- The employer’s return is the annual filing through which every Hong Kong employer reports staff remuneration to the IRD: a BIR56A cover form plus one IR56B per employee or director.
- The IRD issues the BIR56A in bulk on 1 April (2026 for the 2025/26 year), and it’s due within one month.
- Every employer files, even with no staff. A company with only a director files an IR56B for that director; a company with no employees at all files a nil return.
- Returns can be filed through the IRD’s Employer’s Return e-Filing Services under eTAX, which handles the IR56B set in bulk.
- After filing, give each employee a copy of their IR56B so they can complete their own salaries tax return (BIR60).
The employer's return is the annual filing through which a Hong Kong employer reports remuneration to the IRD.
- What: BIR56A cover form + one IR56B per employee or director
- When: issued 1 April; due within 1 month
- Who: every Hong Kong employer, including nil returns with no staff
- How: e-file via Employer's Return e-Filing Services (eTAX), or on paper
The employer’s return in Hong Kong is how you report what you paid staff in the year to 31 March. Your first green BIR56A from the IRD often arrives before you know what to do with it, and the one-month clock starts on the issue date, not the day you open the envelope.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- What the employer’s return is and how BIR56A and IR56B fit together
- Who must file, including the nil-return rule
- The annual cycle and the one-month deadline
- How to complete and e-file the return, step by step
- The penalties for filing late or not at all
What is the employer’s return (BIR56A)?
The employer’s return, formally the Employer’s Return of Remuneration and Pensions, is the annual filing by which a Hong Kong employer tells the IRD what it paid its staff in the year to 31 March.
The IRD issues the cover form, BIR56A, in bulk on 1 April each year. The completed return reports every employee’s and director’s pay for the year just ended.
The IRD uses it to open and update each person’s salaries tax record. It cross-checks the figures individuals declare on their own returns. You report what you paid; your employees report what they received.
What’s the difference between BIR56A and IR56B?
BIR56A is the declaration; IR56B is the data. You file one BIR56A per company, with one IR56B attached for each employee or director who received remuneration during the year.
- BIR56A: the cover form. States how many IR56B forms you’re submitting and carries the employer’s declaration that the return is complete and correct.
- IR56B: the per-person record. Salary, director’s fees, bonuses, commissions, and taxable benefits for each individual, with their personal particulars.
A company with one director drawing fees files a BIR56A with a single IR56B. A company with forty staff files a BIR56A with forty. The pairing is always the same; only the count changes.
Situational forms outside the annual cycle (new hires, leavers, contractors) are covered in our IR56 forms selector guide.
Who has to file the employer’s return?
Every Hong Kong employer must respond to the BIR56A, even if there’s nothing to report.
Three cases cover everyone:
- You have employees: file the BIR56A with an IR56B for each person paid during the year who meets the reporting criteria (married, part-time, director, or single with annual income of HK$132,000 or more for 2025/26).
- You only have a director: directors count. A sole director drawing fees or salary from their own company files an IR56B for themselves.
- You have no employees at all: complete and return the BIR56A as a nil return within the same deadline. Ignoring it because “we have no staff” is a compliance failure, not an exemption.
If you already filed IR56F or IR56G for an employee in the same year of assessment, do not file IR56B for that person again on the annual return. That double-counts their income.
When is the employer’s return issued and due?
The BIR56A is issued in bulk on 1 April and must be filed within one month of the issue date.
For 2025/26, that means forms issued 1 April 2026 with a standard deadline around early May 2026. Plan around the one-month window; do not assume an automatic extension.
The dates worth fixing in your calendar:
- Return covers the year to 31 March
- Form lands 1 April
- Due roughly one month later
April is also profits tax return season, which is why Hong Kong payroll and accounting teams block the month out. These dates sit in the wider Hong Kong tax filing deadlines calendar.
How do I file the employer’s return step by step?
Filing is a data-gathering job followed by a submission. The workflow:
Step 1: Reconcile the year’s payroll
Pull final figures for every employee and director for the year to 31 March: salary, fees, bonuses, commissions, and taxable benefits such as housing.
Gather your source records:
- Payroll reports or payslip summaries for the full year
- MPF contribution statements
- Housing benefit or rental schedules (if you provide quarters)
- Director fee or bonus resolutions
Step 2: Complete one IR56B per person
Each needs the individual’s particulars (HKID or passport, address) and the full remuneration breakdown. Field-by-field detail is in the section below.
Step 3: Complete the BIR56A cover
Declare the number of IR56B forms attached and sign off. A director, company secretary, manager, or other responsible person can sign.
No employees to report? Tick “NO” on the BIR56A, sign, and file it as a nil return within the same one-month deadline.
