Monthly Recap – April

Time flies fast and April has been a month for the fruit of hard work to ripe. 

Today 30 April marks the end of a financial year end, which means it is time to file your Tax Returns to the Inland Revenue Department! Are you all ready yet? Have you found your accountants and auditors? 

In April we covered 2 big topics:  (1) Serviced office, (2) Deregistration & Trade mark. For those who will need a quick recap on the main points to get you prepared for the year end, this Monthly Recap is your finest aid.

(1) Serviced Office

There might be various types of packages when you scroll through the list of serviced offices on search engines. The pricing would therefore vary. OneStart Business Centre’s serviced office packages include the water, electricity, management fees and rates etc. We also provide free broadband Internet access, WIFI to all of our clients. 

Now you may think that this is all about advertising, and serviced office might cost you a fortune that is not worth it. Therefore in this blog, we are going to tell you why serviced office has slowly become the trend for business, and what you can gain from renting a serviced office!

Rental period of a serviced office is much more flexible than renting a traditional office. Usually the minimum rental period of a traditional office is set at 2-years, and the terms and conditions are also much more strict. For example, the rent might be subject to changes when the property prices go up. This might not be suitable for small and medium enterprises. 

However for serviced office, take OneStart Business Centre’s Kwun Tong branch as an example, our contract starts from a 3-months basis. When your business starts to grow, and you need more space and room for storing up your documents, and you have a larger team, there will be a need for a larger office! In this case, using serviced office would be a much better choice. You could terminate the contract more freely, and choose a new venue or a bigger office at the same center, for the needs of your business. 

After renting a new traditional office, you would have already added quite a large sum of fixed cost to your financial burden. However, there are still costs in interior designs and ordering office essentials. Costs like water, electricity and management fees are also one to concern. The list can go on and on, and it would start to grow out of hand, when you have to balance your income with this fluctuating list of costs.

But with serviced office, some packages like the one in OneStart Business Centre, water, electricity, management fees and rates are included in the package plan! So every month, the business cost for your office matters would be relatively fixed at the same level – same as our package’s price. This would differ a lot in your business planning, as now you could easily anticipate the overall gain and loss in your business model. 

(2) Deregistration

According to the Hong Kong Companies Law, since November 11, 1999, there is no procedure for delisting in Hong Kong. Instead, there is a procedure called deregistration, which is the revocation of a company. If a Hong Kong company does not carry on business or the company has started winding-up procedures, but no one is responsible for the actual winding-up, the Registrar of Companies may, in accordance with Article 291 of the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance, publish a notice in the Government Gazette stating that Three months after publication of the notice, the company is removed from the company register and the company is deregistrated.

Business competition is becoming more intense or the industry and market are shrinking. To detect a crisis in early stage, the most important thing is to constantly pay attention to and review the company's operating financial situation, profits, costs, and also pay attention to cash flow, inventory and debt. Some entrepreneurs only focus on sales, do not frequently review the operation and market conditions, and completely ignore the signs of crisis, which is often the main reason for the need to deregister the company.

If you cease your business or any branch business you must notify the Business Registration Office in writing within 1 month of the date of cessation. Your business registration number/branch registration number, name, address and date of cessation should be stated clearly in the letter. You should also advise your correspondence address after cessation and contact telephone number. Please remember that the business registration fee and levy must be paid up to and including the year in which the business has ceased.
Every company incorporated in Hong Kong under the Companies Ordinance (Cap.622), whether or not in operation, shall be deemed to be a person carrying on business and is required to take out a business registration certificate annually until the company is dissolved or deregistered under the Companies Ordinance.

In April, we touched on Serviced office, deregistration and trade mark. 

Interested in OneStart Business Centre’s pofessional services? Phone in to our hotline 3575 6888 or WhatsApp our helpful consultants!