The Inland Revenue Department issued about 2.44 million individual tax returns to taxpayers on the 2nd, including 670,000 electronic tax returns and 1.77 million paper tax returns. The total provisional figure for tax revenue in the 2023/2024 fiscal year is HK$342 billion, which is 5% lower than the previous year’s HK$182 billion, mainly due to decreases in stamp duty and profits tax.
Taxpayers are required to submit their tax returns by June 3rd for general individuals, while sole proprietors engaged in business must do so by August 2nd. Online tax filing allows for an automatic one-month extension.
According to the figures from the Inland Revenue Department, stamp duty revenue for the 2023/2024 fiscal year was only HK$49.1 billion, which is a decrease of HK$20.9 billion or 30% compared to the previous fiscal year, accounting for approximately 14% of total tax revenue.
As for profits tax, revenue for the previous year was HK$170.5 billion, a decrease of approximately HK$3.7 billion or 2% from the previous year, representing half of the total revenue. Meanwhile, salaries tax increased by HK$400 million or 0.5% to HK$79.9 billion, accounting for around 23% of total tax revenue.
The Inland Revenue Department projects an overall tax revenue budget of HK$382.8 billion for the current fiscal year, representing an increase of around 12% from the previous year. Stamp duty revenue is expected to be HK$71 billion, while income and profits tax revenue are estimated to be around HK$279.6 billion.