Services

Company Formation

IF provides formation and management services for companies in various jurisdictions, namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Netherlands, Cyprus, Malta, Luxembourg, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, the Netherlands Antilles, Switzerland, Belize, Delaware, Samoa, Seychelles and Mauritius.

Our Professional advisers are familiar with company laws and tax systems in every jurisdictions of the globe, and can provide full support for clients to develop their businesses in line with the laws and regulations of different regions.

We provide assistance and advice in setting up the following:

Onshore

Offshore Jurisdictions

Hong Kong as a comprehensive business platform that is increasingly recognized as Asia’s central business district and a gateway to enter into Mainland China. In conjunction with a spectrum of government activities in promoting tax advantages facilitated by Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and loan facilities through SME Loan Guarantee Scheme (SGS), entrepreneurs are encouraged to venture their own businesses. IF offers a broad range of corporate services and professional advice in the areas of company formation in Hong Kong, oversea countries and various offshore jurisdictions, with an aim to advise clients on the right business models.

Hong Kong Company
Various types of Hong Kong companies such as:

Private company limited by shares and / or Branch office
Company limited by guarantee without a share capital
Non-Hong Kong Company
Registering a registered unlimited company to a company limited by shares

Other Countries
Includes: PRC, Singapore, Taiwan, and other countries.

Offshore Companies
Offshore companies are set up mainly for its uses, amongst others, as the following:

Trading Company
Investment Holding
Professional Services Company (PSC)
Asset Protection
Privacy
Inheritance /Probate

Company Secretarial

We are a team of professionally qualified company secretaries, amongst others, being members of Hong Kong Institute of Chartered Secretaries as well as members of UK Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. We offer a broad range of corporate services in the areas of corporate secretarial. We also assist clients in corporate restructuring, merger and acquisition and winding-up.

We provide personalized and top quality services to our clients to assist them with their business needs, with the aim of building a long and fruitful professional working relationship.

Hong Kong Company, Offshore and Other Oversea Countries

Assist in corporate bank account opening
Assist in applying for business licenses mandatory for business set-up and operations
Act as Company Secretary or Authorized Representative or Agent for suitable companies
Provide services to facilitate clients’ businesses with clients controlling their own businesses
Provide Registered Office address and virtual office facilities support
File Annual Return and other statutory documents as well as preparation of directors’ and shareholders’ resolutions in English or Chinese on matters relating to compliance with Companies Ordinance and other regulations therewith
Maintain statutory secretarial books and conduct annual review of the clients’ company files ensuring full compliance of the rules and regulations
Arrange for and attend Board and General Meetings, taking and preparing minutes thereof
Attend to secretarial works pertaining to merger and acquisition, joint-venture, franchising, corporate restructuring, pre-listing and any due diligence exercise as necessary
Arrange members’ voluntary winding-up, application for dormancy and deregistration of companies
Attend to secretarial works for different level of companies including private and conglomerate group of companies
Liaise with overseas agents and provide full corporate secretarial support

We also work in collaboration with other professional bodies, lawyers and agents in our services to clients.

Corporate Restructuring

Our professional team can provide the services including:

Reviewing client company’s circumstances, Assessing whether companies are properly registered.
liaising with legal, tax professional in local or oversea region and recommending the optimal solution for your particular situation
Identify the opportunities of business transfer, mergers and acquisitions or by some other means;
Conducting due diligence on statutory books and records of target companies or current group companies
Advising on matters to be attended to upon completion of an acquisition from a corporate secretarial perspective
Capital restructuring, including to arrange repurchase of shares or other forms of capital reorganization, such as the creation of a new class of shares
Advising on stamp duty implications on share transfer and applying for stamp duty exemption, if applicable;
Advising on the appropriate ways to de-register or liquidate a company and handling all documentations;
Registration of business entities as dormant companies.
Arranging closure of business for Hong Kong and non-Hong Kong companies;
Executing corporate reorganisation prior to listing

Accounting & Taxation Compliance

As a truly independent third party, IF can manage your accounting both internal and external without any conflict of interest. A single point of contact give you access to accurate and timely information, we provide accounting service which helps you to reduce cost and ensure all accounting documents meet the government requirements. We can also provide analysis and advice in order to improve company management and overall profitability.

All individuals of our accounting team are members of the CPA Australia and Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. They are dedicated to providing accounting and taxation compliance services for our clients’ companies as well as assisting in the process of meeting statutory audit requirements. Our services extend to companies whose activities include (but not limited to) – private investment holding, manufacturing, and international trading companies etc.

