The network covers Hong Kong within the East Asia region. Payslips there are drawn up in HKD, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Chinese and English.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Hong Kong, Kowloon, Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin.
The country lies outside the European Union and outside the European Economic Area: the A1 certificate has no standing there. Whether the employee remains in the scheme of origin then depends on the bilateral social security agreement, if any, concluded with the sending country; where no such agreement exists, dual affiliation must be expected and budgeted into the assignment.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Hong Kong, running payroll on behalf of third parties is reserved by law to no registered profession: any company may take it on. The absence of a legal barrier shifts the checking onto you, and that is why the network itself verifies the registration, the tax and social security standing and the insurance cover of every firm before listing it.
Établir la paie pour un tiers est libre à Hong Kong. Deux régimes voisins encadrent l'activité : seul un CPA (Practising) membre du HKICPA peut signer un audit, et seul un titulaire de licence TCSP peut fournir des services de constitution, de siège social ou de secrétariat général. Comme la plupart des cabinets de paie hongkongais vendent aussi le company secretary, la licence TCSP est en pratique le meilleur indicateur de sérieux, et son registre est public.
Hong Kong occupies an unusual position: the territory has no state social security in the European sense. There is no compulsory health fund and no public pay-as-you-go pension scheme. Retirement runs through the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), a private defined contribution arrangement entrusted to approved trustees, and occupational risk through compulsory employees' compensation insurance taken out with an insurer. Looking for an equivalent contribution collection agency would be a waste of time.
Payroll is expressed in Hong Kong dollars. Chinese and English are both official languages, and English remains widely used in contracts, accounting records and dealings with the administration, which makes for a convenient entry point for a foreign employer.
Running payroll for a third party is unrestricted. Two adjacent regimes frame the activity: audit, reserved to practising certified public accountants holding a practising certificate from the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and company formation and secretarial services, which are subject to licensing.
Hong Kong operates no wage withholding at all. The individual settles their own liability once assessed, the employer confining itself to filing annual remuneration returns with the revenue department along with notifications on commencement and cessation of employment. That last obligation is the one foreign employers discover latest.
The employer must enrol employees in an MPF scheme with an approved trustee and take out employees' compensation insurance, compulsory from the first hire. Both obligations are contractual, with private operators, which changes the nature of the administrative work involved.
Incorporating a company with the Companies Registry is quick, but it is not sufficient on its own: the activity only becomes regular once the business registration certificate has been obtained from the Inland Revenue Department. That second instrument is annual and must be renewed.
On the contract, written particulars of the main terms must be provided to an employee who asks for them, and the employment legislation sets a floor of rights that the contract cannot reduce. For a foreign employee, the work visa is granted by reference to the role and the employer.
On departure, check the notice period, the termination payments and the way they interact with the accumulated MPF benefits.
The network asks 8 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Hong Kong. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 8 documents, 5 are required of every applicant and 5 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months. 1 of these documents exist only in Hong Kong and have no equivalent in the common core of the network.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 公司註冊證明書 (Certificate of Incorporation)Certificate of Incorporation Ne périme pas. À compléter par le dernier 周年申報表 (Annual Return, formulaire NAR1) déposé, seule pièce du Companies Registry qui atteste la composition actuelle des administrateurs et de l'actionnariat. | 公司註冊處 — Companies Registry | No expiry Required | Official website |
| 商業登記證 (Business Registration Certificate)Business Registration Certificate Pièce hongkongaise centrale, à renouveler chaque année (ou tous les trois ans sur option). Son numéro à huit chiffres est aussi l'identifiant unique de la société depuis l'alignement de 2023 : il tient lieu d'identifiant fiscal, Hong Kong n'ayant ni TVA ni GST. | 稅務局 — Inland Revenue Department, Business Registration Office | 12 months Required | Official website |
| 利得稅報稅表回條 (Profits Tax Return acknowledgement) et 評稅通知書 (Notice of Assessment)Profits Tax Return acknowledgement and Notice of Assessment Il n'existe pas à Hong Kong d'attestation de régularité fiscale pour les sociétés : l'IRD ne délivre pas de tax clearance d'entreprise. Se rabattre sur l'accusé de dépôt du formulaire BIR51 accompagné des comptes audités, qui sont obligatoires chaque année. | 稅務局 — Inland Revenue Department | 12 months Where applicable | Official website |
