Keeping the company
Payroll in Hong Kong
Once you hire, you are on the hook for MPF and employer tax filings. Here is the official baseline.
At a glance
- MPF rate
- 5% employer + 5% employee
- Monthly relevant income
- Floor HK$7,100 · cap HK$30,000
- Employer’s return
- BIR56A, with IR56B for each person
- Records
- Keep for at least seven years
Hiring someone in Hong Kong is not just sending a salary. Two government systems start the moment you take on staff: the Mandatory Provident Fund, and the Inland Revenue Department’s employer filings. Payroll firms exist to run those month after month without you having to learn the forms.
MPF
TheMandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authorityrequires the employer and the employee each to put 5% of the employee’s relevant income into an MPF account, subject to a floor and a cap. For someone paid monthly, that floor is HK$7,100 and the cap is HK$30,000. Below HK$7,100 the employee pays nothing; the employer still pays 5%. Above HK$30,000 each side pays HK$1,500. The employer’s share is calculated from the first day of employment. Contributions for a monthly-paid staff member are generally due on the 10th of the following month, through the eMPF Platform. Enrolment, the 60-day clock and the contribution holiday sit onMPF for Hong Kong employers.
What the IRD expects from an employer
TheInland Revenue Departmentsays your tax duties as an employer start with the first hire. You keep payroll records — names, identity documents, what you paid, MPF, the contract — for at least seven years. When the annual Employer’s Return (BIR56A) arrives, you file it within a month, with an IR56B for each person you have to report, even if you currently have no staff. If you take on someone who is likely to be chargeable to salaries tax, you also file IR56E within three months of the start date. Termination and departure use IR56F and IR56G. Those forms sit onthe employer’s return.
None of that is legal advice, and the rates above are the official ones published today. If the hire is coming from overseas, ImmD still decides the visa —GEPandImmD decides every applicationare written from the ImmD pages, not from firm marketing.
If you want a firm to run payroll, start withthe payroll listingsor thepublished fees.
Questions people ask
What does each side pay into MPF?
The employer and the employee each put 5% of relevant income into an MPF account, subject to a floor and a cap. For monthly pay, the floor is HK$7,100 and the cap is HK$30,000. Below the floor the employee pays nothing; the employer still pays 5%. Above the cap each side pays HK$1,500.
When are monthly MPF contributions due?
For a monthly-paid staff member they are generally due on the 10th of the following month, through the eMPF Platform. The employer’s share is calculated from the first day of employment.
What does the IRD want from an employer?
Payroll records for at least seven years. When the annual Employer’s Return (BIR56A) arrives, you file it within a month, with an IR56B for each person you have to report — even if you currently have no staff. A new hire who is likely chargeable to salaries tax also needs IR56E within three months of the start date. The employer-return guide walks through IR56E, IR56F and IR56G.