Hong Kong LLC annual renewal 2022

Since 2003, Healy Consultants Group assists multi-national Clients to timely accurately and completely discharge their annual Hong Kong legal, accounting and tax and statutory audit obligations.

Our USA Client is an advertising company and registered a Hong Kong subsidiary in April 2018. Annually, our Client needs us to i) prepare their financial statements and ii) timely complete the independent statutory annual audit and iii) legally minimize international tax and iv) submit a corporation tax return and v) submit a legal annual return (click link).

Engagement planning

• In March 2021, our Client settled our Hong Kong renewal fees and our Group Financial Controller Ms. Sharon emailed our Client with an updated invoice confirming this.
• I was assigned to assist our Client to complete their Hong Kong company’s renewal, accounting and tax obligations.
• Thereafter, I sent the Client a detailed email including i) an overview of the Hong Kong renewal project plan ii) key milestones of the renewal engagement, including the requirement for a statutory audit and iii) important government deadlines to bear in mind.

Hong Kong accounting and tax obligations

• Our Client supplied me a trial balance and general ledger. Healy Consultants Group in-house Accounting and Tax Department prepared a draft set of financial statements for our Client review and approval.
• An active Hong Kong company is required to undergo an independent audit of its financial statements. To advance the audit, I requested the Client to Dropbox me with i) a trial balance ii) bank statements and iii) supporting documents such as invoices and the service agreement relating to the Hong Kong company.
• The audit of our Client’s Hong Kong company is carried out by a local auditor, supervised by Healy Consultants Group.
• The local auditor also requested some additional supporting documents and clarification. My team and I communicated with the Hong Kong auditor to explain as much as possible. Only when necessary did I revert to our Client one time for missing documents and for an explanation of some transactions.
• Within one month, the auditor emailed us draft audited financial statements for our Client’s review and approval and e-signature.
• In addition to the audited financial statements, my team and I i) completed the Hong Kong IRD profit tax return (PTR) forms and submitted them to IRD and ii) submitted the legal annual return with Hong Kong Company Registry (this must be done within 42 days of the anniversary date) and iii) renewed the business registration license with Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department.

Engagement completion

• We sent our Client confirmation of engagement completion together with the summary of obligations which includes the proof of statutory filings for client’s record.
• Healy Consultants Group Business Website Department has also requested a professional reference from our Client.
• My team and I completed this case study and recorded a video to explain the Hong Kong renewal process.