Tax that survives bank scrutiny – across Hong Kong, China, and Singapore.
For founders running cross-border structures between HK and China, holding companies in Singapore, defending offshore claims to sceptical auditors, or collecting the China VAT refund.
You’re probably here because…
One of these is your situation right now.
You want 0% tax in Hong Kong.
You incorporated in Hong Kong and want the offshore exemption. But sometimes it is better not to apply for it.
When your passport – or where you operate and who you sell to – means banks and government watch your accounts closely, a 0% tax declaration in your audited file is exactly the flag they look for.
Sometimes the right move is the opposite: pay Hong Kong tax voluntarily as a trust signal to the banks and tax office, and reduce your effective tax in other legal ways. One of them is documenting business expenses – Hong Kong lets a company deduct rent and salaries even when they are paid in another country. The savings are smaller than with an offshore claim, but for founders like us that is the price of a profile banks are more ready to trust. We run our own Hong Kong company onshore for this reason.
We’ll tell you whether offshore is worth the risk for your specific profile, and what the alternative path to lower tax looks like.
Let’s look at yours →You have a complex multi-country structure and want to pay less tax legally.
Your business spans more than one country. You may have a Hong Kong holding company and a China WFOE. Some structures add a Singapore entity and contractors elsewhere. Your accountant in each place sees only their own piece – nobody is looking at the whole structure and telling you what tax you’re paying in total, and where you’re paying more than the law requires.
We have entities in several jurisdictions as well. We’ll map your whole structure and find where tax is concentrated unnecessarily, so you know what to restructure – or not restructure – to reduce the total bill within the law.
Let’s talk →Your bank or your country of residence started asking about tax.
They’ve seen dividend or reimbursement flows they don’t fully understand. They want documents you don’t have, or explanations you aren’t sure how to formulate. Your accountant knows accounting in Hong Kong, China, or Singapore, but these questions are outside their usual work.
We’ll explain what your bank or tax office needs to see, and what the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) or China’s tax bureau (STA) is checking when it asks. You’ll know what to put on paper before the deadline.
Let’s sort it →Your Hong Kong accountant won’t take on the offshore claim.
They quote you the Profits Tax Return (PTR) fee and walk away when you ask about the offshore exemption. Not every Hong Kong accountant works with offshore claims. The claim needs a full documentation package, and even a classic trading company with a clear evidence base has a first-year approval chance of around 60–70%; for digital or service businesses it is lower. Some accountants take shortcuts that create audit risk later.
First we’ll tell you whether the offshore claim is right for your business at all and what documentation you need – then we prepare the response to the IRD questionnaire when it arrives.
Bring us the case →You need the China export VAT refund paid into your account.
The VAT refund on Chinese exports – up to 13% – is set by law, but the tax bureau pays it only after it has checked the company. The bureau wants a WFOE with a physical office and staff on payroll, and it looks at the company’s history of operations. Your fapiao have to match your HS code, the customs declaration, the export documents and your business scope.
We’ll tell you what substance your export profile needs and what timeline to expect from the bureau. We’ll also help you set up operations so that the refund repeats every year and gets faster once you have a track record.
Let’s talk →
Hong Kong tax system, deductions, and offshore status
Profits Tax tiers, what counts as taxable profit, deductible expenses, and the full offshore-claim process – with the trade-offs named.
How the China export VAT refund works
How to buy with proper fapiao, what the customs declaration has to match, the bureau timeline, and the practical filter on who collects the refund.
From the founder
Tax isn’t about filing forms.
In ten years of building businesses between Hong Kong, China, and Singapore – both my own and those of our clients – I went from bank to bank with my complex Russian passport and worked out the documentation discipline a business needs to operate long-term. And I figured out how to present a structure so it holds up when banks and the tax authority look at it, and doesn’t raise flags it doesn’t need to.
The hard part of tax for founders like us is judgment: whether to file the offshore claim at all, and whether your company has the substance to defend its position before the tax authority and the banks. Sometimes the question is whether to set up the company at all, and if so where.
Most accounting firms file what you give them. They don’t have the experience of running real cross-border business themselves – the kind that lets you tell a client where the theory meets reality. They’re citizens of HK, SG, Europe, or China – they haven’t lived the experience of being high-risk by default just because of their passport. And in the big international firms, the depth of any individual manager’s expertise and practical experience runs even thinner.
I lead the strategic call when you come in, and you can reach me directly if a later decision is not routine. The team works from ten years of cross-border practice and from our own internal system – years of cases and research, organised so we can find the right precedent fast.
When we recommend a structure, we also take responsibility for putting it in place.
Common questions
The offshore claim and the China VAT refund
Should I claim Hong Kong offshore status if banks watch my accounts closely?
Often no. A 0% offshore declaration is the flag a cautious bank or tax office looks for. If your profile is already scrutinised, paying some Hong Kong tax voluntarily can be the stronger move – it signals legitimacy while you lower your effective tax in other legal ways. We help you weigh which path fits.
What is the approval rate for a Hong Kong offshore tax claim?
For a classic trading company with a clear evidence base, first-year approval runs around 60–70%. For digital or service businesses it is usually lower, often below 50%. Approval is never automatic: every invoice has to trace to a bank entry, and the claim must be renewed each year.
What are Hong Kong’s Profits Tax rates?
Hong Kong uses a two-tier Profits Tax: 8.25% on the first HK$2 million of profits and 16.5% on the rest. There is no VAT or sales tax. Hong Kong also has no capital gains tax. With an approved offshore claim, qualifying profits are taxed at 0% – but that claim has to be defended.
How much is the China export VAT refund, and what does it take to get it?
Export VAT refunds run up to 13%, depending on the product’s HS code. Collecting the refund requires substance: the tax bureau wants a WFOE with a physical office and staff on payroll, plus fapiao that match your HS code, the customs declaration, the export documents and your business scope. First claims typically take six to nine months; once you have a track record, later refunds take one to three months.
Does opening a Hong Kong bank account hurt my offshore tax claim?
It can. If your company holds a local Hong Kong account, the Inland Revenue Department may read it as a sign that management and decisions happen in Hong Kong – which works against an “all activity is offshore” argument. It does not kill the claim, but it is a real negative factor to plan around.
Book a free 30-minute call.
We go over your tax position: what is worth doing and what it will cost.
Book a free 30-minute call →