Services including:

Bookkeeping and maintenance of accounting records
Preparation of monthly, quarterly or annual financial statements for management, bank facilities application, taxation and annual audit or other purposes
Preparation of company budgeting and cashflow analysis
Preparation of Inventory report and analysis
Provides corporate financial reporting and related internal control reports
Design and set up accounting filing system
Tailor-made the most suitable financial statements and analysis
Arranging audit, audit liaison and accounts finalization
Drafting and filing company tax returns and employer returns and assisting to liaise with relevant government authorities.

Administration & Human Resources

Considerations must be given to ensure any HR function and policies comply with the local minimum legal requirements. We know how important it is to ensure that your employees are paid on time every month. Payroll administration is a highly confidential and sensitive activity. We also know the challenges associated with many aspects of running employee compensation and benefit programmes – tracking annual leave, making sure that contributions are made to the relevant mandatory provident funds, filing tax returns and being sure that all this is done in accordance with local employment laws and practices.

Services including:

Administration and payroll Services

Visa Application Services

Reviewing Recruitment advertisements with non-discrimination contents
Reviewing and provide the Employment Contract which is in line with local laws
Providing the Employee Policy and Procedure Manuals
Preparing payroll reports for client’s confirmation
Administering the confidential payroll process, including calculating and crediting remuneration to individual employee’s bank accounts
Ensuring staff are paid on time and provided with pay slips
Setting up a legal office Insurance
Setting up a statutory Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) scheme and managing the various ongoing requirements
Preparing Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) contribution statements and processing payments to the provident fund trustees
Liaising between the company, the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) trustee and individual employees
Completing tax returns on behalf of employers for reporting to local tax authorities, including filings for new employee commencements, terminations and the annual reporting of remunerations and pensions etc
Reviewing housing allowance reimbursement claims to ensure compliance with company policies and tax requirements
Managing medical and dental programmes by tracking entitlements, claims and expenses
Recording for sick leaves and working hours provisions of employee

Each visa application is assessed by a specific case officer. Though there are suggested requirements for each type of application, the final documents or information requested by each case officer will never be the same. The assessment is entirely discretionary on each scenario by each officer.

The processing time is, realistically, about 2 months since submission of an application. Or according to the Department, it will be 4-6 weeks after “submission of all documents required”. However, the officer might only send you a reply in 4 weeks’ time to request for further documents, and the 4-6 weeks pledge will start again after your submission of the further documents requested. So, one should allow at least 2 months for the Hong Kong Immigration Department to process an application. The visa validity of a first time approval is, maximum, 12 months. A visa might be approved with a shorter validity.

IF provides services applications to Hong Kong Immigration Department, including any first-time applications and visa extensions.

Employment Visa
Employment Visa is for a foreign employee to work in Hong Kong. The company is required to provide a fixed monthly salary to the employee. Hong Kong Immigration Department will not consider pure commission basis salary, part-time or freelance employment for an employment visa application. The position offered should be of a managerial or supervisory level. The key consideration for an employment visa application is the relevant working experience and academic background of the applicant; meanwhile the employing company is required to proof that they cannot possibly find a local candidate to fill up such position. A fresh university graduate is extremely difficult to apply for an employment visa. Pure language skill or family ties are also not strong enough to justify for an application.

Another consideration for an employment visa application is the establishment of the employing company. Generally speaking the longer the history and the larger in size of the employing company, the less questions will be asked about the company. For a newly established company of less than 18 months operation, and employing less than 4 staff, might even ask for provide a business plan (though applying only for an employment but not an investment visa) and also personal information of the business owners.

An employment visa application is not necessary easier to apply than an investment visa. However, immigration officers have large extent of discretion on the documents required for each application. They take a discretionary approach on their assessment for an employment visa application, rather than a literal one.

Our Services including:

Liaise with the related department(s) and preparing the necessary registration documents
Provide the documents for applicant’s signature
Request different documents as the related department(s) request.
Submit the documents to related department(s)
Representation of applicant for collect and re-submit the documents from/ to related departments(s)

Immigration Services

IF is able to help you and prepare your applications for visas, permits and citizenship, as well as to administer employee relocation.

IF can assist with applications under the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (CIES) which was launched in October 2003 by the Hong Kong government. The purpose of the CIES is mainly to attract overseas investment in Hong Kong assets as well as facilitating a means of entry for residence to those foreign investors, without the need to establish or participate in any business.

IF can assist in dealing with numbers of countries immigration matters and all such enquiries and applications necessary. (countries such as USA, Australia, Britain, Singapore etc.)