Hong Kong Business News

The Government today welcomed the passage, by the Legislative Council, of the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Tax Concessions, Concessionary Deductions & Allowances) Bill 2026, which allows implementation of the concessionary tax measures proposed in the 2025 Policy Address and the 2026-27 Budget. 

The legislation will be published in the Government Gazette on May 22.

The measures include increasing the basic allowance, the married person’s allowance, the single parent allowance, the basic and additional child allowance, and the basic and additional allowance for dependent parents/grandparents, as well as raising the deduction ceiling for elderly residential care expenses and extending the claim period for additional child allowance for newborns starting from the year of assessment 2026-27. About 2.09 million taxpayers will benefit, reducing tax revenue by about $5.51 billion per year.

A one-off 100% reduction of salaries tax, tax under personal assessment and profits tax for the year of assessment 2025-26 will also be granted, subject to a ceiling of $3,000 per case. This is expected to benefit about 2.12 million taxpayers and 170,000 businesses, with about 24% of the former and 18% of the latter not needing to pay tax for the year of assessment 2025-26. Government revenue will be reduced by about $5.78 billion.

The one-off tax concessions, increased allowances and deduction ceilings will be reflected in taxpayers’ final tax payable for the year of assessment 2025-26 and tax payable for the year of assessment 2026-27.