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Hong Kong Invoice Requirements: What an Invoice Must Show, and What Gets You Paid

By Di Ma, Project Manager 22 OCT 2026 · 5 MIN READ

Ask what a Hong Kong invoice legally has to contain and you will often get a long checklist borrowed from somewhere else — tax numbers, VAT rates, mandatory wording. Most of that does not apply here. Hong Kong has no VAT or GST, so there is no statutory "tax invoice" with a prescribed format.

That does not mean anything goes. There is one clear legal requirement for companies, a record-keeping rule that covers every invoice you issue, and a handful of things that are not law but decide how quickly you are paid — and how easily the payment can be matched in your books.

What the law requires: your registered name

Under the Companies (Disclosure of Company Name and Liability Status) Regulation (Cap. 622B), a Hong Kong company must state its registered name in legible characters on its "transaction instruments" — which the Regulation defines to include any invoice, receipt, consignment note, contract, cheque and letter of credit of the company — as well as on its business letters and its website.

• The registered name means the name exactly as registered with the Companies Registry, including "Limited". A trading name or brand on its own is not enough; you can show both.
• Electronic invoices count. The Regulation applies to documents in electronic form as well as on paper, so a PDF emailed to a customer needs the name just as a printed invoice does.
• English or Chinese is enough for a company registered with both names: the Companies Registry has confirmed that stating either one complies (both is fine too).
• The penalty for not complying is a fine of up to HK$10,000, for the company and every responsible person.

A non-Hong Kong company registered here has its own disclosure rules — its name, place of incorporation and, where applicable, the fact that its members' liability is limited — under a separate regulation for non-Hong Kong companies.

What the law requires: keeping them for seven years

Section 51C of the Inland Revenue Ordinance requires everyone carrying on a business in Hong Kong to keep sufficient records of income and expenditure, in English or Chinese, for at least seven years. The IRD lists invoices and receipts among the records to keep — that means the invoices you issue as well as the ones you receive. Failing to keep them without a reasonable excuse carries a fine of up to HK$100,000. (See also what your auditor will ask for.)

What a good invoice carries anyway

Beyond the registered name, nothing is prescribed. But your customer's accounts department has its own checklist, and an invoice that fails it waits in a queue. These are the items that make an invoice payable on the first read:

• A unique invoice number in an unbroken sequence. Never reuse a number, and do not delete an invoice that was sent — cancel (void) it or issue a credit note, so the sequence has no unexplained gaps. Auditors look for exactly that.
• The invoice date and, separately, the due date — "30 days" means little to someone processing hundreds of invoices; "Due 3 December 2026" means a lot.
• The customer's legal name, and any purchase order number or contact they gave you. Many companies cannot pay an invoice that does not quote their PO.
• What was supplied: quantity, unit price and amount per line, then the total.
• The currency, stated on the total. "75,200" could be HKD, USD or RMB; the customer should never have to guess.
• How to pay: account name, bank and account number, FPS ID if you use it — and the reference you want quoted, which should be the invoice number.

Invoicing in a foreign currency

Hong Kong companies can invoice in any currency their customer agrees to. Two things follow. The books record the sale in the company's functional currency (usually HKD) at the rate on the invoice date. And when the money arrives — at a different rate, often net of bank charges — the difference is an exchange gain or loss, not a discount. A ledger that books the receipt against the invoice at the original rate and posts the difference separately keeps both the customer's balance and the profit figure right.

From "sent" to "paid": where invoices go missing

• Invoices sent but never booked. If invoices are raised in Word or a separate tool, the books only learn about them when someone remembers. Revenue is late, and "who owes us" is wrong.
• Payments that cannot be matched. A lump sum covering three invoices, a payment net of bank fees, a reference missing — each one turns into a question for whoever keeps the books.
• No follow-up. Most late payment is not refusal; the invoice was simply not at the top of anyone's list. A polite reminder before and after the due date changes that.

How invoicing works at Certanta

Certanta's invoicing add-on lets bookkeeping clients send invoices from their own client portal, and closes those gaps:

• Your letterhead and logo, with your registered name and the payment instructions you set once.
• Numbered in sequence — a number is never reused, and a sent invoice is voided, not deleted.
• Every major currency — 35 of them, from HKD, USD, EUR, GBP, JPY and CNY to AUD, SGD, TWD and MOP — with the amount always shown with its currency.
• Emailed to your customer as a PDF, and the exact copy they received is kept.
• In your books the moment it is sent — the sale is recorded, and the PDF is filed as the source document behind it.
• Matched automatically when the payment lands in your bank feed, and marked paid or part-paid. Your bookkeeper still signs it off.
• Reminders and repeating invoices: payment reminders on the stages you choose, and invoices that raise themselves monthly or quarterly.

It costs HK$300 a month for up to 30 invoices, then HK$10 per invoice, for clients on a monthly bookkeeping plan, or on an annual package with an Airwallex bank feed or monthly statement upload — see pricing.

Frequently asked questions

This article is general information about Hong Kong requirements as at 22 October 2026, not legal or tax advice for your company. Sources: Companies Registry External Circular No. 13/2014 on the Companies (Disclosure of Company Name and Liability Status) Regulation (Cap. 622B), and the Inland Revenue Department's guidance on record keeping under section 51C of the Inland Revenue Ordinance.