Shanghai Branch Office Registration
Hotline: 86-755-82148419 Email: susiehu@citilinkia.com
Branch office in Shanghai usually has three levels of meaning for a foreign entrepreneur: a branch office of an overseas company, a representative office in Shanghai, a branch office of a company in Shanghai.
It is vital for a foreign investor to understand from a legal perspective on the differences .
First, setting up a branch office of an overseas company in Shanghai.
It is a separate legal entity with its own unique name and identity. Even if it is fully owned by the Parent Company, there is no requirement for it to have the same or even a similar name.
A Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise in Shanghai is called WFOE or WOFE. It is the most popular investment option for foreign investors. With a WFOE (branch office of an overseas company) in Shanghai, foreigner entrepreneurs could fully control the enterprise and make fully independent management choices regarding all business-related decisions and bear limited liability restricted to the registered capital.
One bull news is that the virtual capital register adoption during WFOE registration in Shanghai. It means Shanghai WFOE no longer requires the foreign company to do the capital verification inside of Shanghai once it set up. The overseas company will have utmost 30 years to inject the capital and it is not required to do so if it closed later, for example, 5 years later.
Second, incorporating a representative office in Shanghai.
The representative offices of foreign enterprises can only engage in indirect business activities within the territory of Shanghai. For example, product promotion, market research, technical communication, and other business activities.
Opening a rep office in Shanghai seems to be an attractive option for many entrepreneurs especially when they just tapping into the Chinese market. However, bear in mind that a rep office is not recommended as a path to a WFOE if your business is characterized as profit-making nature. Because you cannot just switch a rep office to a WFOE in Shanghai, you need to close down a rep office and then start a WFOE. It is quite expensive and time-consuming to close one representative office.
The overseas company must have been established more than two years before it has the qualification to initiate a rep office in Shanghai.
Third, forming a branch office of a Chinese company in Shanghai.
Once you have a company in Shanghai, then you could form a branch office of the Shanghai company inside other cities of Shanghai or other districts of the same city.
The registration of branch office of a Shanghai WFOE, for instance, requires the legitimate documents of the WFOE in Shanghai. The branch office could choose not to do independent accounting to save management costs.
The Branch Office is not considered to be an independent legal entity. It is affiliated to, and must share the name of, the Head Company. This is usually done by adding the text for branch company (分公司) to the end of the head company’s registered name. For example:
Sinopec’s Chinese Name: 中国石油化工股份有限公司
Sinopec’s Natural Gas Branch’s Chinese Name: 中国石油化工股份有限公司天然气分公司 (Natural Gas = 天然气 and Branch Company = 分公司)
A Branch office doesn’t engage in business activities under their own name and their operations must be covered within the the Head Office’s business scope.
The Branch office don’t have a board of directors so their business assets and personnel are under the direct control of the Head Company.
Our Shanghai Company Registration Services include:
1) Consultation on the establishment and location of legal entity
2) Enterprise registration
3) Application for special permission
4) Regulatory compliance
5) Tax consulting and Shanghai Company Official Record Bookkeeping
6) Tax Refund Preparation and Filing for Shanghai Company
7) Internal audit
8) Shanghai working visa/business visa application
9) Issuance of Official Tax Receipts
10) Issued Official Tax Receipts Verification
11) Import and export license application
Contact Us
For further inquiries about investment in Shanghai, please do not hesitate to contact us at anytime anywhere by simply calling Shanghai hotline at 86-755-82148419, or emailing to susiehu@citilinkia.com.