eastAsiaSentinel logo
Whats new

Hong Kong Tax

  • Effective 13 February 2015, stamp duty is waived on transfer of shares or units of all Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
  • 17 July 2015, Profits Tax Exemption for Private Equity Funds (PE funds) is extended for offshore funds to private equity funds.
  • Hong Kong has updated its Comprehensive Double Taxation Agreement (CDTA) with:
    • HK-China CDTA 4th Protocol signed on 1 April 2015, this is to cover various area including capital gains on listed shares, anti-avoidance rules, exchange of information, etc.
    • HK-Japan CDTA has been entered into force on 6 July 2015
    • HK-Vietnam CDTA 2nd Protocol has been entered into force on 8 January 2015
  • The application form for Hong Kong Tax Resident Certificatehas been revised effective from 1 February 2015.
  • In Hong Kong, the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 3) Ordinance 2016 which came into effect 30 June 2016, sets out the legal framework for implementing the automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (AOEI). This is in support of Hong Kong's commitment to adhering to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) as promulgated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In brief, the new legislation empowers the IRD to collect reportable financial information from financial institutions and exchange such information with participating jurisdictions. In other words, the IRD will start to collect reportable financial institutions from financial institutions in Hong Kong.