only one director, that director cannot also be the secretary. The secretary keeps minutes and registers and files forms, and is the first to get questions during any check. Choosing a secretary is not a formality: it is half of the company's future reputation.

The name is registered in English, Chinese or both. The registry refuses a name identical to an existing one, and words suggesting a government body need separate consent. Murblz specialists check the name before filing so there is no wait for a fee refund after a refusal.

How much it costs to register a company in Hong Kong: government fees

The government takes about $500 for the first year: the Companies Registry fee and the business registration with the Inland Revenue Department, paid in one filing. Business registration became more expensive on 1 April 2026, when the 2026-27 budget brought back a levy that had been waived for several years.

Amounts follow the fee tables of the Companies Registry and the Inland Revenue Department, converted to US dollars at the 6 October 2026 rate and rounded up. If the registry refuses an incorporation, most of the fee can be refunded on application.

Government fees are the smallest part of the budget. The main costs are the secretary, the address, bookkeeping and the audit, which depend on turnover and the number of transactions. Our package and maintenance prices are on the page company registration in Hong Kong, and a manager in the chat will calculate first-year costs for your structure.

How to set up a company in Hong Kong remotely: step by step

There is no need to travel to Hong Kong to register: documents are signed electronically or on paper and sent by courier. The full path to a ready company with a bank pack usually takes one to two weeks. The slowest part is not the registry but collecting and certifying the founder's documents.

1. Structure. We fix the shareholders, the director, each stake and the beneficial owners. If investors or a holding are planned, this is decided at once: banks dislike structure changes after an account is opened.
2. Name. We check the English and Chinese names in the registry and against trade marks.
3. Owner checks. Under the anti-money laundering law the company secretary must check the owners before starting work. It is the same check the bank will run later, only gentler.
4. Documents. Articles of association, the incorporation form with the secretary's consent, and the business registration notice. Signatures are electronic or on paper.
5. Filing and payment. We file online with the Companies Registry together with the incorporation fee and the business registration fee.
6. Certificates. The certificate of incorporation and the business registration certificate usually arrive within an hour of an online filing.
7. After incorporation. We set up the significant controllers register, the register of members and minutes, appoint the auditor and prepare an apostilled pack for the bank.
8. Bank account. We describe the business, the counterparties and the source of funds and apply to a bank that actually accepts such a profile.

A ready-made shelf company only saves the first few days. The bank cares more about the owners' history and a clear business than about the date on the certificate, so a purchased company does not get an account any faster.

Which documents are needed

• The passport of every shareholder, director and beneficial owner holding more than 25%.
• Proof of residential address no older than 3 months: a bank statement or a utility bill.
• For a corporate shareholder: a registry extract, articles, details of directors and owners, apostilled and translated.
• A description of the planned business: what the company sells, to whom and where the money comes from.
• For the bank as well: the owner's CV, contracts or letters from clients and suppliers, the company website.

Documents not in English or Chinese are translated. A single-letter mismatch in a surname between a passport and an extract turns into a dozen new bank questions, so the pack is reconciled before filing.

A bank account for a company with a Russian owner

The account is the main reason a Hong Kong company either trades or sits in a folder for years. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority tells banks not to reject an application merely because the owners or directors are non-residents. Yet each bank decides for itself whether it understands the business, and it does not have to explain a refusal.

The fastest scenario in Hong Kong takes a day or two, but it is for a local company whose owners hold a Hong Kong identity card. For a foreign owner the realistic timeline is several weeks to three months. A Russian passport adds sanctions-list screening and questions about every counterparty.

Besides banks there are licensed payment services with Hong Kong accounts. They open faster, but balances are not covered by the deposit protection scheme, and limits and country lists differ. They are a back-up, not a replacement for a bank.

Banks and their requirements are covered in detail in the article how to open a business account in Hong Kong. Murblz selects and prepares a company account in the service business accounts in Hong Kong, and the owner's personal account in personal accounts in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong company taxes in 2026

Hong Kong profits tax has two tiers: 8.25% on the first HK$2 million of profit, about $260,000, and 16.5% on the rest. Within a group of connected entities only one can use the lower tier. Hong Kong has no VAT, no dividend tax and no capital gains tax.

Only Hong Kong-sourced profit is taxed. If a company sells goods from China to Europe and negotiates and performs the contracts outside Hong Kong, the profit may be treated as offshore and untaxed. It is not automatic: the Inland Revenue Department looks at where the work was really done and expects contracts, correspondence and payment records.

Since 2023 a separate rule applies to companies that belong to multinational groups. Foreign dividends, interest, disposal gains and intellectual property income received in Hong Kong are taxed unless the company has real substance there: staff, premises and decisions made locally.

