Who has to file a tax return in Hong Kong?
Hong Kong taxes on a territorial basis: salaries tax applies to income from an employment, office or pension that has its source in Hong Kong, whatever your nationality. A French national on a local contract, a seconded employee working in Hong Kong or a director paid by a Hong Kong company is therefore taxable from the first year.
As a general rule, individuals are not taxed in Hong Kong on capital gains, dividends or bank interest received privately. Rent from a property in Hong Kong, however, falls under property tax, and income from a business carried on in Hong Kong as a sole proprietor falls under profits tax. All of these are reported on the same BIR60 form.
If you receive a BIR60, you must complete and return it, even if you believe you owe nothing. If you are chargeable but have not received a return — common in your first year — the law requires you to notify the IRD in writing within four months of the end of the tax year, which means by 31 July for salaries tax (form IR6167). Not receiving a return does not exempt you from tax.
Arriving or leaving part-way through the year does not change the principle: you only report income for the period spent in Hong Kong. Leaving for good, however, follows a specific tax clearance procedure, covered in our guide to leaving Hong Kong.
When does the tax return arrive and what is the deadline?
The IRD issues individual returns in a single bulk issue on the first working day of May. For the 2025/26 tax year (1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026), BIR60s were issued on 4 May 2026. The deadline is one month after issue, 4 June 2026, and three months for sole proprietors, 4 August 2026.
A one-month extension is granted automatically to returns filed online: 4 July 2026 in general, and 4 September 2026 for sole proprietors. If you cannot meet the deadline for another reason (a long absence, illness), apply in writing for an extension before it falls due, giving your reasons: it is not granted as of right.
Once the return has been processed, the IRD sends a notice of assessment combining final tax for the year just ended and provisional tax for the current year. Payment is usually due in two instalments, the first early in the calendar year and the second in spring; the exact dates are on the notice. If you disagree with the assessment, you must lodge a written objection within one month of the date of the notice.
Which documents should you prepare?
Most of the figures you will enter come from your employer, who reports your pay to the IRD each year on form IR56B and must give you a copy, usually in April. Gather these documents before you open the return — it is the step that takes longest:
- A copy of the IR56B from each employer during the year and, where relevant, the forms for commencement (IR56E), cessation (IR56F) or departure from Hong Kong (IR56G).
- Details of variable pay: bonuses, commissions, allowances, share awards or stock options, and benefits in kind — in particular housing provided or paid for by your employer, which follows its own calculation rules.
- A statement of your mandatory MPF contributions, deductible up to an annual cap.
- Evidence for other deductions: premiums for certified health plans under the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS), tax-deductible voluntary MPF contributions (TVC) or qualifying deferred annuity premiums (QDAP), rent for your home, home loan interest, donations to approved charities, and self-education expenses.
- The information needed for family allowances: your spouse's situation, your children's birth certificates, and dependent parents or grandparents.
- If you work partly outside Hong Kong: a record of your days in and out of Hong Kong, and evidence of any tax paid abroad.
- Your last notice of assessment, to check the provisional tax you have already paid.
How do you file your return on eTAX?
Online filing is done on eTAX, the IRD's electronic service, which since July 2025 includes a dedicated Individual Tax Portal and a mobile app. You log in with iAM Smart, the Hong Kong government's digital identity, or with your eTAX account. The online form follows the sections of the paper BIR60 and you receive an acknowledgement as soon as you submit.
Two advantages alone justify filing online: the extra month, and no postal risk. Paper is still accepted, but the IRD rejects items with insufficient postage, and those cause more missed deadlines than anything else.
Each spouse completes their own return. A married couple can elect for joint assessment when it is more favourable, and someone with other taxable income in Hong Kong, such as rent, can elect for personal assessment. Both elections are made directly in the return; they are worth modelling before you choose them.
The IRD computes the tax in two ways and charges the lower amount: progressive rates applied to net income after allowances, or a standard rate applied to net income without personal allowances. There is nothing to choose, but a complete return makes sure you get every deduction.
What is provisional tax and can you reduce it?
Hong Kong does not withhold tax from salaries. Instead, the IRD charges provisional tax for the current year, normally based on the previous year's income, and credits it against final tax the following year. In your first taxable year, the notice therefore combines final tax for the year just ended and provisional tax for the current year: a large sum that is best planned for.
If your income falls significantly — estimated income below 90% of the previous year's — or if you stop working, you can apply to hold over all or part of your provisional tax. The application must be made no later than 28 days before the payment date, or within 14 days of the date of the notice if that is later.
Do you also have to file in France?
That depends on your tax residence under French law (article 4 B of the Code général des impôts): you are resident in France if your home or principal place of stay is there, if you carry on your main professional activity there, or if the centre of your economic interests is there. Any one of these criteria is enough.
If you have become non-resident, you only declare French-source income in France — typically rent from a property in France — online at impots.gouv.fr, where your file is handled by the tax office for non-resident individuals. In the year you leave, a single return covers income received as a resident up to the date of departure, then French-source income only. Remember to give the tax authorities your new address.
France and Hong Kong signed a double taxation agreement on 21 October 2010, which came into force on 1 December 2011. It resolves situations where both territories would treat you as resident and sets out which one may tax each category of income. To rely on it, the IRD can issue a Hong Kong Certificate of Resident Status.
If your family has stayed in France, if you are seconded by a French employer or if you have significant income on both sides, your situation calls for advice from a tax lawyer or a chartered accountant qualified in France. Fostier Consulting can help you gather the documents and coordinate the exchanges, but does not replace that advice.
What are the most common mistakes?
The same oversights come up every year, especially among newcomers:
- Waiting for a return that never arrives, instead of notifying the IRD of your chargeability before 31 July.
- Leaving out part of your pay: a bonus paid after the end of the tax year but relating to it, share awards, employer-provided housing.
- Not claiming the deductions you are entitled to (VHIS, rent, tax-deductible voluntary MPF contributions, dependent children).
- Underestimating the first notice of assessment, which combines final and provisional tax.
- Moving home without telling the IRD: a change of address must be reported within one month, or you risk missing a notice and its deadlines.
- Filing late: the IRD can then issue an estimated assessment and impose penalties.
- Leaving Hong Kong without settling your tax position, which holds up your final salary payment from your employer.
How Fostier Consulting can help
We prepare your Hong Kong tax return with you: organising the documents, checking each section and deduction, helping you file on eTAX, and keeping track of the tax calendar and correspondence with the IRD, in French or English. You remain responsible for the accuracy of your return and for signing it; we help you submit it complete and on time.