Hong Kong's Inland Revenue Department has expanded access to its Business Tax Portal, enabling authorised representatives of non-Hong Kong companies and additional categories of Responsible Persons to register for a BTP Business Account, with the department's BTP guidance page updated to reflect the changes.
The Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department has announced enhancements to the Business Tax Portal (BTP), expanding access to allow authorised representatives of non-Hong Kong companies, as well as additional eligible individuals acting as Responsible Persons (RPs), to register for a BTP Business Account.
Correspondingly, the BTP guidance page has been updated to reflect these changes.
BTP Business Account Registration
To access the online services available under BTP, a Business needs to open a BTP Business Account. Only the Responsible Person (RP) of the Business can register for a BTP Business Account.
Depending on the legal form or arrangement of the Business, the RP must be a natural person in one of the following capacities:
- director, company secretary [Note 1], liquidator or provisional liquidator, or authorised representative in Hong Kong (only applicable to a non-Hong Kong company) of a corporation;
- partner in a partnership [Note 2];
- general partner, investment manager, or authorised representative (only applicable where the general partner is another limited partnership fund or a non-Hong Kong limited partnership without a legal personality) in a limited partnership fund;
- principal officer of a body of persons; or
- sole proprietor of a sole proprietorship business.
Note:
- For a Corporation, its Corporate Company Secretary can register the BTP Business Account on behalf of the Corporation as RP provided that the registration is completed by a natural person director of that Corporate Company Secretary.
- For a Partnership without a natural person partner, the Corporate Partner can register the BTP Business Account for the Business as RP.
Just a few steps to register for a BTP Business Account: –
- Read Terms and Conditions
- Authenticate Your Identity
- Provide Details of BTP Business
- Appoint BTP Administrator
- Provide Your Contact Details
- Confirmation
- Acknowledgement
The Responsible Person of the Business can appoint BTP Administrators, who are responsible for managing the BTP Business Account and in turn appoint other BTP Administrator(s) and BTP Authorised User(s) for the Business. BTP Administrators may designate any BTP Authorised User to assist in managing other Authorised Users. BTP Administrators have full access to all online services available under BTP, while BTP Authorised Users’ right of access to the online services is assigned by the BTP Administrators, or by other BTP Authorised Users who have been specifically designated with such authority. Each BTP Business Account can have no more than five BTP Administrators, while the number of BTP Authorised Users is unlimited.
