Can my employer withhold my final salary when I leave Hong Kong?

Yes — it is a legal obligation. After filing the IR56G, your employer must withhold the money owed to you for one month, or until the IRD sends the letter of release issued once your tax is paid.

Do I need tax clearance for a temporary departure?

The obligation to notify the IRD applies to taxable persons leaving Hong Kong for more than one month. Employees who travel frequently for work are exempt and keep filing every year.

Can I withdraw my MPF before leaving Hong Kong?

The statutory declaration can cover a departure that has already happened or one that is planned. The trustee decides on the basis of all the documents: a passport alone is not enough to prove your right to reside elsewhere, which is why it pays to prepare the file early.

Do I have to close my Hong Kong bank accounts?

Nothing requires you to, but each bank sets its own conditions for non-resident customers. If you keep an account after becoming French tax resident again, you must declare it every year on form 3916.

When do I become French tax resident again?

Normally from the date of your return, when your home or principal place of stay is back in France. In the year of return, your tax return separates the non-resident period from the resident period.

Leaving Hong Kong: the checklist

What should you do three months before leaving?

Three months is the window that lets you do everything without rushing: most Hong Kong formalities depend on a confirmed departure date and on documents that take several weeks to arrive.

Set your departure date and tell your employer as early as possible: they must notify the IRD of your departure at least one month in advance, and your final payments depend on it.
Reread your lease: notice period, break clause, check-out inspection and the conditions for returning your deposit.
Review your insurance: group health cover usually ends with your employment contract, and an individual policy may have a coverage area that does not include France. Plan cover for the transition period.
List your MPF accounts (one per employer, sometimes more) and ask yourself whether you might come back to work in Hong Kong: withdrawal on the ground of permanent departure is irreversible.
Decide which bank accounts to keep and check your bank's conditions for non-resident customers.
Get quotes from movers and, if you have children, the school certificates and records they will need to enrol in France.

What should you do one month before leaving?

This is the tax stage. Hong Kong law requires any taxable person leaving Hong Kong for more than one month to notify the IRD at least one month before the expected date, and their employer to file form IR56G within the same period. From that filing, the employer must withhold all money owed to you — salary, bonus, reimbursements — for one month, or until the IRD sends a letter of release, if it arrives sooner. Employees who travel frequently outside Hong Kong for work are not affected.

The IRD has you complete a return for the year of departure and normally issues the assessment before you leave. The letter of release is issued once the tax is paid: immediately if you pay in cash, by EPS or by cashier order; by post about ten days later if you pay by cheque. Even if you owe nothing, the IRD issues this letter at the end of the process.

Get the copy of the IR56G from your employer, your termination letter and your final pay statement.
Contact the IRD for tax clearance, with evidence of your deductions, a Hong Kong postal address, a phone number and your future overseas address.
Prepare your MPF withdrawal: claim form from your trustee or on the eMPF platform, a statutory declaration of permanent departure with no intention of returning to live or work in Hong Kong, and evidence of your right to reside elsewhere. In Hong Kong, the declaration is signed before a Commissioner for Oaths at the Home Affairs Department, a notary public or a Justice of the Peace.
Give notice to your landlord under the terms of the lease and set the date of the check-out inspection.
Schedule the termination of electricity, gas, water, internet and your mobile plan, with final meter readings.
Decide for each insurance policy: keep, adjust or cancel, checking the terms and leaving no gap in cover.

What should you do in the last week?

The last week is for collecting the documents you will need from France and keeping access to everything that stays open in Hong Kong.

Collect the IRD letter of release: it triggers payment of the money withheld by your employer and can also support your MPF withdrawal.
Do the check-out inspection (with photos) and give your landlord the account to which the deposit should be returned.
Update your address with your bank and your tax residency self-certification (CRS form) if you keep an account.
Keep a way to receive your bank's security codes, often sent by SMS to a local number, and keep access to your iAM Smart app.
Keep your Hong Kong identity card (HKID): you will need it for the MPF, the bank or the IRD, and if you ever come back. If you are a permanent resident, check with the Immigration Department how to keep your status.
Consider Hongkong Post's mail redirection service, and gather in one folder the IR56G, the letter of release, the MPF documents, your last payslips and the lease.

What should you do after arriving in France?

You normally become French tax resident again from the date of your return, once your home or principal place of stay is back in France. The following spring, your income tax return covers two periods: up to your return, only French-source income is declared; after it, all your worldwide income.

Report your new address on impots.gouv.fr.
Each year, with your income tax return, declare the bank accounts held, used or closed abroad during the year (form 3916), including those in Hong Kong.
Have the French tax treatment of your MPF withdrawal and of any insurance or savings contracts taken out in Hong Kong checked before making a decision on those contracts.
Register with the French health insurance system (CPAM): your employer does this if you take a salaried job; otherwise you apply on the basis of residence. Check how long it takes for your rights to open and keep bridging cover until then, for example with the Caisse des Français de l'Étranger (CFE) or a private insurer.
Ask to be removed from the register of French nationals living abroad, online or at the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong, and register on your local electoral roll.
Follow the last movements in Hong Kong from France: MPF payment, deposit refund, any tax refund, IRD mail to your overseas address.

Which mistakes should you avoid when leaving Hong Kong?

Most problems come from a schedule that is too tight or a door closed too early:

Telling your employer too late: the IR56G is filed late and your final salary stays blocked longer.
Closing all your Hong Kong accounts before receiving the deposit, the MPF, your final salary or a tax refund.
Cancelling your local mobile number while it still receives your bank's security codes.
Withdrawing your MPF on the ground of permanent departure while considering coming back: this withdrawal is possible only once in a lifetime, and a false declaration is a criminal offence.
Leaving a gap in health cover between the end of your Hong Kong insurance and the opening of your rights in France.
Forgetting to declare in France the accounts still open in Hong Kong.

How Fostier Consulting can help

We help you prepare your departure notification and tax clearance with the IRD, organise your MPF documents, review your bank accounts and insurance contracts, and keep the timeline on track until you are settled in France — in French or English. For French tax questions, we refer you to a qualified professional.

General information only — not personalised, legal, or tax advice, and not a guarantee of outcome.

Leaving Hong Kong: The Checklist Before Moving Back to France