Tax Deduction for Assisted Reproductive (AR) Service expenses

The tax deduction applies to the year of assessment 2024/25 and to all subsequent years of assessment.

You cannot claim the deduction since the AR services were not received by either you or your spouse. Nor can your son / daughter claim the deduction since the expenses were not paid by him / her or his / her spouse (not living apart).

No. To qualify for the tax deduction, you must receive the gamete freezing services for medical reasons.

To allow for deduction, the medical services must be directly related to an RT procedure, and are provided, prescribed or referred by a registered medial practitioner in a licensed centre who holds any clinical responsibility in respect of the relevant RT procedure. Generally speaking, drugs, outpatient consultation, laboratory procedures, in-patient admission, use of treatment facilities, operation etc. are included.

Yes, as long as you planned to receive RT procedure with medical reasons, you can claim the deduction for expenses paid, notwithstanding that the RT procedure was not carried out as planned.

You can receive RT procedures at licensed centres that hold an artificial insemination by husband licence, a treatment licence or a storage licence issued by the Council on Human Reproductive Technology.

No. RT procedures provided outside Hong Kong are not regulated by the Human Reproductive Technology Ordinance (Cap. 561). Expenses paid for receiving those RT procedures in an overseas institution are not tax deductible.

You should claim the deduction for the year of assessment during which the qualifying AR service expenses were paid.

The deduction ceiling for each year of assessment is $100,000.

The amount of deduction allowable to a taxpayer is the amount of expenses paid in the year of assessment, or the deduction ceiling for that year of assessment, whichever is the lesser.

If the taxpayer is a married person, the total amount of deduction allowable to the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s spouse or both of them is the aggregate amount of expenses paid in the year of assessment, or the deduction ceiling for that year of assessment, whichever is the lesser.

No. As you and your spouse were still married persons during the year of assessment 2024/25, the total amount of deduction allowable to both of you is restricted to $100,000 for that year of assessment.

Your spouse can claim deduction for the whole amount of the expenses paid by you so long as you are not living apart from your spouse when making the payment and you do not claim deduction for the expenses paid. You and your spouse may also claim deduction for the expenses paid in equal or unequal shares provided that the total amount of deduction allowable to both of you does not exceed the amount of the expenses paid and the deduction ceiling of $100,000, whichever is the lesser.

As your spouse has no income chargeable to tax, he / she is not entitled to the deduction of the expenses paid. However, you can claim deduction for the expenses paid by your spouse provided that you are not living apart from your spouse when the payment is made.

No. You can only claim deduction of the qualifying AR service expenses paid by your spouse when your spouse is not living apart from you.

The qualifying AR service expenses paid are taken to be reduced by the amount of the reimbursement. If the reimbursement is received before the deduction is claimed, you can only claim a deduction of $60,000. If the reimbursement is received after the deduction is claimed, you must notify the Commissioner in writing of the reimbursement within 3 months after the date of reimbursement. If the deduction has been allowed, an assessor may, having regard to the reduction, make an additional assessment.

No. Apart from requesting the payment receipt, you have to request a registered medical practitioner of a licensed centre who holds any clinical responsibility for the relevant reproductive technology procedure to sign and issue a standard form of proof for qualifying AR service expenses (the Proof) certifying the amount and date of expenses paid, as well as your eligibility to claim tax deduction.

If you intend to claim deduction for the qualifying AR service expenses paid in the period from 1 April 2024 to 27 February 2025, you should present the relevant receipts to obtain the Proof from the licensed centre providing the qualifying AR service.

Yes. Although you need not attach the documents to support your claim when you file your tax return, you should retain the Proof and relevant receipts for 6 years after the expiration of the relevant year of assessment for verification when required by the Inland Revenue Department.

The consequence for failure to produce the Proof is that: -

For any false claim cases, penalty will be imposed or prosecution instituted.

Yes. Deduction of qualifying AR service expenses is a “concessionary deduction” under Part 4A of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, which means that the expenses paid will be deducted from your assessable income under salaries tax, or from your total income under personal assessment. The balance will then be subject to the progressive tax rates (after deducting personal allowances) or standard rate. That is, you are eligible to claim the deduction of qualifying AR service expenses paid even if you are assessed at the standard rate.

A non-resident is eligible to claim the deduction of qualifying AR service expenses under salaries tax provided he / she satisfies all prescribed conditions relating to the deduction. However, in the case of a claim made under personal assessment, the claimant must in the first instance be a person eligible to elect personal assessment, which means that he / she is ordinarily resident in Hong Kong or is a temporary resident of Hong Kong.

You may apply in writing for holding over of the provisional salaries tax charged for the year of assessment 2024/25 in respect of the deduction. The time limit for the application is 28 days before the due date for payment of the provisional tax, or 14 days after the date of the notice for payment of the provisional tax, whichever is later.

Provided that all prescribed conditions for deduction of qualifying AR service expenses paid are satisfied, the deduction will not be withdrawn even if you fail to conceive.

No licensed centre in Hong Kong is currently authorised to provide surrogacy arrangements. If a licensed centre is authorised to provide surrogacy services in the future, the commissioning couple, not the surrogate mother, may apply for tax deduction.