Outbound direct investment from China needs approvals or filings before money moves: with the development and reform authority and the commerce authority for the project, and a foreign exchange registration at the bank. The order in which these run decides how long a deal timetable needs, and a signed term sheet does not change it.
Hainan adds three things to that baseline. Income that qualifying tourism, modern services, and high-technology enterprises registered in the Free Trade Port derive from new outbound direct investment is exempt from corporate income tax, until 31 December 2027 on the current notice and subject to its conditions. The Hainan QDLP pilot opens an outbound fund channel. And the foreign exchange route for capital leaving the island is settled at the bank under the simplified direct-investment rules. All of it depends on the platform entity genuinely operating in Hainan.
We run the PRC side — the structure, the filings, and the timetable — and do not advise on the investment. Overseas law and the terms of the transaction belong to foreign counsel and the deal's own advisers.
Services in this practice area
Hainan Outbound Platform Structuring
A comparison of investing from a Hainan platform against the group's existing entity or an offshore holding, and the formation of the platform when Hainan is the better route.
- Hainan as one option, compared
- A real platform
- Capital routes mapped before the first transfer
- Re-confirmed every year
ODI Filings and FX Registration
Preparing and tracking the outbound investment filings and the foreign exchange registration for a Hainan investing entity.
- Filing or approval, decided first
- A sequence the deal respects
- Filings continue after the first transfer
- A timetable the deal team can use
Outbound Acquisition Approvals
Mapping the PRC approvals and filings an overseas acquisition by a Chinese investing entity depends on, and sequencing them against the deal's timetable.
- The approvals mapped for the deal
- Counsel drafts, we supply the PRC timetable
- Closing is not the end
- One status record
Approvals sequenced against the deal timetable, not after it
Outbound deals tend to be planned around the overseas closing date, with the PRC approvals treated as paperwork that will follow. The approvals decide whether the money can move at all, and they have their own timetable.
We put the approval map in front of the deal team before signing, so conditions precedent and long-stop dates reflect what the PRC side actually needs. Where Hainan is not the right platform for a given investment, we say so before an entity is formed.
Why choose HainanInc?
One accountable team
A single point of contact carries your engagement from first filing through to ongoing compliance — not a rotating cast of specialists.
Documented calendars
Every recurring obligation is tracked to a date, not a quarter, so nothing lapses unnoticed.
Built for administrative reality
Filing sequences and document chains are built around how Hainan's processes actually run, not the published version of them.
Published fees, fixed scope
Starting fees are published, diagnostics are fixed-price, and the final fee is agreed in writing before work starts — not after an invoice arrives.
Direct access to the people doing the work
Questions go to the team handling your filing, not to an account manager relaying them onward.
Substance-first structuring
Advice accounts for what regulators actually look for when reviewing qualification, not only what qualifies on paper.
Related insights
View all insightsOutbound Investment Filings: What Has to Clear Before the Money Moves
A Chinese entity investing abroad cannot treat the overseas closing as the first date that matters. The PRC filings come first, and the order they run in sets the earliest date a deal can close.
Hainan's Two-Way Capital Channels: QFLP, QDLP and an Overlooked Exemption
Hainan runs pilot regimes for inbound and outbound fund capital, and a corporate income tax exemption on new outbound direct investment that most structuring conversations never reach.
Navigating RMB Capital Routing: Structuring Considerations for Offshore Principals
Capital routing into and out of a Hainan entity sits at the intersection of foreign exchange control, banking compliance, and corporate structuring. We examine the considerations that matter most.
Our other practice areas
A single engagement rarely stays confined to one practice area. Explore the rest of what we cover in the Hainan Free Trade Port.
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.
