Doing business in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong sits at the heart of Asia, serving as a major international financial centre and the main gateway to Mainland China. Its port and airport rank among the world’s busiest, and that scale keeps Hong Kong central to international trade and logistics.

The city offers a free market economy, common law legal protections, and an open, transparent regulatory framework, with no restrictions on foreign ownership. Tax is low and simple by international standards. The two-tier profits tax regime charges 8.25% on the first HKD 2 million of profits and 16.5% above that. Salaries tax runs on a progressive scale from 2% to 17%, or a standard rate of 15% on the first HKD 5 million of net income and 16% on the remainder, whichever works out lower for the taxpayer. There’s no VAT, no capital gains tax, and no tax on dividends. An extensive network of double taxation treaties adds further relief for multinational groups, though since 2025 large multinationals with global revenue above EUR 750 million fall under a 15% minimum top-up tax as part of Hong Kong’s adoption of the OECD’s Pillar Two rules.

The government keeps a light touch, and that restraint has helped foster a stable environment for entrepreneurship and investment. Immigration schemes like the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) are built to bring in skilled professionals and business leaders, and the city has built out a real innovation and technology ecosystem, with public backing for startups alongside a growing base of incubators, accelerators and venture capital firms.

None of this means investors can skip the fine print. Anti-money laundering rules, data privacy requirements and environmental standards still apply depending on sector, and intellectual property protection remains strong – one reason the city continues to draw R&D-focused and creative businesses.

Hong Kong’s business culture sits somewhere between East and West, a mix that shows up constantly in day-to-day dealings. Formality and punctuality matter, and respect is shown as much through conduct as through words. A greeting is usually a firm handshake, occasionally with a slight bow. When you’re handed a business card, take it with both hands, actually look at it for a moment, and put it away in a card holder – not your pocket, which comes across as careless.

Deals move on efficiency, but trust builds slower, usually over repeated in-person contact: dinners, tea, the kind of meeting that isn’t really about the agenda. Guanxi – personal connections built over time – still shapes how negotiations go and whether a relationship lasts beyond one deal.

Showing up matters too. Industry events, networking clubs, chamber of commerce gatherings – these aren’t optional extras, they’re part of how commitment gets read. Meetings tend to follow a structured agenda, though there’s often room for informal chat at the start or end. Because decision-making runs hierarchical, knowing who actually has authority – and treating seniority with the right weight – makes a real difference.

Government here has a reputation for running efficiently. Company registration, licensing, tax filing: much of it can now be done online, sometimes in a single day, and that streamlining has kept moving forward rather than stalling out.

Put together – the financial and legal infrastructure, a deep banking sector, a workforce that operates comfortably in both English and Chinese – Hong Kong remains one of the strongest bases in Asia for companies looking to operate regionally.