Step 4: Submit within one month
E-file through the IRD’s Employer’s Return e-Filing Services under eTAX, which uploads the IR56B set in bulk. A mixed mode (paper BIR56A with electronically prepared IR56Bs) is also accepted. Fully paper filing remains available.
E-filing path (eTAX):
- Log in to eTAX and open Employer’s Return e-Filing Services
- Prepare IR56B data for each employee (bulk upload for larger teams, or form-by-form for smaller headcounts)
- Complete and submit the BIR56A with the IR56B set attached; save the confirmation reference
Step 5: Give each employee their copy
Every employee and director should receive a copy of their IR56B. It’s the source document for their own salaries tax return (BIR60), issued around early May.
Don't wait for the BIR56A to start. The return covers the year to 31 March, so payroll data is final weeks before the form arrives on 1 April. Teams that reconcile in March file in days; teams that start when the envelope lands spend the one-month window chasing HKID numbers and housing-benefit figures.
What does a completed employer’s return look like?
A completed return is the BIR56A cover plus a stack of IR56B forms. Each IR56B walks through the same fields:
- Employee particulars: name, HKID or passport number, residential address, marital status, and spouse details where relevant
- Employment details: capacity (director, manager, staff), and the period employed during the year
- Remuneration breakdown: salary or wages, director’s fees, commissions and bonuses, leave pay, and other cash payments, each in its own box
- Benefits: housing provided (with rental details the IRD uses to value it), share options, and other non-cash benefits
- Employer’s declaration (BIR56A): the count of IR56B forms and the signature of a responsible person
If a field doesn’t apply, leave it blank or zero. The structure is the same for a director-only company and a forty-person team.
What other IR56 forms apply outside the annual return?
The BIR56A/IR56B cycle covers annual reporting for people employed through the year. Staff changes trigger different forms at different times:
- IR56E when someone joins (within 3 months)
- IR56F when someone stops working but stays in Hong Kong (1 month before cessation)
- IR56G when someone leaves Hong Kong (1 month before departure; withhold pay until Letter of Release)
- IR56M for payments to non-employees above reporting thresholds
Picking the wrong leaver form is the most common mistake in the family. The full selector, triggers, and deadlines are in our IR56 forms guide.
What does the employee do after you file?
Your filing feeds theirs. The figures on each IR56B are what the IRD expects to see on that person’s individual BIR60, issued in early May.
Give employees their IR56B copy promptly so their own filing matches yours. Mismatches between the employer and employee sides are what trigger IRD queries.
Allowances, progressive rates, and how employees complete BIR60 are covered in our salaries tax return guide.
If you filed IR56G for a departing employee mid-year, exclude them from the April BIR56A/IR56B set for that year of assessment. Filing IR56B after IR56F or IR56G for the same person can double-report income and trigger duplicate tax assessments on the employee side.
What are the penalties for late or missing returns?
Failing to file the employer’s return on time, or filing an incorrect one, is an offence under the Inland Revenue Ordinance.
Under IRD penalty policy:
- Failure to file (section 80(1)): fine of up to HK$10,000, and the court may order you to file within a specified time
- Incorrect return without reasonable excuse (section 80(2)): fine of up to HK$10,000, plus a further fine of three times the tax undercharged
The IRD may also compound the offence or assess additional tax instead of prosecution in some cases.
In practice, the pattern to avoid is silence: an unanswered BIR56A escalates from reminders to penalty action. If the deadline is at risk, contact the IRD before it passes.
When is Sleek not the right fit for employer returns?
- You run payroll in-house with software that already auto-generates and e-files BIR56A and IR56B each April.
- You only need a one-off answer on a cross-border employment or disguised-contractor question, not ongoing payroll filing.
- Your company has no Hong Kong employees and will not hire (you still need general tax information only).
- You’re a large enterprise with in-house tax and payroll teams managing employer returns across multiple entities.
If you want the BIR56A/IR56B set prepared from live payroll data and filed within the one-month window each April, outsourced payroll services in Hong Kong are the usual fit.
How Sleek files your employer’s return
Sleek treats the employer’s return as the year-end step of payroll, not a standalone scramble. The data is ready before the form arrives.
With Sleek, you can:
- Have the return prepared from live payroll data: Our payroll service maintains each employee’s remuneration record through the year, so IR56B figures are a report, not a reconstruction.
- File on time, every April: We complete the BIR56A and IR56B set and e-file within the one-month window, including nil returns for companies with no staff.
- Keep both sides consistent: Our accounting and tax team reconciles what the company reports with what directors and employees declare on their own returns.
- Handle situational forms too: New hires, leavers, and departures from Hong Kong are filed on the right IR56 form at the right trigger, as part of the same service.
The April deadline becomes a calendar entry, not a project.
450,000
businesses worldwide.
from 4,100+ reviews.
satisfaction rate from
16,000 surveyed clients.
FAQs about the employer's return in Hong Kong
View more
