The Companies Registry is working at full speed to enhance its computer system with a view to launching electronic incorporation of companies and a one-stop service for electronic company incorporation and business registration in the 2010-11 financial year.

This was revealed by the Registrar of Companies, Ms Ada Chung, at a press briefing today (September 21).

“We are moving full steam ahead in developing Phase II of the Integrated Companies Registry Information System (ICRIS II) to launch electronic incorporation.”

“With the new electronic services in place, the time required to incorporate a company online will be significantly reduced from four working days to less than one day,” Ms Chung said.

To further enhance the Companies Registry’s services, Ms Chung also proposed to streamline the company name registration system. The proposal, apart from further expediting the incorporation process, would empower the Registrar of Companies to substitute the names of companies which fail to comply with the Registrar’s directions to change names with their respective company registration numbers.

“In collaboration with the Inland Revenue Department, we will also take the opportunity to implement a one-stop service for company incorporation and business registration.”

“This will allow applicants to incorporate companies and obtain business registration certificates at the same time. The whole process will be completed within the same day for online applications,” Ms Chung said.

“Legislative amendments to the Companies Ordinance and the Business Registration Ordinance are required before the new initiatives can be implemented.

“We hope the amendments can be enacted next year,” Ms Chung said.

Besides electronic incorporation of companies, the legislative amendments to the Companies Ordinance also cover other initiatives including introducing new provisions to allow local companies to communicate with their members through the companies’ websites; providing a statutory basis for multiple statutory derivative actions and removing statutory restrictions to pave way for scripless shareholding and paperless transfers.

As at August 31, a total of 751,159 live local companies were registered under the Companies Ordinance. A record high of 20,251 companies were incorporated in March this year and another record of 12,594 companies were incorporated in August.

“We believe this is mainly due to the effect of waiver of business registration fees for new companies,” Ms Chung said.

Hong Kong Registrar of Companies

MIAMI, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Former UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfeld of Weymouth, Mass., has been sentenced to 40 months incarceration by Judge William J. Zloch in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. On June 19, 2008, Birkenfeld pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States, the Justice Department announced today.

According to court documents and statements made in court today, Birkenfeld worked as a private banker in Geneva, Switzerland, for UBS AG, one of the country’s largest banks. While at UBS, Birkenfeld assisted an American billionaire real estate developer evade paying $7.2 million in taxes by assisting the developer conceal $200 million of assets hidden offshore in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. While at UBS, Birkenfeld routinely traveled to and had contacts within the United States in an effort to assist wealthy Americans conceal their ownership in assets held offshore and therefore evade the payment of taxes on the income generated on the money hidden offshore. Read more…

Liechtenstein: Tax Information Exchange Arrangement (TIEA)

A Tax Information Exchange Arrangement between the United Kingdom and Liechtenstein was signed in Vaduz, Liechtenstein on 11 August 2009 by Stephen Timms MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and Dr Klaus Tschütscher, Prime Minister of Liechtenstein.

The new TIEA with Liechtenstein will enable the UK and Liechtenstein to exchange information to OECD and international tax standards to ensure that the right amount of tax is paid in each country in the future.

The text of the TIEA can be accessed on the Internet at: Liechtenstein (PDF 58K)

The text will shortly be laid as a Schedule to a draft Order in Council for consideration by the House of Commons. It will then also be available from the Stationery Office.

The Arrangement will come into effect as soon as each government has completed the necessary procedures to give effect to it under its domestic laws.