Hong Kong and Singapore get compared constantly and usually badly, because most comparisons lead with tax rates. The rates matter less than one structural difference that decides the question for most people reading this: Hong Kong does not require a resident director. Singapore does.
For a founder who lives somewhere else and intends to keep living there, that single requirement is most of the cost gap between the two. It is the difference between buying a company secretary and buying a company secretary plus a nominee director with an indemnity and a security deposit attached. This article gives the real 2026 numbers for registering in Hong Kong, the audit obligation that partly cancels the saving, and an honest account of when Singapore is still the better buy.
Soveraine's partner link with Sleek covers its Singapore service, not its Hong Kong one. We earn nothing if you register in Hong Kong. Read the comparison below on that basis — if Hong Kong is the right answer for you, take it, and our editorial policy explains why we would rather say so.
What you are registering
The vehicle is a private company limited by shares, incorporated with the Companies Registry under the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622). It is a separate legal person, can be wholly foreign-owned, and can be formed with a single shareholder who is also the single director.
Two documents come out of registration and people routinely confuse them:
- The Certificate of Incorporation (CI) from the Companies Registry — the company legally exists.
- The Business Registration Certificate (BRC) from the Inland Revenue Department — the business is registered for tax. This one must be renewed annually and is a real recurring cost, not a formality.
Both are obtained together through the one-stop application.
The requirements, against Singapore
| Hong Kong | Singapore | |
|---|---|---|
| Resident director | Not required — ≥1 director who is a natural person, any nationality, any residence | Required — ≥1 director ordinarily resident in Singapore |
| Shareholders | 1+, 100% foreign ownership permitted | 1–50, 100% foreign ownership permitted |
| Company secretary | Required — must ordinarily reside in HK, or be a body corporate with its registered office there | Required within 6 months — must ordinarily reside in Singapore |
| Sole director as secretary? | Prohibited (s.475(2)) | Prohibited |
| Registered office | Hong Kong address required | Singapore address required |
| Minimum capital | No statutory minimum in practice | S$1 |
| Annual audit | Mandatory unless dormant | Exempt for small companies |
The row that changes the arithmetic is the first. Section 457(2) of the Companies Ordinance requires at least one director who is a natural person; the Companies Registry confirms that non-Hong Kong residents may be appointed as directors of local limited companies without restriction. You can own and direct a Hong Kong company from a flat in Lisbon and never set foot in Hong Kong.
The row that takes some of it back is the last. Every Hong Kong company that is not dormant must have audited financial statements, every year, signed off by a practising CPA. Singapore lets small companies skip the audit entirely. More on what that costs below.
What it actually costs
Government fees first, since those are fixed and published.
| Government fee (2026/27) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Companies Registry — incorporation, electronic | HK$1,545 |
| Companies Registry — incorporation, hard copy | HK$1,720 |
| Business Registration Certificate — 1 year (HK$2,200 + HK$150 levy) | HK$2,350 |
| Total to incorporate (electronic) | HK$3,895 — about US$500 |
| Annual return (Form NAR1), filed on time | HK$105 |
Then the private market, because you cannot supply the company secretary or the registered office yourself from abroad.
| Sleek Hong Kong package (list, Aug 2026) | Price | Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Starter (local founder) | HK$4,973 | Incorporation, CI, BRC, company secretary |
| Starter (overseas founder) | HK$6,973 (~US$895) | The same, priced for a non-resident |
| Compliance | HK$10,473 – HK$12,473 | Above + audited financial statements, tax filing, advisor |
| Full Compliance | HK$13,973 – HK$14,428 | Above + bookkeeping, management reports |
| Registered address & mailroom | +HK$2,000 | Required if you have no HK address |
Now put that next to Singapore. Sleek's Singapore packages for overseas founders start at S$2,600 — roughly US$2,030 — and that entry price includes only three months of nominee director. Twelve months of nominee pushes it to S$4,000.
Hong Kong is roughly half to a third the entry cost for a non-resident, and the reason is almost entirely the nominee director. That is the finding. It is not about tax rates.
The tax comparison, done properly
Hong Kong charges profits tax at two-tiered rates: a corporation pays 8.25% on the first HK$2 million of assessable profits and 16.5% above it. Unincorporated businesses pay 7.5% then 15%. Crossing HK$2 million does not forfeit the lower band. Where a group has connected entities, only one nominated entity can claim the two-tiered rates in a given year. There is no VAT or GST, no capital gains tax, and no withholding tax on dividends.
Singapore charges a flat 17%, reduced on the first S$200,000 by the start-up exemption (75% on the first S$100,000, 50% on the next S$100,000, first three Years of Assessment) or partial exemption thereafter, giving an effective rate around 6.4% to 8.3% on that first tranche.
On headline arithmetic the two land in similar territory for a small profitable company. The real divergence is elsewhere.
Where the systems genuinely differ: foreign income
This is the part worth understanding, because it cuts the opposite way to the cost comparison in some cases and reinforces it in others.
Hong Kong is territorial in the strong sense. The IRD's own statement of the charge is that persons carrying on a trade, profession or business in Hong Kong are chargeable on profits arising in or derived from Hong Kong, and that "no tax is levied on profits arising abroad, even if they are remitted to Hong Kong." Residence is immaterial — resident and non-resident are treated alike, and the test is source.
Singapore is territorial in a weaker sense. Foreign income becomes taxable when it is received in Singapore, and the section 13(8) exemption that removes that charge is available only to companies that are Singapore tax resident, which turns on where control and management is exercised. A Singapore company run from abroad by a nominee director is a poor candidate for that residency, and without it the exemption, the start-up exemption and treaty access all fall away. Our Singapore guide works through that trap in detail.
So for a business whose profits genuinely arise outside the jurisdiction, Hong Kong's system is structurally more favourable and does not depend on a residency status you may not be able to establish.
Two honest qualifications. First, the offshore claim is evidential, not automatic: you must satisfy the IRD that the profit-producing operations happened outside Hong Kong, and the department examines these claims closely. Budget professional fees for it and expect questions. Second, the foreign-sourced income exemption (FSIE) regime introduced from 2023 brings certain foreign-sourced passive income — interest, dividends, disposal gains and IP income — of entities in multinational groups into charge unless economic substance conditions are met. It is aimed at MNE groups rather than a one-person trading company, but if you are building a holding structure, check it before assuming the classic territorial answer.
The audit, and when it flips the answer
Hong Kong's cheaper setup comes with a recurring obligation Singapore does not impose on small companies.
Under the Companies Ordinance, every Hong Kong company must have its financial statements audited annually by a practising CPA. Only dormant companies are exempt. Small private companies may prepare accounts under the simplified SME financial reporting standard — but simplified reporting is not audit exemption. The audit still happens, every year, whether the company traded or not.
Singapore exempts small companies from audit outright. A newly formed private company that meets the size thresholds files unaudited accounts.
In practice the Hong Kong audit adds roughly HK$6,000 to HK$15,000 a year for a simple company — visible in Sleek's own pricing, where the jump from Starter to Compliance is largely the audited financial statements. For a company earning real money that is a rounding error against the tax saved. For a dormant or barely-trading company it is a meaningful annual cost against a Singapore alternative that would file nothing comparable.
The rule of thumb: Hong Kong wins on year-one cost and keeps winning while the company is trading. Singapore closes the gap on a very small or intermittently active company, because it will not be paying for an audit.
Ongoing compliance
- Business Registration Certificate renewed annually — HK$2,350 for the one-year certificate in 2026/27.
- Annual return (Form NAR1) filed with the Companies Registry — HK$105 on time, escalating sharply if late.
- Audited financial statements prepared each year unless dormant.
- Profits tax return filed with the IRD, which generally issues returns on the first working day of April.
- Significant Controllers Register kept at the registered office, with a designated representative who can produce it on demand.
- Company secretary maintained continuously — this is not a one-off purchase.
Realistically, secretary, registered office, audit and tax filing run HK$10,000 to HK$20,000 a year combined, which is why the bundled packages exist.
Which one to pick
Choose Hong Kong if you are not relocating and will run the company from wherever you already live; your profits genuinely arise outside the jurisdiction and you can evidence it; you want to avoid buying a nominee director every year; your customers or supply chain sit in Greater China or North Asia; or you simply want the cheapest credible Asian entity for an operating business.
Choose Singapore if you intend to move there, which resolves the resident-director requirement and the tax-residency question at once; you want the start-up tax exemption, which requires Singapore tax residency; your investors or enterprise customers expect a Pte Ltd; you want the treaty network under a residency you can actually establish; or the company will be small and quiet enough that a mandatory annual audit is a real burden.
Choose neither if the plan is a paper company with no substance anywhere. Hong Kong will want evidence for the offshore claim; Singapore will deny residency to a company managed from elsewhere; and your own country's controlled foreign company rules are waiting either way. Our guide to company structures for zero tax covers where those regimes bite, and neither jurisdiction is an answer to them.
For most non-resident readers of this site running an operating business, the honest answer is Hong Kong — lower cost, no nominee, cleaner territorial treatment. We do not earn a commission on that recommendation, which is the most useful thing we can tell you about it.
Only if the comparison above pointed that way
If you read the audit section, or the relocation case, or the start-up exemption and concluded Singapore fits better, Sleek handles the incorporation, the corporate secretary, the registered address and the nominee director that Singapore requires and Hong Kong does not. Our partner link covers Sleek's Singapore service only — for Hong Kong, go direct, and we earn nothing either way from the Hong Kong route.
Sources
- Hong Kong Companies Registry — Incorporation of a local limited company: https://www.cr.gov.hk/en/companies/incorporation/local.htm
- Hong Kong Companies Registry — FAQ, documents relating to directors and company secretary: https://www.cr.gov.hk/en/faq/local-company/directors-secretary.htm
- Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622), sections 457 and 475: https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap622
- Hong Kong Companies Registry — Fees for companies: https://www.cr.gov.hk/en/services/fees/companies.htm
- Inland Revenue Department — Profits Tax (territorial basis of charge): https://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/tax/bus_pft.htm
- Inland Revenue Department — FAQ on Two-tiered Profits Tax Rates Regime: https://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/faq/2tr.htm
- Inland Revenue Department — Foreign-sourced Income Exemption (FSIE): https://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/tax/bus_fsie.htm
- Inland Revenue Department — Business Registration: https://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/tax/bre.htm
- IRAS — Corporate Income Tax Rate, Rebates & Tax Exemption Schemes (Singapore comparison): https://www.iras.gov.sg/taxes/corporate-income-tax/basics-of-corporate-income-tax/corporate-income-tax-rate-rebates-and-tax-exemption-schemes
- IRAS — Tax Residency of a Company (Singapore comparison): https://www.iras.gov.sg/taxes/corporate-income-tax/basics-of-corporate-income-tax/tax-residency-of-a-company-certificate-of-residence
- Sleek — Hong Kong pricing (list prices, retrieved 27 August 2026): https://sleek.com/hk/pricing/
- Sleek — Singapore pricing (list prices, retrieved 26 August 2026): https://sleek.com/sg/pricing/