上海周老板在富途港股账户持有腾讯、汇丰，年分红大约8万港币。6月发现被扣了30%的税，联系客服才知道——没有ITIN，IRS直接按非居民最高税率扣。但朋友用IB（盈透证券），同样的港股分红只扣10%。

Mr. Wang from Shenzhen runs a business on Amazon’s U.S. marketplace, with an annual turnover of $2 million. In August, he wanted to use a U.S. bank account to receive payments and discovered that the process of ”opening a U.S. bank account remotely from mainland China” in 2026 is much easier than it was three years ago—but there are also more pitfalls: some banks only accept ”in-person interviews in the U.S.,” some require a three-month wait for ”witnessing in mainland China,” and for some banks, ”remote account opening” actually…

In 2018, Mr. Chen from Shanghai used a Hong Kong-based company to receive payments from his cross-border e-commerce business. Last year, he received a ”Reminder to Report Overseas Income” from the State Taxation Administration, stating that he had failed to report as overseas income in China the $300,000 in payment for goods received through his Hong Kong company’s account in 2022. The total amount of back taxes and late payment penalties came to 480,000 RMB. Mr. Chen’s situation is not an isolated case.

Mr. Li from Yiwu’s 3C data cables were selling at a loss on Amazon US. When he switched to Takealot in July, he discovered a counterintuitive phenomenon: South African buyers were willing to pay $12 for a 1-meter Type-C data cable—three times the price of the same product on Amazon US. But a closer look at the reviews revealed: ”The quality is about the same as the 9.9 yuan cables on Chinese e-commerce sites, but you can’t find them locally in South Africa.”

When it comes to corporate taxes in Hong Kong, many people’s first thought is “the 16.5% profits tax.” But if you think that’s the actual amount you’ll have to pay—you might be overpaying the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department.

Hong Kong’s profits tax system is actually more sophisticated and flexible than many people realize—it features both “two-tier tax rates” and a wide range of “deductible expenses.” If you don’t understand these rules, you may end up paying far more in taxes than you actually owe.