Hong Kong Family Office · Serving Mainland Chinese Families
Assets, residency, tax and succession — together with schooling, healthcare and property. Everything a family meets across generations and borders, brought onto a single executable plan instead of scattered across five advisers who never speak to each other.
Hong Kong family office tax concession · key parameters
Source: Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department, profits tax concession for family-owned investment holding vehicles. Full conditions are set out below.
The Problem
These four situations recur across Mainland families. If more than two of them describe you, the missing piece is usually not any single task — it is that no one holds the whole picture.
Wealth sits in one company, one market, one currency. While the business is doing well this looks like focus. When the cycle, the policy environment or a generational handover turns, there is no second structure — insulated from the operating business — to absorb it.
The insurance adviser sells policies, the migration agent sells residency, the accountant handles filings, the lawyer drafts the will, the bank allocates the portfolio. Each is right within their own lane. No one owns the whole. The family pays for the contradictions between them.
A will cannot resolve conflicts of jurisdiction over cross-border assets, exposure created by a child's marriage, or the separation of ownership from cash flow. These surface on the day the document is needed — by which point the structure can no longer be rebuilt.
The tax concession, the investment migration scheme and the talent schemes each carry their own thresholds and their own eligible populations. A near miss on any condition changes the outcome entirely. The cost of the wrong path is rarely the fee — it is the years, and in succession planning years cannot be recovered.
Core Services
A family office does not add one more service. It makes every service answer to the same logic. These six are coordinated by one team against one set of family objectives, each stating the limit of our responsibility. Schooling, healthcare, property and other extended arrangements follow in the next section.
From structural design to day-to-day operation — your own family office in Hong Kong.
BoundaryWe design and coordinate. Audit, tax filing and legal documents are issued by licensed accountants and solicitors.
Sitting on the family's side of the table, supervising how the money is managed.
BoundaryWhat we produce is investment policy and oversight, not investment advice. Execution and portfolio management are carried out by licensed institutions.
Making how it passes as clear as who it passes to.
BoundaryWe do not act as trustee. Trusts are established and administered by licensed trust companies; legal documents are drafted by solicitors.
Triage first, application second — matching the person to the right route.
BoundaryApproval rests with the relevant Hong Kong SAR authorities. We give no assurance as to outcome or processing time.
See detailsReport what must be reported. Flag what is uncertain before it becomes a problem.
BoundaryFormal tax opinions and filings are issued by licensed tax advisers and accountants in both jurisdictions. We coordinate between them.
A structure governs assets. Only governance governs people.
BoundaryGovernance requires the family's own time. That part cannot be outsourced to us; what we can do is make the process and the record rigorous.
Extended Services
Residency status decides which schools a child can enter; the school decides where the family lives. Taking a business overseas drives tax filings, and the tax position feeds back into how property and assets should be held. When the handover to the next generation comes, every earlier decision gets recalculated. These six are not optional extras — they are later nodes on the same plan. Sequence first, then execution.
Once the status is in place: which school, and when they can start.
BoundaryPlaces are decided by the schools and the education authorities. We give no assurance as to admission or start date.
See detailsRoutes beyond Hong Kong, from school years through to universities abroad.
BoundaryOverseas here means outside Hong Kong; for schooling in Hong Kong see the previous item. Admission decisions are not ours to make.
Getting the entity, the workforce and the compliance right the first time.
BoundaryLocal legal opinions and licence applications must come from licensed firms in the target market. We do not cross that line.
Turning cross-border care from knowing a doctor into a documented process.
BoundaryClinical care is the responsibility of the institution and the treating doctor. We select, connect and accompany — see that page for the full statement of limits.
See detailsWork out the cost of holding it before going to see it.
BoundaryWe make no forecast of prices or yields. Local transactions are handled by licensed agents and solicitors; the decision to buy is the client's.
For a collection to pass on, three things come first: authenticity, custody, and who owns it.
BoundaryAuthentication conclusions are issued by independent specialists; we do not judge authenticity ourselves, nor do we express any view on value or market conditions.
These three can be engaged on their own, without becoming a family office client first.
