Hong Kong 2019-20 Budget proposal

Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, outlined his budget for 2019-20 in his Budget Address on 27 February 2019. Acknowledging reduced confidence amid slackened growth, he said that the budget is aimed at “supporting enterprises, safeguarding jobs, stabilising the economy, strengthening livelihoods”.

To this end, a range of relief measures were outlined to help local enterprises deal with the fallout and uncertainty of the global economic and trade environment. We would like to highlight the following which is of particular interest to our Hong Kong company clients.

Waiving business registration fees for 2019-20 

It is proposed that the business registration (BR) fees for the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 will be waived, and only the BR Levy will be charged.

As such, the total BR fee for a 1-year certificate will be HKD250 (USD32) for this period, instead of HKD2250 (USD287).The IRD will announce the refund arrangement after the relevant legislative amendment is passed by the Legislative Council.

Marbury clients who have already paid their BR fee for the coming financial year will receive a reduced invoice to account for the fee waiver in their next billing cycle or set-off against other new work completed after the amendment becomes effective.

All the concessionary measures proposed in the budget are pending legislative amendments before implementation.

More information can be found at the official website of the budget proposal. Please contact your usual member of the Marbury team if you have any queries.