A:

Individual taxpayers will get a one-off reduction of 75% of the final tax for the year of assessment 2013/14 in respect of profits tax, salaries tax and tax under personal assessment, subject to a ceiling of $10,000 per case. Furthermore, the following tax measures will be introduced from the year of assessment 2014/15 onwards to alleviate taxpayers’ burden :

 (a) Increase in the following allowances:

 (b) Increase in the maximum allowable deduction for elderly residential care expenses as follows:

A:

You only need to file, as usual, your 2013/14 tax return for individuals (BIR60). IRD will effect the tax reduction in the final assessment for 2013/14 and apply the new allowances in calculating the 2014/15 provisional tax. For 2013/14 assessments issued before the legislative amendment, IRD will revise them after enactment of the legislation. It is expected that the excess tax paid, if any, will be refunded to taxpayers starting from mid August 2014. There is no need for you to make a separate application.

A:

You are required to pay on time the 2nd instalment of the 2013/14 provisional tax falling due from April 2014. Otherwise, recovery action will be taken by IRD . Similar to previous occasions, the tax reduction is to reduce the 2013/14 final tax that will be charged and not relating to the 2013/14 provisional tax that has already been charged. Therefore, you are still required to pay the 2013/14 provisional tax as charged.

A:

As the tax reduction is to reduce the 2013/14 final tax that will be charged, the reduction will only be reflected in the notices of salaries tax assessment, profits tax assessment and personal assessment for 2013/14 that will be issued starting from the third quarter of 2014. The tax reduction is not applicable to the 2013/14 provisional tax. The provisional tax paid will be applied to pay the 2013/14 final tax and 2014/15 provisional tax. Excess balance, if any, will be refunded.

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You can use the tax computation program (www.gov.hk/etax) to calculate your 2013/14 and 2014/15 salaries tax and tax under personal assessment.

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Under personal assessment, all income of an individual taxpayer, including salaries, will be aggregated to compute the tax payable. Hence, the amount of tax reduction for the year 2013/14 is 75% of the tax assessed under personal assessment and not the tax payable under salaries tax.

A:

Profits tax, salaries tax and tax under personal assessment for the year of assessment 2013/14 are reduced by 75%, subject to a ceiling of $10,000 per case. Under salaries tax, a husband and a wife are separately assessed. Each of them will get a tax reduction of 75%, subject to a ceiling of $10,000. However, under personal assessment, there is no separate taxation and only one assessment will be issued. Therefore, the tax reduction for the couple is 75%, capped at $10,000. Whether a taxpayer should apply for personal assessment will depend on his situation. When considering an election for personal assessment for the year of assessment 2013/14, taxpayers should take into account the factor that the tax reduction for each couple will be capped at $10,000. IRD will check each personal assessment election to see if it will reduce the amount of tax payable, and assess each taxpayer in the way most advantageous to him.

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For each business, you can get the tax reduction of 75% of the profits tax payable for 2013/14, subject to a ceiling of $10,000.

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You should state the actual amount of $82,000 paid in Part 8.4 of your 2013/14 tax return for individuals (BIR 60). The Assessor will allow the respective maximum deductions at $76,000 and $80,000 when computing your 2013/14 final salaries tax and 2014/15 provisional salaries tax liabilities.

A:

If the amount of Elderly Residential Care Expenses paid or payable for 2014/15 exceeds $76,000, you may apply in writing for holding over the 2014/15 provisional salaries tax upon receiving the assessment and notice for payment of provisional salaries tax. The application must be lodged not later than: 

In computing the provisional salaries tax payable for 2014/15, the Assessor will not deduct $85,000 as the amount of Elderly Residential Care Expenses but will restrict the deduction to $80,000.

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An ETF is an investment fund or unit trust that is designed to track the performance of its underlying benchmark (e.g. a stock index or a commodity such as gold bullion etc.) In Hong Kong, an ETF is an open-ended fund authorised by the Securities and Futures Commission as a collective investment scheme and traded on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (“SEHK”).

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In general, all securities listed on the SEHK are subject to a stamp duty at a rate of 0.1% on the value of the transaction, on both the buyer and the seller. Under the Stamp Duty Ordinance, the transfer of ETF is subject to stamp duty.

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The Financial Secretary has proposed in the 2014-15 budget to waive the stamp duty for the trading of all ETFs.

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Law amendments are required to provide for the proposed stamp duty relief. The Administration is taking preparatory steps to implement the proposal, with a view to introducing the legislative amendments to the Legislative Council for scrutiny in the 2014-2015 session.