Establishment
The Commissioner, the two Deputy Commissioners and the five Assistant Commissioners form the top management of the Department.

As at 31 March 2004, the Department had an establishment of 3,079 permanent posts (including 25 posts for directorate officers) in the Commissioner's Office and 6 Units. Of the total, 1,982 posts were for departmental grades officers (namely Assessors, Taxation Officers and Tax Inspectors), who are required to perform duties directly concerned with taxation. The remaining 1,097 posts were for common/general grades officers, who provide supporting administrative, information technology and clerical services (Figure 39).

Most of the professional officers serving in the Department were below the age of 45 (Figure 40). The ratio of male to female professional officers was 1:1.22.

Re-organization
Three centralized departmental processing centres, namely the Document Processing Centre, the Output Despatch Centre and the Tax Records Centre were set up on 2 February 2004 under the newly re-organized Headquarters (HQs) Unit to achieve higher efficiency and productivity under the Business Process Re-engineering Plan. The re-organization involved the permanent redeployment of a total of 483 posts comprising professional, taxation and general grades staff. Besides, one of the two Assistant Commissioners was redeployed from Unit 2 to the HQs Unit to oversee the expanded scope of work in the latter Unit.

Staff Promotions and Turnover
In 2003-04, 6 departmental grades officers were promoted. 27 officers were transferred to the Department and 212 officers left the Department.

Training and Development
The Department is committed to providing ample training opportunities in different areas for its staff. In 2003-04, some large scale training functions were cancelled or postponed due to the outbreak of SARS. Yet staff training and development still amounted to 9,555 man-days which is equivalent to about 3 training days per staff.

Induction Training
The Training Section provides induction courses for all grades of staff upon their joining the Department. A total of 36 Assistant Assessors had successfully completed the two-year training course on taxation law and practice during 2003-04.

On-the-Job Training
Apart from classroom training, on-the-job training is provided by respective units to new officers and transferees. Through this training mode, new officers can receive direct coaching from their supervisors and gain practical problem solving techniques.

To cater to the needs of all staff, briefing sessions were held upon implementation of legislative amendments or launch of new services. Further, at the beginning of each assessing season, refresher seminars were arranged to provide clear guidance for smooth administration. During the year, reorganization took place in sections and units. Briefing sessions were also conducted to enable the staff concerned to understand their new roles and scopes of responsibilities.

From time to time, technical information is disseminated across the Department through the IRD Intranet. Officers are provided access to the Intranet for updated materials.

Continuing Professional Education
Nine in-house Continuing Professional Education (CPE) seminars were held during the year which were attended by 1,246 participants.

The topics of the seminars included:-

• Video seminar on "Rules of Interpretation of Statues"
• Video seminar on "Goal Setting" and "Managing all the lives you lead"
• Video seminar on "Hoofs Up Doc!" and "Taking Charge of Change"
• Estate Duty Clearance and Probate Application in Practice
• Public Speaking and Presentation Skills
• The Line of Thought for the PRC Tax System Reform
• Tax Avoidance Schemes Involving BVI Companies
• Criminal Investigation and Analytic Interviewing
• Valuation of Landed Properties in Hong Kong

Video sessions were arranged for those who could not attend the seminars.

The Department also encourages and sponsors officers to attend seminars organized by academic and professional institutes. During 2003-04, 83 officers were sponsored by the Department to attend such seminars.

Overseas and China Training
The integration of the world economies requires our professional officers to deal with many new global issues. The Department has put emphasis on the international dimension of our tax administration.

During 2003-04, 17 professional officers attended overseas courses in Australia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. In addition, 1 officer attended a course at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and 2 officers went on familiarization visits to Nanjing, Changzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai and some parts of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Other Training
Officers also attended various courses on Putonghua, English language training, Chinese writing skills, human resources development, customer service and computer applications etc. organized by the Civil Service Training and Development Institute and other organizations.

In October 2003, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the Department co-sponsored a 5-day training course on Tax Treaty and International Tax Policy in Hong Kong. Three expert instructors of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) led the course which was participated by 21 government officials including officers from this Department, the Department of Justice, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and officers from 6 neighbouring countries.

Staff Relations and Welfare
Effective communication with staff at all levels is highly valued with the ultimate goal to enhance the efficiency in providing quality service to the public.

The Departmental Consultative Committee (DCC)
The Committee is chaired by the Deputy Commissioner (Operations) and comprises representatives from all staff unions/associations and staff groups in the Department. In addition to making contacts and distributing correspondence for sharing of views on ad hoc issues, the Committee holds its meetings regularly where staff and management exchange their views on a wide range of topics of mutual concern. Staff representatives are free to raise their subjects for discussion and management is open and ready to share its views on different major issues including recruitment, promotion, career posting, training, working environment, staff welfare and service-wide matters. The Committee is a formal effective forum to enhance the mutual communication between the staff and management.

The General Grades Consultative Committee (GGCC)
The Departmental Secretary, as the Chairperson of the Committee, is tasked with the mission to enhance the mutual communication and sharing of views between the management and the clerical and secretarial grades staff, who form a significant part of the Department's establishment. Since its formation in 1999, the Committee holds regular meetings to discuss a variety of issues and helps strengthen the co-operation between management and the clerical and secretarial grades staff and facilitate effective implementation of management initiatives.

The "Meet-the-Staff Programme"
The Programme was launched in 1996-97 to further enhance the communication between the staff and management. The senior management of each Unit meets with the staff of different groups in a less formal atmosphere and shares views with them on subjects which are either related to the daily operation and working environment, or related to service-wide issues.

The IRD Staff Suggestion Scheme
During 2003-04, 21 suggestions were received with 10 of the proponents concerned granted different levels of cash awards and certificates of commendation in recognition of their contributions and efforts. The successful suggestions presented ideas for improvement of operational efficiency, savings in operational cost, modification of operational systems and enhancement of customer service and were all implemented with rewarding results.

The Inland Revenue General Staff Welfare Fund (IRGSWF)
The Inland Revenue General Staff Welfare Fund was established voluntarily by a group of staff about 22 years ago. It operates on funds donated by staff on a voluntary basis. With the endorsement of the Claims Sub-committee, which is formed to consider applications for financial assistance, small amounts of interest-free loans and grants can be provided as a quick source of relief to help staff with unexpected financial difficulties.

The Long Service Travel Award Scheme
In 2003-04, 39 long-serving officers were granted awards of overseas travel, together with their spouses outside Hong Kong, under the Long Service Travel Award Scheme.

The IRD Sports Association
Throughout the year, the IRD Sports Association continued to provide a wide range of activities which are popular among colleagues and to their benefit, including sports competitions, fun fair, sports courses, thematic talk, day tour and sea tour, lunchtime fitness series and lunchtime health talk, interest classes and workshops.