PRESS RELEASE

(Source : Government Information Centre)

2001-2002 tax return issued from today

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The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) will from today (April 2) issue about 150,000 profits tax returns, 100,000 property tax returns and 213,000 employer's returns for the year 2001-02. For individuals, about 1.83 million tax returns will be issued on May 2. The return forms have been approved by the Board of Inland Revenue.

An IRD spokesman said that a new service of submitting profits tax returns by electronic mail will be introduced this year. Prior consultations have been made with the Hong Kong Society of Accountants and the Taxation Institute of Hong Kong. Taxpayers can download the electronic profits tax return form from the IRD web site at (www.info.gov.hk/ird/eng/ese/efo.htm) for off-line completion. The completed e-Form should be signed with the taxpayer's digital signature before filing to the department by e-mail.

For businesses with gross income exceeding $500,000, accounts and other supporting documents should be sent as attachments to the e-Form. Company auditors are required to authenticate the audited financial statements attached with the corporation tax returns by signing on the relevant part of the e-Form with their digital signatures.

To provide more taxpayers with the convenience of electronic filing, enhancements have also been introduced in the system for the electronic filing of individual tax returns.

"Last year, our system under the Electronic Service Delivery Scheme could only accept one digital signature for an electronic individual tax return. Because of this, electronic filing could not be accepted if double signatures were required, e.g. for a married taxpayer who had elected joint assessment or personal assessment and a taxpayer who had been nominated by the spouse for a home loan interest deduction," the spokesman said.

"The system has been enhanced to facilitate double digital signatures from May this year. We hope that more married taxpayers could make use of the enhanced service in filing their returns," he added.

Taxpayers can visit the IRD web site for common questions and answers on how to complete the returns. The spokesman reminds taxpayers to file their correct tax returns in good time.

End/Tuesday, April 2, 2002

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