Doing cross-border e-commerce, the first reason many people register a Hong Kong company is: “Hong Kong companies have offshore exemptions and do not have to pay tax on their income.”

But in the last two years, more and more sellers have realized that it's not that simple anymore.

The Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has started to require more documents, the threshold for applying for offshore exemption is getting higher and higher, and some of the applications have even been rejected outright and asked to pay back taxes and penalties for several years.

Will the offshore exemption still be available in 2026? What compliance actions must a Hong Kong company do each year?

This article today gives you a clear answer.

A Shenzhen seller's real experience

Lao Zhang in Shenzhen to do Amazon, annual sales of 80 million, the annual corporate income tax alone will have to pay 25%, almost 2 million.

He has always wanted to move a place, but heard that Hainan Free Trade Port registration company procedures are complex, high threshold, it has been procrastinated. Until last month, a peer told him:

“I paid less than $1 million in taxes on the same profit from a company registered in Hainan.”

Lao Zhang this is a serious study. And the good news is - after May 1, the process of registering a company in Hainan is going to be greatly simplified again!

South African e-commerce giant Takealot, after a short period of time to close the cross-border sellers stationed in the channel, finally in April 2026 officially restarted the investment in China! But this time, the return, bring not a lower threshold, but is called “the most stringent” new rules - individual qualification is completely rejected, only corporate sellers can enter, the platform comprehensively towards compliance, boutique operation era.

For countless small and medium-sized sellers who want to explore the South African market, this is undoubtedly a watershed: some people are forced to withdraw, while others usher in a purer blue sea of dividends.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Besant just made an announcement:

Import duties previously found to be illegally levied are now allowing importers to claim refunds. There are already about

Refund claims of $127 million are in the processing stage and funds are being disbursed.

One quiet weekend, an Amazon email puts Lee's boss completely out of bed--

“Your inventory at FBA Italy has been marked as unsaleable due to: your Italian VAT number is showing invalid in the VIES system.”

Inventory worth 300,000 RMB was just locked up in the warehouse.

This is not an isolated case.