Assistance opening personal bank accounts in Hong Kong, Singapore, Macao and further afield. We match the bank and the route to your documents, asset position, ability to travel to Hong Kong and intended use of the account; witnessing options include in-person in Hong Kong or Macao, appointment-based witnessing at a Mainland branch, witnessing by a designated solicitor, home video witnessing and online witnessing. Whether an account is opened is the bank's decision; we give no assurance of the outcome.
See detailsChauffeured transfers within Hong Kong and between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, covering airport, office and business itineraries. Priced per journey; the quotation depends on the route and whether it crosses to Hong Kong Island, and is confirmed in writing.
Why Hong Kong
Every point below can be verified against published legislation and official guidance; sources are listed at the end of this section. We put them here because the conditions themselves are the basis for a decision — you should not have to trust us first in order to start assessing.
Hong Kong levies no capital gains tax, no dividend tax and no estate duty. On top of that, a qualifying family-owned investment holding vehicle is taxed at 0% on assessable profits from qualifying transactions.
A single family office serving only members of one family, and not carrying on a business in regulated activities, generally needs no licence. That means the cost and timeline of setting up turn on the structure itself rather than on licensing — though where the line falls must be assessed against the actual arrangements.
There is no exchange control in Hong Kong; funds and currency move freely. This is what makes a structure workable in practice, not merely coherent on paper.
Hong Kong operates under common law with a mature body of trust law and case authority. For a multi-generational structure, predictability matters more than any single concession: concessions change, institutional stability does not change easily.
Hong Kong shares the Mainland's time zone, so attending meetings, signing documents and taking part in governance costs the family very little. It sounds trivial. In practice it decides whether a structure is used or merely established.
Private banking, custody, insurance, audit, legal and trustee services sit in one city and are used to working with one another. Coordination costs far less than it does when providers are spread across several markets.
| Condition | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Ownership | One or more members of the family must hold, at all times during the basis period, at least 95% of the direct or indirect beneficial interest in aggregate |
| Asset threshold | The aggregate net asset value of specified assets managed by the eligible single family office must be no less than HK$240 million |
| Managing entity | Must be managed by an eligible single family office that is normally managed or controlled in Hong Kong |
| Employees | At least two full-time qualified employees in Hong Kong carrying out the core income-generating activities |
| Operating expenditure | At least HK$2 million of operating expenditure incurred in Hong Kong each year |
| Safe harbour | At least 75% of the single family office's profits must derive from services provided to specified related persons |
| Incidental transactions | Receipts from incidental transactions must not exceed 5% of the total receipts from qualifying and incidental transactions |
| Rate and effective year | 0% on assessable profits from qualifying and incidental transactions, applicable from the year of assessment 2022/23 onwards |
This is a summary. Application to any case depends on the specific facts and is governed by the Inland Revenue Ordinance and the latest IRD guidance. The conditions are continuing requirements and must be reviewed annually.
Which Path
Not every family needs a family office, and not every family needs one yet. The table below is meant to help you work out where the conversation should start — including the case where the answer is that you do not need us yet.
| Your situation | Route that usually applies | Key threshold | Where people miscalculate |
|---|---|---|---|
| You want a Hong Kong family office and the tax concession | SFO plus FIHV structure | Specified assets under management of at least HK$240m | This measures only what the single family office manages, not the family’s total wealth; the employee and expenditure conditions are continuing, not one-off at setup |
| Mainland resident, no foreign permanent residency, seeking Hong Kong status | Quality Migrant Admission Scheme / Top Talent Pass / employment or study routes | Assessed on qualifications, university, income or an employer offer | The New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme does not accept applicants who hold only Mainland residency — contrary to what is widely repeated. Confirm the category before planning anything else |
| Foreign permanent residency, or Macao / Taiwan resident, with assets above HK$30m | New Capital Investment Entrant Scheme (CIES) | Absolute beneficial ownership of net assets of at least HK$30m throughout the six months before the net asset assessment | The net asset assessment and the investment are two separate steps. The investment must be completed within the period allowed after approval and maintained throughout the stay |
| Below the family office threshold, but succession needs settling now | A combination of trust, insurance and will | No hard asset threshold; driven by asset type and the jurisdictions involved | Resolve jurisdictional conflicts and marital property exposure before choosing instruments. Choosing the instrument first usually means starting over |
| The real objective is the children's education | Residency route and school admission route, run in parallel | Each scheme sets its own age and status conditions for accompanying dependants | Approval timing must be back-planned from admission deadlines. When the two are out of step, the usual cost is a full academic year |
This table is directional triage to help you decide where to begin. It is not a determination of eligibility in any individual case. Policies and thresholds may change; the authorities' latest published position governs.
