2019-20 Budget – Concessionary and Support Measures

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In the 2019-20 Budget, the Financial Secretary proposed a one-off reduction of 75% of the final tax for the year of assessment 2018/19 in respect of profits tax, salaries tax and tax under personal assessment, subject to a ceiling of $20,000 per case. On 15 August 2019, the Financial Secretary proposed to increase the one-off reduction of profits tax, salaries tax and tax under personal assessment for the year of assessment 2018/19 to 100% while retaining the ceiling of $20,000 per case. The relevant legislation for the tax reduction was passed by the Legislative Council and gazetted on 15 November 2019.

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IRD will effect the tax reduction in the final assessment for the year of assessment 2018/19. For 2018/19 assessments issued before the legislative amendment, IRD will revise them and there is no need for you to make a separate application.

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You are required to pay on time the 2018/19 provisional tax. Otherwise, recovery action will be taken by IRD. Similar to previous occasions, the tax reduction is to reduce the 2018/19 final tax that will be charged and not relating to the 2018/19 provisional tax that has already been charged. Therefore, you are still required to pay the 2018/19 provisional tax as charged.

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As the tax reduction is to reduce the 2018/19 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 the year of assessment 2018/19. The tax reduction is not applicable to the 2018/19 provisional tax. The provisional tax paid will be applied to settle the 2018/19 final tax and 2019/20 provisional tax. Excess balance, if any, will be refunded.

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You may use the Tax Calculator provided in GovHK to calculate your 2018/19 salaries tax and tax under personal assessment.

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Under personal assessment, all income of an individual taxpayer, including salaries income and business profits, will be aggregated to compute the tax payable. Hence, the amount of tax reduction for the year of assessment 2018/19 is 100% of the tax assessed under personal assessment (subject to a ceiling of $20,000) and not the tax payable under salaries tax and profits tax.

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Profits tax, salaries tax and tax under personal assessment for the year of assessment 2018/19 are reduced by 100%, subject to a ceiling of $20,000 per case. Under salaries tax, a married couple are separately assessed. Each of them will get a tax reduction of 100%, subject to a ceiling of $20,000. From the year of assessment 2018/19, the requirement for the election of personal assessment is relaxed by allowing married persons the option to elect for personal assessment separately (hereinafter called "Separate PA"). Under Separate PA, a married couple are separately assessed. Each of them will get a reduction of 100% of the tax assessed under their own personal assessment, subject to a ceiling of $20,000. If the taxpayer elects for personal assessment jointly with his / her spouse, the tax reduction for the couple is 100% of their total tax assessed under personal assessment, capped at $20,000. Whether a taxpayer should apply for personal assessment jointly with his / her spouse will depend on his / her own situation. When considering an election for personal assessment for the year of assessment 2018/19, taxpayers should take into account the factor that the tax reduction for personal assessment jointly elected by a couple will be capped at $20,000.

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For each business, you can get the tax reduction of 100% of the profits tax payable for 2018/19, subject to a ceiling of $20,000.