Blog > Archive by category 'SME's'

From the category archives:

SME's

Offshore Manufacturing Profits – The Commissioner smiles, but for how long?

May 18, 2010

The Hon Fok J upheld the appeal by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue (“the Commissioner”) to the Court of First Instance in the case of Commissioner of Inland Revenue v CG Lighting Limited (HCIA8/2009).
I suspect that Mr Yu, SC, leading counsel for the Commissioner, was as surprised as anyone to have succeeded [...]

Read the full article →

Hong Kong Concludes Two More CDTAs

May 17, 2010

The Inland Revenue Department signed comprehensive double taxation agreements with Hungary and Kuwait on May 13, 2010.  This takes to 10 the number of comprehensive double taxation agreements that Hong Kong has signed.  With agreements having been reached with a number of other countries, including Austria, France, Ireland, Japan, Switzerland [...]

Read the full article →

Is The Government Listening?

March 19, 2010

Before the Financial Secretary issued the 2010/2011 budget on February 24, 2010, he had asked the business community, as well as other interested parties, to submit their “budget wish list” to him.  Among the organisations that responded were:

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (“HKGCC”)
The British [...]

Read the full article →

Hong Kong Budget – Further Considerations

February 10, 2010

The budget proposals issued by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, The British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and The Taxation Institute of Hong Kong always provide interesting reading. Furthermore, they give a very useful overview of the business community’s wish list for the [...]

Read the full article →

Budget Mania

February 8, 2010

It is that time of year when people, typically tax partners of the larger accounting firms, attempt to predict the Hong Kong Government’s budget surplus/deficit for the current year. This is often accompanied by a call for a reduction in the rate of profits tax, i.e. the corporate tax rate. Experience has shown [...]

Read the full article →

Locality of Profits

January 13, 2010

In December 2009, the Inland Revenue Department published the revised Departmental Interpretation and Practice Note No.21 (Revised) – “Locality of Profits”.
The determination of the location of a source of a given profit has caused some disputes between taxpayers and the Inland Revenue Department.  It is clear that the source of a profit is “what the [...]

Read the full article →

Why an Audit?

January 11, 2010

One of the more frustrating aspects of Hong Kong company law is that all Hong Kong-incorporated companies require an audit, irrespective of the value of the company’s turnover, the number and nature of its shareholders etc.  By comparison, a Singapore Exempt Private Company, i.e. a company with not more than 20 shareholders (none of whom [...]

Read the full article →

Misled By The Inland Revenue Department?

November 18, 2009

When I arrived in Hong Kong in the early 1980’s obtaining a copy of the Inland Revenue Department’s Assessor’s Manual was considered essential, but extremely difficult to acquire.  Gradually the Assessor’s Manual has been replaced by a series of Departmental Interpretation and Practice Notes (DIPNs).  Whereas the Assessor’s Manual had [...]

Read the full article →

Why Reduce The Tax Rate?

October 6, 2009

I read with interest that the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce believes that it is essential to reduce the rate of profits tax, the tax on business profits, to 15% in order to enhance Hong Kong’s competitive position. I question whether a reduction in the rate of profits tax is that important in [...]

Read the full article →

US tax snoops zero in on Hong Kong? Let’s be realistic.

September 28, 2009

Nick Westra’s article in this week’s Sunday Morning Post (September 27th, 2009) must have pleased the IRS.  If anything is going to raise concern amongst US citizens living in Hong Kong it is exactly this type of suggestion that a foreign authority will have unrestricted access to information.  The article appears to ignore the fact [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes