Foreign-Invested Companies in China

Foreign-invested companies in China

Fee for registering a domestic limited company:

The service covers

Registering a Shenzhen limited company (with mainland shareholders) 6,000 RMB

Registration / incorporation

Documents needed for a company with an outside company plus an individual as shareholders to set up in Qianhai

1. Company name (Shenzhen + trade name + industry + Limited)
2. Shareholder details. If a company is the shareholder, give us the Hong Kong company name; notarisation by a China-Appointed Attesting Officer is needed
3. Individual shareholders and the legal representative have to attend in person with the original identity card and Home Return Permit
4. Legal representative: identity card and Home Return Permit (clear scans of the front and the back)
5. Supervisor: identity card and Home Return Permit (clear scans of the front and the back)
6. Residential addresses of the legal representative and the supervisor
7. Business scope (what the business does)

What you receive

1. Business licence, original and duplicate
2. Company chop, contract chop, finance chop, invoice chop and legal representative chop
3. Articles of association

Incentives available to a company registered in Qianhai

• A company registered in Qianhai can use a Qianhai business secretary address free of charge and can operate from another location, which cuts start-up and running costs a great deal
• Qianhai’s 15% enterprise income tax incentive depends on the business: it must be registered and substantively operating in the Qianhai Shenzhen–Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone, with a principal activity in the preferential catalogue generating at least 60% of total revenue.
• Recognition as a technologically advanced service enterprise allows the 15% enterprise income tax rate. Staff education costs qualify for a pre-tax deduction up to 8% of total wages and salaries.
• For a private fund company, Qianhai gives a settling-in incentive based on the size of the fund;
• Qianhai runs innovative financial policies, and low-interest cross-border lending from outside the mainland is drawing more and more companies into the Qianhai Free Trade Zone.

Registering a Shenzhen company

• If a Hong Kong or Taiwan person registers a Shenzhen company, is it a foreign-invested company?
• Yes. A company registered on the mainland by a shareholder from outside the mainland counts as foreign-invested.
• In a Sino-foreign joint venture, can the Chinese party be an individual?
• No. The Chinese party has to invest in the form of a mainland company.
• Can a foreign-invested company operate in industries such as finance, property, education, transport and mining?
• No. These are industries that affect the lifeblood of the national economy. In some of them the foreign shareholding ratio is restricted, and in some foreign operation is prohibited.
• Are there any requirements for the registered address?
• You need to provide a lease certificate or a property ownership certificate.
• Does the registered capital have to be paid up?
• Follow the payment schedule in the articles of association; for a newly incorporated limited liability company, the general deadline to pay all subscribed capital is 5 years from incorporation

Guangzhou is a coastal open city of China, next to Hong Kong and Macau. It is the political, economic and cultural centre of Guangdong Province, and a commercial and trading centre for southern China that brings together manufacturing, transport, commerce, finance, information, education and talent. It sits at the regional centre of the Pearl River Delta, one of the most active and developed economic areas in China, and its economic pull and reach affect the whole country as well as Southeast Asia and the world.

Documents needed for a company with an outside company plus an individual as shareholders to set up in Qianhai

1. Company name (Guangzhou + trade name + industry + Limited)
2. Shareholder details. If a company is the shareholder, give us the Hong Kong company name; notarisation by a China-Appointed Attesting Officer is needed
3. Individual shareholders and the legal representative have to attend in person with the original identity card and Home Return Permit
4. Legal representative: identity card and Home Return Permit (clear scans of the front and the back)
5. Supervisor: identity card and Home Return Permit (clear scans of the front and the back)
6. Residential addresses of the legal representative and the supervisor
7. Business scope (what the business does)
8. Lease contract for the office premises: the property ownership certificate of the owner has to be registered and filed with the rental housing administration office of the district, street or town where the premises are, and the lease has to be signed for a term of one year or more;
9. Bank reference letter

What you receive

1. Business licence, original and duplicate
2. Company chop, contract chop, finance chop, invoice chop and legal representative chop
3. Articles of association

Incentives for wholly foreign-owned companies in Guangzhou

• A production foreign-invested enterprise (WFOE) pays no land use fee during the preparation period set in the contract. Export-oriented enterprises and advanced technology enterprises can have the land use fee reduced or waived.
• Land in the development zone is granted for consideration in line with the relevant national and local government laws and regulations, and the State-owned Land Use Certificate of the People’s Republic of China is arranged for companies entering the zone

To further improve the investment environment of the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone, to run foreign-invested enterprises well, and to carry out the autonomy and the special economic policies granted to the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone by the state, the Management Committee of the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone has decided to apply further incentives to foreign investment alongside the full implementation of the state’s existing investment incentives. The rules are as follows:

Documents needed for a company with an outside company plus an individual as shareholders to set up in Qianhai

1. Company name (Zhuhai + trade name + industry + Limited)
2. Shareholder details. If a company is the shareholder, give us the Hong Kong company name; notarisation by a China-Appointed Attesting Officer is needed
3. Individual shareholders and the legal representative have to attend in person with the original identity card and Home Return Permit
4. Legal representative: identity card and Home Return Permit (clear scans of the front and the back)
5. Supervisor: identity card and Home Return Permit (clear scans of the front and the back)
6. Residential addresses of the legal representative and the supervisor
7. Business scope (what the business does)
8. Property ownership certificate and lease agreement for the business premises
9. Bank reference letter

What you receive

1. Business licence, original and duplicate
2. Company chop, contract chop, finance chop, invoice chop and legal representative chop
3. Articles of association

Incentives for foreign-invested enterprises in Zhuhai

The tax and import/export incentives available to foreign-invested enterprises in Zhuhai change with national and local policy. Tell us your industry and investment amount and we will check the rates, exemption periods and free-trade-zone arrangements that apply at the time against the official announcements. We do not publish out-of-date figures here.