Hong Kong Business Registration Renewal: 1-Year or 3-Year Certificate?

Renewal basics

• Every business must hold a valid business registration certificate; companies, including dormant ones, must keep renewing.
• The certificate comes in two validity periods: 1 year or 3 years.
• The amount payable follows the commencement date of the new certificate, so a renewal starting in the 2026 to 2027 period costs HK$2,350 (1 year) or HK$6,170 (3 years).
• The IRD can be contacted via GovHK and its BR e-services; paper and online options exist.

1 or 3 years?

• Three years costs HK$6,170 against 3 x HK$2,350 = HK$7,050 for three one-year renewals at today's rates, a saving of HK$880.
• But it is a larger payment up front, and the IRD does not refund the fee and levy if the business or branch ceases before a three-year certificate expires.
• If rates rise at a later budget, a three-year certificate locks in today's amount for its term.
• If you expect to close the company soon, one year is simpler. A company is treated as carrying on business until it is dissolved or deregistered, so the certificate must keep being renewed until then. When a business ceases, notify the Business Registration Office in writing within one month, and pay the fee and levy up to and including the year of cessation.

Do not confuse with the annual return Renewing business registration does not file the annual return with the Companies Registry. They are separate duties.

Penalty The IRD guide states that anyone failing to comply with the Ordinance is liable to a fine of up to HK$5,000 and imprisonment for one year.