In applying the request for exchange of financial information under the Tax Information Exchange Agreement, recent requests have been received from the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department (IRD) from the US government to mandate that Hong Kong Financial Institutions to submit details of the pool reports of non-Consenting US Accounts (i.e. recalcitrant accounts) that were submitted to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under FATCA regulations.

To deal with shares in a company incorporated in the BVI, the grant of representation is required. The grant of representation would take the form of either:

Commencing from 23 August 2021, Hong Kong companies will be allowed to withhold from public inspection the residential address of directors and full Identification Number of directors and company secretaries kept on the registers of directors and register of companies secretaries. Companies may instead make available for public inspection the correspondence address and partial Identification Numbers of directors and company secretaries.

According to the first meeting of “Subcommittee on Seven Pieces of Subsidiary Legislation Relating to the Implementation of the New Inspection Regime of the Companies Register under the Companies Ordinance” on 5 July 2021, the new inspection regime will be implemented in 3 phases and is to be completed by end of 2023.

1 January 2019, The British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, along with other major offshore jurisdictions, introduced economic substance laws.