TL;DR
- The government takes HK$3,895 to set you up if you file online. That part's the same for everyone.
- Provider packages vary and rarely cover the same things. Ours is HK$8,800 for year one, and right now it's HK$5,800 before Aspire's cashback.
- From year two you're paying HK$2,350 for Business Registration, HK$105 for the annual return, plus your secretary, accountant and auditor.
- Ignore the signup price. Ask what year two costs.
That's what the government charges in 2026/27: HK$1,545 to the Companies Registry to incorporate a private company online (HK$1,720 on paper), and HK$2,350 to the Inland Revenue Department for your first one-year Business Registration Certificate. You pay it whether you use a provider or do the filing yourself at the kitchen table.
| Government fee | 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Incorporation (electronic) | HK$1,545 |
| Business Registration, one year | HK$2,350 |
| Total | HK$3,895 |
If you've seen HK$3,745 quoted somewhere, it's stale. The BR figure includes a HK$150 levy for the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund. The government waived it for two years from 1 April 2024 and it came back on 1 April 2026, so any list still showing HK$2,200 for BR predates that.
What you're really paying a provider for
Every Hong Kong company needs a registered office in Hong Kong and a company secretary based here, either a person who ordinarily lives in Hong Kong or a company with its office in the city. Both are legal requirements from day one, wherever the founder lives. If you're abroad you can't supply either yourself, so that's what the provider sells you, wrapped up with the filing and the paperwork.
Our All-In package is HK$8,800 including the government fee. It covers the incorporation, a year of company secretary, the registered address, mail scanning, a designated representative, and as many filings as you need that year (name changes, new directors, share transfers), with any government charges on those at cost.
At the moment we take HK$3,000 off that, which gets you to HK$5,800. Open your business account with Aspire through us and they send you HK$2,000 back, so you're at HK$3,800 for the lot. Sign up for any of our accounting plans and we waive our fee entirely. You'd pay the HK$3,895 to the government, get HK$2,000 from Aspire, and the company costs you HK$1,895.
We won't quote other firms' prices here, because the packages rarely cover the same things and a comparison would date quickly. A traditional secretarial firm may well look cheaper on the first invoice, which is why the next section is about year two.
Year two is where it gets real
A few costs come round every year no matter who you use. Business Registration renews at HK$2,350 for a one-year certificate. The annual return costs HK$105, provided it reaches the Registry within 42 days after the anniversary of incorporation. After that it's HK$870, rising in steps to HK$3,480 once the return is more than nine months past the anniversary. In our experience, founders who pay the top tier usually do so because the reminder went to an inbox nobody checked.
Then there's the secretary and address again, which with us is HK$8,800 a year all-in, with the BR and annual return fees already inside that. Accounting and audit come on top. Every Hong Kong company has to have its accounts audited each year, however small it is, and the only exception is one that has formally declared itself dormant. Our plans start at HK$3,800 a year for companies with under HK$300K revenue and go up to HK$18,800 at HK$5M. The auditor's own fee is separate, and in our experience it depends mostly on how tidy your books are.
Tax, briefly
Profits tax is 8.25% on a company's first HK$2 million of profit and 16.5% on the rest, though only one company in a connected group can use the lower band. There's no VAT or sales tax and no capital gains tax, and Hong Kong doesn't withhold tax on dividends. For the 2025/26 year there's also a one-off 100% reduction, capped at HK$3,000 per business, off the final bill.
Things nobody mentions until they cost you
Bank accounts can carry monthly fees, though the entry-level plans at Aspire and Airwallex were free when we checked in September 2026. If you hire in Hong Kong, MPF applies to staff you keep for 60 days or more. You contribute 5% of their pay, capped at HK$1,500 a month per employee, counted from their first day.
Closing a company later isn't free either. Deregistration costs HK$420 at the Companies Registry plus HK$270 to the IRD for a Notice of No Objection, which you'll only get once the company's tax affairs are settled, and the Registry puts the whole process at about five months.
So what's the actual total?
Take a founder who incorporates with us, has revenue under HK$300K so picks Basic accounting, and opens an Aspire account. They pay HK$3,895 to the government and HK$3,800 for a year of accounting, get HK$2,000 back, and end up with a fully compliant company for under HK$5,700 in the first twelve months. The audit fee lands when the first accounts are due, and from year two the renewals above apply, so ask any provider, us included, for that figure before you sign.
