A Hong Kong seller company: what records and tax facts still matter?

Does this affect my business?

International sellers using or considering a Hong Kong company for marketplace or direct-store sales.

What do we know?

Start with the business, not the incorporation certificate. IRD’s territorial-source guidance examines the operations that produce the trading profits and where they occur. An overseas customer or money paid into a Hong Kong bank account is not, by itself, a complete source analysis.

Do not confuse trading profit with FSIE. The foreign-sourced income exemption regime addresses specified foreign-sourced income received in Hong Kong by relevant multinational-enterprise entities, with defined conditions. It is not an automatic exemption for every Hong Kong company’s e-commerce revenue. Other countries’ obligations require their own factual review.

Make the records usable. IRD requires sufficient business records to establish assessable profits and retention for at least seven years. For an online seller, start by reconciling orders, refunds, marketplace deductions, supplier invoices, stock movements and bank settlements. Ask the current accountant which supporting documents are missing; a commercial receipt is not automatically evidence that every expense is deductible.

Start with these checks. You may already have what you need.

You can use this checklist yourself or with your existing adviser. To ask OCW, describe the missing facts in your own words. This article is available for reading and manual follow-up; it does not enable an automatic answer for this topic.