A dormant company still needs the 18 months audit? (Hong Kong LTD)

[ClaudiuR]

Hello,

If I declare my company dormant (LTD - Hong Kong), do I still need to submit to an audit? Right now the company is 11 months old. The audit would happen at the 18 months mark. I don't have a bank account nor any relevant transactions.

Also, can anyone help me with some advice on how to do this? I really want to avoid paying the company that helped me for every single little stupid thing. I'm deregistering the company soon but I want to apply for dormant status first so I won't have to pay for the audit in the future.

Thank you

 

[JohnLocke]

Usually you will have to file the financial reports for the company even if you declare it to be dormant! This is how it usually works in Cyprus and many other places in Europe, not sure if it is much different in HK! Have you asked your agent that setup the company in HK for you?

 

[ClaudiuR]

Yes, I have asked the agent - I feel the information I've got is contradictory. They will follow up with more info, as maybe I haven't understood it properly by phone. I'm not talking so much about the financial statements, as there are none to speak of (no activity whatsoever, as that's not going to be hard to submit). I'm talking about the need for the audit, as this is the reason why I'm closing the company to begin with (huge audit prices).

 

[ClaudiuR]

PS: Don't do business in Hong Kong unless you actually make enough sales to justify it and don't even bother getting a bank account unless you plan on doing business in Asia. Even the services that provide introduction services told me that based on what I do (offering services and I'm not a resident of Hong Kong), it is near to impossible to try to get a bank account and that I would waste my money to ask for an introduction. In the moment the people that make money by doing this tells you so, you open your eyes on how HK is a faux off-shore heaven and that while it seems attractive, actually dealing with it is a pain in the rearside. So, $3000 lost, lesson learned, moving on. Now I'm just trying to get the company dormant so I don't trigger an audit in seven months and start the de-registration process.

Speaking of which, is anyone willing to give me a hand or an example with the dormant process? I don't quite speak legalese and the agent told me that I must do this myself. As far as I know, the same request that works in any other jurisdiction will also work in Hong Kong.

 

[Milky Moon]

You can put the director out of public record, so as the company has no director, it will be forcedly closed by the Company Registry.