Introduction to Hong Kong Salaries Tax

General

Salaries tax (Individual Income Tax) is charged on income arising in or derived from Hong Kong from:
 any office of employment or profit
 any pension.

Income that Subject to Salary Tax in Hong Kong

The income, which is subject to salaries tax includes wages, salary, leave pay, fees, commission, bonus, gratuity, perquisites and allowance. Examples of payments which are not subject to salaries tax include severance payments and long service payments and employers¡¦ mandatory provident fund contributions up to 15% of the employee’s annual emoluments.

Source of Income

The rules which have been established for determining whether income derived from employment arises in or is derived from Hong Kong can be summarized as follows:
1. Employees with Hong Kong employment are subject to salaries tax on all their income, irrespective of where they work, except in respect of any income earned for services rendered in another territory which is taxed in that territory or unless the employee visits Hong Kong for not more than 60 days in any tax year.

2. Employees with non-Hong Kong employment are only subject to salaries tax on that part of their income which is derived from services performed in Hong Kong. Therefore, employees with non-Hong Kong employment who work partly in Hong Kong and partly outside Hong Kong will be subject to Hong Kong salaries tax only in respect of income attributable to the proportion of their income which relates to services performed in Hong Kong. The apportionment can be done by reference to days in/out of Hong Kong or the value of the services performed in Hong Kong. If an employee is a visitor to Hong Kong who spends not more than 60 days on such visits in any tax year, no salaries tax will be payable in respect of services rendered during such visits.