The company must meet the following conditions before making an application for deregistration:
all the members of the company agree to the deregistration;
the company has not commenced operation or business, or has not been in operation or carried on business during the 3 months immediately before the application;
the company has no outstanding liabilities;
the company is not a party to any legal proceedings;
the company’s assets do not consist of any immovable property situate in Hong Kong;
if the company is a holding company, none of its subsidiary's assets consist of any immovable property situate in Hong Kong; and
the company has obtained a "Notice of No Objection to a Company being Deregistered" ("Notice of No Objection") from the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.
It takes around 6-9 months to deregister a company that has not commenced business, and about 9-12 months for companies that have commenced business. Companies that have commenced business would have to provide the last audited financial statements for the process involved. The time taken might differ depending on the completeness of the required documents provided.