Employee Tax Submission Guide in Hong Kong

Technological advancement has been rising in the recent past. This has seen a majority of services shift from analog to digital. However, in Hong Kong, the tax submission still involves a lot of paperwork, and the members are encouraged to wait patiently as the government is working on automating the whole system.

Taxpayers are required to download the forms from government websites and fill them to comply with the laws of Hong Kong annually every April. Consequently, specific departments such as the Inland Revenue Department have been at the forefront in ensuring that they try their best to incorporate technology in their systems and are doing fine at the moment. For instance, the systems allow taxpayers to submit their tax information such as IR56E, IR56F, IR56G and IR56B online.

How HR automation helps?

At JustLogin, we improve such tedious process by automatically pre-populate information needed on forms (IR56E, IR56F, IR56G and IR56B) made available in our system. This reduces the likelihood of manually input errors and helps you complete your work more efficiently.

Types of Forms

The Hong Kong government has different tax forms that the citizens are required to fill for taxation purposes. Each form has its purpose, which is stated clearly by the Revenue Inland Department. The following are the forms that are mainly used by the employers to give out information to the IRD on their employees.

IR56E

The form is filled out by the employers for every new employee that they hire. Notably, this form should be submitted to the Hong Kong government on the date of hiring or before the elapse of three months from the start of the working period. The government, however, allows employers to develop their Self- developed software, which should be in accordance with their specifications. Nevertheless, the employers will be required to submit IR56E forms in printed copy until further notice.

IR56F

The form entails information about an employee who quits or is fired and should be submitted a month before an employee ceases to work for an employer. An employer also fills the form if his or her worker dies while still employed. Employers are allowed to design their IR56F but should ensure they comply with the specification given by the government. Also, they should prepare a test format and should not use the information of real workers. Finally, they are not allowed to use their own designed IR56F until they obtain a written approval from the Inland Revenue Department.

IR56G

The form relates to employees who are foreigners and are therefore expected to leave Hong Kong after they cease to work for the employer. Just like IR56F, the form is expected to be filled and submitted to the Inland Revenue Department a month before the employee ceases to work. The form captures information such name of the employee, spouses’ name, details of income, and reason for departure, among others.

IR56B

The form is required to be submitted yearly to the IRD. The form is used to calculate the tax contribution of the employees. The calculation is done in April and includes the salary that has been earned from 1st April the previous year to 31st March of the current year.

At JustLogin, all IRD documents are updated based on latest regulations in Hong Kong. Stay tuned for more latest updates or book a consultation for more info.