Structuring, registration, and sequencing for groups that already operate in mainland China and are adding a Hainan entity, branch, or second location.
What this covers
- Subsidiary-or-branch assessment against where the group's income would actually arise
- Review of the group's existing business scope, headcount, and locations against what the Hainan entity can take on
- A substance plan for the Hainan entity — management, people, accounts, and assets located on the island
- Intra-group pricing reviewed so the profit shown in Hainan can be explained on its own terms
- Registration, scope amendment, or additional-location filings sequenced so each is in place before the business depends on it
- Handover into the group's compliance calendar from the first month
Our services
Subsidiary or branch, decided on the incomeThe incentive reaches income earned in Hainan; the right form depends on where the group's income would actually arise.
The Free Trade Port's reduced corporate rate attaches to income earned in Hainan by an enterprise that is genuinely operating there. For a group already trading elsewhere in China, that makes the first question structural: whether a Hainan subsidiary, or a branch of a head office located elsewhere, produces income the incentive can actually reach. The conditions for head offices and branches differ, and they are worth reading before an entity is registered rather than after.
Substance on the Hainan entityManagement, people, accounts, and assets located on the island rather than left with head office.
Substance is assessed on the Hainan entity, not on the group. Decisions that the group continues to take at head office, staff who never relocate, and books kept elsewhere all weaken the position the entity files on, however clean the registration looks.
Intra-group pricing that explains itselfDocumented at the start, so profit shown in Hainan has a reason of its own.
Intra-group pricing is where a group's Hainan position is most often questioned. If profit moves to Hainan because a price between related entities moved, the entity needs a reason that stands on its own — a documentation exercise at the start, not a defence afterwards.
Growth sequenced, not rushedScope amendments, locations, and headcount filed in the order the business needs them.
Growth after registration needs sequencing rather than speed. A new activity can mean a business scope amendment before revenue against it is permitted; a second location brings its own registered-address and licensing questions; added headcount brings payroll and social insurance registrations. We map each against what it requires and put the filings in order, so none is discovered after the business already depends on it.
Why choose HainanInc?
Subsidiary-or-branch choice made on where the income arises
Substance planned on the Hainan entity before registration
Scope, location, and headcount filings sequenced ahead of the business
Case study
Untangling an SPV's Reporting Obligations After a Structure Change
A special purpose vehicle connected to a financing transaction changed its asset composition mid-year, and the regulatory reporting calendar built for its original structure no longer matched what was actually required.
Composite illustration based on common engagement patterns; not a specific client.
Related insights
After Closure, Hainan Is an Expansion Base for Businesses That Change Things
Island-wide closure reorganised what Hainan is good for. It rewards transformation on the island and is largely neutral towards businesses that simply pass through it.
Substantive Operation in the Hainan FTP: A Four-Element Test Where One Failure Is Fatal
The 15% corporate income tax rate is conditional on substantive operation, and the test has four elements that must all be satisfied in Hainan. Missing any one of them disqualifies the enterprise entirely.
All Hainan Company Formation and Market Entry services
- Cross-Border Structuring
- Trademark and Brand Protection
- Market Entry and Feasibility Assessment
- Regulated-Sector Entry
- Entity Structuring and Registration
- Registered Capital and Foreign Exchange Registration
- Corporate Bank Account and Treasury Setup
- Incorporation and Operational Readiness
- Hainan Entities for China-Established Groups
Our services
Our practice areas cover the whole life of a presence in Hainan — from the market-entry assessment made before anything is filed, through formation, tax incentives, customs and zero-tariff compliance, and annual compliance, to the work permits, outbound investment, and deregistration around it. One engagement model means a single accountable team across all of them.