| 強積金參與證明書 / 供款結算書 (MPF participation certificate and remittance statement)MPF participation certificate and remittance statement Hong Kong n'a pas de sécurité sociale à cotisations : le seul prélèvement obligatoire sur salaire est le MPF, géré par des trustees privés agréés. La preuve de régularité est donc le certificat de participation et le dernier relevé de versements émis par le trustee, pas une attestation d'État. | 強制性公積金計劃管理局 (Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority — MPFA) et le trustee du régime choisi | 3 months Required | Official website |
| 專業彌償保險 (Professional Indemnity Insurance) et 僱員補償保險 (Employees' Compensation Insurance)Professional Indemnity Insurance and Employees' Compensation Insurance Nuance importante : la RC professionnelle n'est obligatoire que pour les practice units du HKICPA, alors que l'Employees' Compensation Insurance est obligatoire par la loi pour tout employeur hongkongais, sans exception ni seuil. Exiger les deux attestations, en distinguant leur fondement. | Assureur agréé par l'Insurance Authority ; l'assurance accidents du travail est imposée par l'Employees' Compensation Ordinance (Cap. 282) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| 信託或公司服務提供者牌照 (Trust or Company Service Provider licence) ; 執業證書 (HKICPA practising certificate)Trust or Company Service Provider licence / HKICPA practising certificate La paie seule n'exige aucune licence. Mais dès que le cabinet fournit aussi le secrétariat social, le siège social ou la constitution de sociétés, la licence TCSP délivrée par le Companies Registry est obligatoire, renouvelable tous les trois ans, et vérifiable dans le registre public des licenciés. La plupart des cabinets hongkongais de paie la détiennent. | 公司註冊處 (Companies Registry) pour la licence TCSP au titre de l'AMLO (Cap. 615) ; 香港會計師公會 (HKICPA) pour le certificat d'exercice | 36 months Where applicable | Official website |
| 香港身份證或護照 (HKID card or passport) du directorHKID card or passport of the director Les numéros partiels de HKID des administrateurs figurent sur l'Annual Return, ce qui permet un recoupement. Un cabinet titulaire d'une licence TCSP est lui-même soumis à une obligation KYC et fournira ces pièces sans difficulté. | 入境事務處 — Immigration Department ; exigence issue de l'Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance | No expiry Required | Official website |
| 個人資料（私隱）條例 (Cap. 486) — 私隱政策及資料處理協議PDPO (Cap. 486) privacy policy and data processing agreement Il n'existe aucun enregistrement ni déclaration à faire auprès du PCPD : l'ordonnance Cap. 486 impose des obligations de fond mais pas de formalité préalable. La pièce utile est le Personal Information Collection Statement et le contrat de sous-traitance imposé par la Data Protection Principle 2(3). | 個人資料私隱專員公署 (Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data — PCPD) | No expiry Where applicable | Official website |
Do not ask for a Hong Kong tax compliance certificate for a company: none exists. The relevant request concerns the acknowledgement of the profits tax return and the audited accounts, which are mandatory every year in Hong Kong, including for small entities. That universal audit requirement is a characteristic of the territory and provides an excellent control point.
Two similar-looking instruments coexist alongside each other. The certificate of incorporation is permanent; the business registration certificate is annual. It is the latter that proves the activity is current, and it is the one people forget to renew.
Because many Hong Kong payroll firms also sell company secretarial services, the trust or company service provider licence has become in practice the best indicator of standing. Its register is public and can be consulted directly.
Piège numéro un : réclamer une attestation de régularité fiscale hongkongaise, qui n'existe pas pour les sociétés — la bonne demande est l'accusé de dépôt de la déclaration BIR51 et les comptes audités, obligatoires chaque année à Hong Kong même pour les petites structures. Piège numéro deux : confondre le Certificate of Incorporation, permanent, et le Business Registration Certificate, annuel — c'est ce dernier qui prouve l'activité en cours et c'est celui qu'on oublie de renouveler. Piège numéro trois : l'absence de sécurité sociale d'État, remplacée par le MPF privé et par une assurance accidents du travail obligatoire par la loi ; ne pas chercher d'équivalent URSSAF.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Hong Kong, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Hong Kong has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
In Hong Kong, payroll being unrestricted, we rely on the adjacent regimes. The trust or company service provider licence issued by the Companies Registry is our principal indicator, all the more so because it is verifiable online, and the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants practising certificate is added where the firm carries out audit work. The file brings together the certificate of incorporation, a valid business registration certificate, evidence of participation in an MPF scheme and certificates of professional indemnity and employees' compensation insurance.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Hong Kong yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in Hong KongMobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Hong Kong.