Before starting up a business in China, you have to know what are the options. Foreign Investors generally establish a business presence in China in one of five modes: Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE); Representative Office; Foreign Invested Partnership Enterprises (FIPE); Joint Venture and Hong Kong Holding Company.
Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE) is a Limited liability company wholly owned by the foreign investor. WFOE requires registered capital and it's liability of equity , can generate income, pay tax in China and it's profit could be repatriate back to investor's home country. Any enterprise in China which is 100 percent owned by a foreign company or companies can be called as WFOE. No. minimum registered capital is required for WFOEs with scope of business of consulting, Trading, retailing, information technology etc. in China. There are minimum registered capital still required for some industries for instance: Banking, Forwarding etc Since China still maintains foreign currency control policy, it's still advisable to choose registered capital within RMB 100,000 ~ RMB 500,000 as the minimum registered capital. Companies can now determine how much capital will be required to maintain their operations and must simply ensure that they meet those targets within a period of 10 years.
Representative Office (RO) is a Liaison Office of it's parent company. It requires no registered capital. It's activities would be: product or service promotion, market research of it's parent company's business, Quality Control liaison office etc in China. RO generally is prohibited to generate any revenue nor generating contracts with local businesses in China.
Joint Venture (JV) is a Limited liability company formed between Chinese investor and Foreign investor. The parties agree to create a entity by both contributing equity, and they then share in the revenues, expenses, and control of the enterprise. JV usually been used by foreign investor to engage the so called restricted in areas such like: Education, Mining, Hospital etc.
Since March 1, 2010: Measures of Establishment of Foreign Invested Partnership Enterprises (FIPE) in China is taking effect. The regulation, which take effect since March 1, 2010, are known as the Administrative Measures for the Establishment of Partnership Enterprise in China by Foreign Enterprises or Individuals. There's no required minimum registered capital for a Foreign Invested Partnership Enterprise (FIPE) in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and rest cities of China
Hong Kong Company usually been used as a Special Purpose vehicle (SPV) to invest Mainland China. Hong Kong is one of the quickest locations to Incorporate a business. Although a HK company is not a legal entity in Mainland China (MainlandChina and Hong Kong, See Wiki 1 country, 2 systems), lots foreign investors, especially investors from Europe and North America still chose to setting up a Hong Kong company as SPV to invest China.
After China's entry to WTO, most industries in China welcome foreign investment, WFOE setting up in China becomes the first option of foreign investment's entity structures instead of Rep. Office setting up in China
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