Legislative Amendments

The following Ordinances enacted during the year were concerned with matters administered by the Department.

Securities and Futures Ordinance
(No. 5 of 2002)
This Ordinance provided for consequential amendments to the Stamp Duty Ordinance. The Collector will be empowered to sign collection agreements with authorized automated trading services providers. Relevant terms and definitions in the Stamp Duty Ordinance, Estate Duty Ordinance and Inland Revenue Ordinance have also been updated accordingly. The Ordinance came into operation on 1 April 2003.

Inland Revenue (Amendment) Ordinance 2003
(No. 5 of 2003)
This Ordinance provided necessary legal basis for the use of passwords and telephones in furnishing tax returns with effect from 17 April 2003.

Revenue (Variation and Reduction of Fees and Charges) Order 2002
(Legal Notice No. 35 of 2002)
This Order gave effect to the proposal in the 2002-03 Budget to waive business registration fees payable for a year in respect of certificates commencing during the period 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003.

Business Registration Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 2) Order 2002
(Legal Notice No. 46 of 2002)
This Order increased the levy payable for a 1-year business registration certificate from $250 to $600 and the levy payable for a 3-year certificate from $750 to $1,800 with effect from 16 May 2002.

Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance – Resolution of the Legislative Council
(Legal Notice No. 106 of 2002)
This resolution specified the transfer of statutory functions exercisable by the Secretary for the Treasury to the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury with effect from 1 July 2002. References to the title in the Ordinances administered by the Department were amended accordingly.

Rate of Deductible Interest Notice
(Legal Notice No. 110 of 2002)
This notice specified the rate of interest for the purpose of section 16(2)(b) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance to be the highest interest rate on Hong Kong dollar savings account as quoted from time to time by the banks set out in the Schedule to the Legal Tender Notes Issue Ordinance as from 1 December 2002.

Legal Notice Number	Periods in force	Annual rate of interest
42 of 2002	2 April 2002 to 5 May 2002	0.7167%
62 of 2002	6 May 2002 to 2 June 2002	0.5812%
88 of 2002	3 June 2002 to 1 July 2002	0.2812%
109 of 2002	2 July 2002 to 3 November 2002	0.1908%
163 of 2002	4 November 2002 to 1 December 2002	0.2308%
192 of 2002	2 December 2002 to 3 February 2003	0.0583%
25 of 2003	4 February 2003 to 1 June 2003	0.0542%