Hong Kong Overview

Hong Kong whilst not being a traditional 'offshore' center offers excellent tax advantages including a very low and extremely straightforward taxation system. Despite its size Hong Kong is one of the world's largest economies, is home to one of the world's most important stock exchanges and is consistently rated as the world's freest economy. Hong Kong was historically British and although it is now now part of China it retains its English legal and taxation systems under a noninterventionist policy guaranteed by China until at least 2047. Hong Kong is often seen as a gateway into Asia and many beneficial tariff, treaty and commercial relationships exist between Hong Kong and China as well as other Asian countries. Whilst not being technically offshore insofar as it does not distinguish between local and foreign owned companies Hong Kong is still strongly associated with tax planning and its economy is almost entirely based on financial services. Hong Kong is a popular country for company formation, with over one and a half million registered companies. These companies are taxed only on income arising in Hong Kong which means that in most cases they will pay no tax at all. In international terms, the employment  tax rate in Hong Kong is also low.