Companies Expanding to China

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Your China operation – from the first entity to the running business.

Unlike accounting or legal firms, we are business consultants with our own businesses in China. We buy from Chinese factories, run contract manufacturing, export goods, and keep our own connections and a Chinese-speaking team on the ground. So we work with you knowing how the business itself should work.

What we cover
Roman Verzin
Built by Roman Verzin Founder & CEO · Russian passport · Trading and consulting businesses in Hong Kong, China and Singapore.
What we do

Everything for companies working with China.

Five areas. Each one is a service you can use on its own or as part of a full engagement. Most companies start with one and add more as the operation grows.

Company formation & structure

Wholly foreign-owned enterprise. Trading, manufacturing, service, or technology – with the business scope, registered capital, office set-up, and accounting that survive year-one compliance.
International banking, profit distribution, and the jurisdiction with global access and ties with China. Sometimes HK is all you need – not every China operation requires a Mainland entity.
When the holding layer needs to be ASEAN-facing – VC-compatible and IP-friendly – or when the main business runs in Southeast Asia.
Representative office in China
Market research and supplier liaison, or QC oversight on the ground – without invoicing or revenue activity. Costs less than a WFOE and can still sponsor a work visa, giving you a stable presence in China.

Banking & cross-border payments

Mainland bank account on local rails (CIPS, CNAPS). Direct RMB transfers to and from Chinese suppliers. We guide the bank application and stay through the first compliance review.
Traditional bank, licensed fintech, or payment service provider – matched to your passport and business profile. We work with difficult passports every week.
Cross-border payment routing
We start from your business and tasks, then design how the money should move – which channels and which instruments you need, before the WFOE is ready and after it opens.
Import-export license package
Five registrations (MOFCOM, Customs, Electronic Port, SAFE, VAT refund) that make the WFOE capable of cross-border trade in goods.

Partners, suppliers & business delegations

Partner and supplier search
From requirements to introduction. We source and screen Chinese partners or suppliers matched to your industry and volume, then make the introduction. Due-diligence depth scales with deal size – from a public-records check to a full financial audit through licensed investigation channels.
Business delegations
When you need to reach a specific counterparty and meet them in person, we arrange it. Our own people in China make the introduction and stay with you through the meetings – including interpretation and follow-up on the ground.
Supplier verification and QC inspection
Pre-shipment inspection inside Mainland China before goods leave the factory. Business license verification and factory capacity checks, with oversight on the production line while your order runs. The check happens before the balance payment.
Industry expert search
When the task needs a narrow Chinese specialist – oil and gas, coal, IT hardware, and other industrial sectors – we find them through our connections in Chinese industry associations and with officials.

Compliance, tax & ongoing operations

Monthly bookkeeping and quarterly tax filing for your Chinese and Hong Kong entities.
Export VAT recovery – from the registrations and the first enhanced-review filing to the routine quarterly applications that follow. We match customs declarations against supplier invoices so there are no mismatches for the tax bureau to flag.
Annual returns and business registration renewals, plus every statutory filing across Hong Kong, China, and Singapore. One team handles all three jurisdictions, so no filing gets missed because each provider assumed another one was doing it.
Virtual office and registered address
A registered address for your WFOE without a physical office lease. Availability varies by city and district – some business scopes require a real office, others accept a virtual address in year one.

Advisory & problem-solving

A frozen account, blocked transfer, compliance notice with a deadline, or a bank that suddenly asks for documents you do not have. We diagnose why it happened and run the fix – from document remediation to a new banking route if the current one is dead.
Shareholder changes, director appointments, UBO disclosure, cross-border structures. The paperwork is the easy part – the hard part is making the new structure readable to both the regulator and the bank.
Transfer pricing between the HK holding and the Mainland subsidiary, documented at arm’s length. Intercompany agreements that survive audit in both jurisdictions – the part a single-country accountant cannot cover, because the rules sit across two tax systems.
Employment and HR
Work permits for foreign staff, hiring and termination under Chinese labour law. The legal representative appointment and its real-world implications – including the risk of personal liability.
Questions

What companies ask before they start.

Do we always need a Chinese entity, or is HK enough?

It depends on what you are doing and at what volume. A Hong Kong company can buy from Chinese suppliers as a foreign purchaser – the supplier handles the export side. This works well when the trade structure is straightforward and the Chinese counterparty can do export efficiently.

A Mainland entity becomes necessary when your Chinese supplier or customer requires a local company on the contract, or when VAT refunds on exports become large enough to justify the substance cost. We help you figure out which structure fits before you commit.

How long until the Chinese entity is fully operational?

Registration takes 2–3 weeks, and after that opening the bank account adds 2–4 more weeks. The import-export license package (five registrations – MOFCOM, Customs, Electronic Port, SAFE, VAT refund) also takes about 2–3 weeks after the business license.

From decision to a fully operational entity that can trade, bank, and file taxes: plan for 2 months. The legal representative must travel to China at least once during the process.

VAT refunds are a different story – the prerequisites take far more work, and the first export VAT refund usually arrives 9–12 months after operations start.

What if we already have a Chinese entity that is not working properly?

That is a very common starting point. The bank account does not allow foreign-currency operations. Or the local team cannot get import-export running properly, and nobody on the accounting side can give a clear answer about VAT refunds. We diagnose what is broken, fix the immediate issue, and then restructure if the foundation needs rebuilding.

Sometimes the right answer is to close the existing entity and start fresh with a structure that passes scrutiny. We tell you that directly if that is the case.

See the full FAQ →

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