How We Work
Advisory work goes wrong when the process is invisible and the deliverable is vague. We set out what each stage should produce, so you can hold us to it.
Assets, shareholdings, residency status, existing policies and trusts, and family relationships — mapped onto a single page. For most families this is the first time they see all of it at once.
DeliverableFamily map · risk register
Separate what must happen first from what can wait, and surface the disagreements the family has been avoiding. Get the order wrong and everything downstream becomes rework.
DeliverablePrioritised objectives · record of what the family agreed
Two or three comparable options, each with its cost, its limits and the circumstances in which it does not apply — including when doing nothing is the better answer.
DeliverableStructure proposal · budget · options comparison
We drive each provider against the schedule and give the family a single point of contact — chasing progress is our job, not yours.
DeliverableTimetable · deliverables checklist · stage reports
Rules change and families change. The tax concession conditions are continuing requirements; marriages, residency and intentions move too. A structure that is never reviewed quietly stops working.
DeliverableAnnual review report · recommended adjustments
This is a typical sequence. Actual timing varies case by case and is not a commitment as to time.
Our Boundaries
We state the boundaries up front so you know who to ask for what before you engage anyone. An adviser who claims to do everything has usually not worked out where responsibility actually sits.
FAQ
A private bank supplies products and services. A family office sits on the family's side and selects and supervises those suppliers, private banks included. They are not substitutes: most families end up with both. The difference is who exercises judgement on your behalf.
The concession has a threshold; the function of a family office is not limited to tax. Succession structures, residency planning and governance carry no asset threshold at all. Many families settle those three first and address the tax structure when scale arrives. Doing it the other way round usually means rework.
No. The scheme is open to foreign nationals, Chinese nationals who have obtained permanent residence overseas, Macao SAR residents and Taiwan residents. An applicant holding only Mainland residency is not eligible. This contradicts a good deal of what circulates in the market; the Immigration Department's published position governs. Such applicants normally start from the talent admission schemes instead.
A single family office serving only members of the same family, and not carrying on a business in regulated activities in Hong Kong, generally needs no SFC licence. Whether an activity is regulated depends on the actual arrangements and must be assessed item by item — particularly once the office begins serving anyone outside the family.
Structural design is usually measured in weeks; incorporation, account opening and tax registration in months. It depends on the complexity of the case and on banks and regulators. We do not commit to timeframes — whoever is willing to guarantee one is generally not the party who controls the process.
Not necessarily. The concession is about the vehicle and the office's operating conditions, not about where the family lives. But if your objectives include residency, schooling or healthcare, each of those carries its own presence requirements. The answer depends on what you want, not on the family office itself.
Yes, though not where it used to be. CRS delivers transparency of information; it does not by itself create a tax liability. A structure worth holding never depended on opacity — it depends on applying both tax regimes correctly and on a clear allocation of assets and control. Reporting properly is what allows a structure to survive.
By stage and scope, with a written quotation issued at the proposal stage setting out what is included and what is not. Third-party costs — government fees, legal fees, audit, trust establishment and annual fees — are itemised separately from our own fees, never bundled together.
We handle day-to-day contact with the family, requirements, design and overall coordination from the Mainland. Regulated activity, legal opinions, audit and trusteeship in Hong Kong are carried out by licensed institutions there; we select, coordinate and supervise them. That division is set out in the engagement documents, including who bears which responsibility.
Get in touch
Tell us where you are and we will arrange an introductory conversation of no more than 45 minutes. It has one purpose: to establish whether what you are facing actually calls for a family office. If it does not, we will tell you who to speak to instead.