Annual returns and the Hong Kong company compliance calendar

The annual return (form NAR1)

Every private company must deliver an annual return (NAR1) to the Companies Registry within 42 days of the anniversary of its incorporation date, not its accounting year-end. It is a snapshot of the company's particulars: registered office, directors, company secretary, members and share capital. Filing on time costs a modest fee; filing late triggers a sharply escalating fee scale and, if ignored, prosecution of the company and its officers. Because the deadline is anniversary-based, it lands on a different-feeling date than everything else. Put it in the calendar the day you incorporate.

Business registration renewal

Your Business Registration Certificate renews annually (or every three years if you elected the three-year certificate). The demand note arrives from the IRD around the anniversary. Pay it and display the current certificate at your place of business. The fee changes with government budget measures, so check the current amount rather than budgeting from an old invoice.

The AGM and your financial statements

A private company must generally hold its annual general meeting within 9 months after the end of its accounting reference period, and lay the audited financial statements before members. Many small companies dispense with physical AGMs by written resolution, but the financial statements still have to exist, audited, on that clock. This is the quiet deadline that actually drives when your audit must finish.

How the two clocks interact

• Incorporation-anniversary clock (Companies Registry): annual return within 42 days; business registration renewal.
• Year-end clock (IRD + auditor): audited financial statements in time for the AGM window, profits tax return per the block extension scheme, Employer's Return each April.

Most compliance misses in small companies happen because these clocks are tracked in two heads: the founder watches the tax deadline, no one watches the anniversary. A single shared calendar with both sets of dates removes the whole problem.

General information current as of mid-2026. This is not legal, tax or accounting advice. Fees and deadlines change; confirm the current position with the Companies Registry, the IRD or a licensed practitioner.