The Inland Revenue Department usually issues the first profits tax return about 18 months after incorporation, and it must be filed within a month. Audited accounts go with the return. Rates and deductions are on the page taxes in Hong Kong.

Reporting and audit for a Hong Kong company: the yearly calendar

A Hong Kong company reports even in a year when it has not earned a dollar. The audit is mandatory for everyone, and a missed annual return gets more expensive every quarter. The good news: the duties are few and they follow a clear schedule.

A company with no transactions at all can be declared dormant and skip the audit. But a dormant company cannot send or receive payments, so this suits a pause, not saving money on a trading business.

Only a Hong Kong practising auditor can sign the audit report, and signs it in their own name. Clean books all year cost less than a rushed scramble a month before the deadline. Murblz handles reporting and audit in the service audit and accounts for a Hong Kong company.

Russian taxes for the owner of a Hong Kong company

If the owner is a Russian tax resident, the Hong Kong company gets a second reporting calendar, the Russian one. Mistakes there cost more than in Hong Kong.

• Notice of participation. A stake above 10% must be reported to the Russian tax service within 3 months. The fine for missing it is 50,000 roubles, about $590.
• Controlled foreign company notice. Applies to a stake above 25%, or above 10% when Russian residents together hold more than 50%. Individuals file it with the company's financial statements by 30 April. The fine is 500,000 roubles, about $5,900.
• Tax on retained profit. If the company's annual profit is no more than 10 million roubles, about $120,000, Russia does not tax it. Above that, tax is due on the whole profit.
• Dividends. Taxed in Russia at 13% up to 2.4 million roubles of income a year, about $29,000, and 15% above. Hong Kong withholds no dividend tax, so there is nothing to credit.
• Personal account abroad. Opening a personal account with a Hong Kong bank must be reported to the Russian tax service within a month; details are in the article notice of opening a foreign bank account.

Murblz prepares the notices, the profit calculation and the choice of regime in the service controlled foreign company notices and reporting. How these rules work for companies elsewhere is covered in the article how to open an offshore company.

Hong Kong, Singapore or the UAE

Hong Kong wins on low tax and registration without a local director. Singapore is stricter about structure, and the UAE offers zero tax up to a threshold plus a visa for the owner. The deciding factor is not the rate but where the company can open an account and where its clients are.

In Singapore small companies are exempt from audit; in Hong Kong they are not. Rates and reliefs are on the pages taxes in Singapore and taxes in the UAE, and ten countries for remote registration are compared in the article where to open a company remotely.

What changed in 2025-2026

• Moving a company to Hong Kong. Since 23 May 2025 a foreign company can re-domicile to Hong Kong and keep its legal identity: the same contracts, accounts and history. After the move it reports like any Hong Kong company. Murblz specialists handle such moves too.
• Business registration costs more. Since 1 April 2026 a year of business registration costs about $300, as the 2026-27 budget restored a previously waived levy.
• Tax reduction. For the 2025-26 year of assessment profits tax is reduced by 100%, capped at $390 per company. The reduction is one-off.
• Fast accounts, but not for everyone. Since 2024 some banks open small-business accounts in one to five business days. Those timelines assume owners with a Hong Kong or mainland Chinese identity card; foreigners rarely get them.

Why Hong Kong companies run into problems

Hong Kong rarely rejects an incorporation. Problems start afterwards, and they tend to look alike.

• The bank said no. A company with no website, no clients and no clear money trail gets refused even by a bank that advertises accounts for non-residents. A second application after a refusal is harder than the first.
• The audit was postponed. Owners assume no turnover means no reporting. The Inland Revenue Department sends a return that needs an audit, and two years of papers are harder to assemble than one.
• The tax position was wrong. Zero tax on offshore profit does not switch on by itself: it is claimed and proven with documents. Without them the Inland Revenue Department charges 16.5% above the threshold.
• The secretary or address lapsed. Registry and tax letters go nowhere, deadlines pass and fines pile up. The registry can strike off a company it believes is not operating.
• Russia was forgotten. Hong Kong takes no tax, but the Russian tax service expects its notices. One missed controlled foreign company notice costs more than several years of Hong Kong fees.

The law does not forbid registering a company on your own. Mistakes cost more than the fees: a bank refusal, an overdue audit, fines in two countries. Murblz support removes these risks: we run the company from structure to account and reporting and track every deadline.

How we help

Murblz specialists check the name and structure, provide the address and secretary, register the company online and prepare an apostilled pack for the bank. Then we keep the registers, books, audit and Russian notices on schedule. Before a deal we check Hong Kong partners in the registries.

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