FAQs

All business owners in Hong Kong who have salaried staff need to submit this form.

Here’s the information needed within IR56B:

• Employee’s name and address
• Nature of employment (full-time or part-time)
• Job title
• Salary amount
• Benefits
• Full period of employment
• Employee and employer contributions to the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF)
• Employment contract

For your employer’s returns to be accurate, you would need to:

1. Start and maintain a payroll record for your employees, and keep these records for at least 7 years.
2. The second thing you need to do is report how much your employees earn.

If you need to update or change your records, do inform the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department.

You would also need to submit the following forms:

• BIR56A and IR56B – Employer’s Return
• IR56E – form filled out for every new employee
• IR56F – form filled out after termination of an employee or their death
• IR56G – form filled out when an employee leaves Hong Kong permanently or for a substantial period of time

If you’re the company director, you are required to file an employer’s return for yourself as well.

The submission period is from 1st to 30th April.

Do note that the deadline is one month from the day your company is issued the BIR56A form. This happens on the first working day of April every year and the form has a date printed on it.

For example, if your first working day of April falls on the Friday of 2nd April, your deadline would be 3rd May.

If your company doesn’t have any employees, has not ceased, or just started operations during the current assessment year, you would need to fill out the BIR56A and IR56B forms instead, and submit them by 30th April as well.

If you own a newly incorporated company, the IRD will issue you with the BIR56A 3 to 6 months after you file your first audit.

The IRD imposes strict requirements on inaccurate or late submissions. As mentioned earlier, if you are not able to submit on time or accurately, you would be penalized.

If you don’t submit your annual IR56B, you would be fined HKD 10,000.

Accounting and bookkeeping are essential to running a successful business anywhere, not simply Hong Kong. We provide accounting services as well as help our clients with their bookkeeping, balance sheet, accounting and auditing requirements in accordance with the accounting standards set by the Hong Kong Inland Revenues Department. We achieve this with our usage and extensive knowledge of credited accounting softwares. The specifics include managing the accounting of day-to-day, monthly quarterly and year end business operations, financial reporting and record/bookkeeping.

An assigned certified public accountant will also help in providing accounting reports in accordance with the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department. Message and learn more information about our services on our website here.

Outsourcing accounting services can help companies save cost and headcount, especially if they are small in size. At Sleek Hong Kong, we use trusted accounting softwares such as Xero and ReceiptBank to assist in our accounting services by recording your expenses and tracking your business transactions. Our team also utilises cloud accounting to ensure that your annual financial statements and audit work are up-to-speed! Individual year end reports and annual tax returns submission will be filed during the filing dates to the Hong Kong Inland Revenues Department. Your designated accounting manager or certified public accountant in Hong Kong will be in constant communication for any issues regarding the accounting service such as financial reporting and important information updates.

However, there are things to consider if you wish to get an external auditor/ accountant to settle your accounts. Click here for more information about picking an external auditor.

You can also check our article about HKAS.

Sleek is experienced and dedicated to helping our clients and their companies indicate offshore profit taxation exemption claims in their tax return to the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department. However, Sleek will not be able to cover clients in answering any immediate, or after period questions from the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department regarding the specific documents and details on the status of the company on a monthly quarterly basis.

*Sleek will review the average expense level and adjust the pricing accordingly. Message us to find out more or check out our audit page.

Auditing for Hong Kong companies is a mandatory requirement before tax submission is made in accordance with the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department. Apart from our accounting services, Sleek is also experienced in offering auditing services for companies of various sizes and status. Subscribe to the accounting and bookkeeping plan to prepare for an easy and organised audit later on.