- IR56 forms are how a Hong Kong employer reports staff pay to the IRD. The form you file depends on the situation, not the employee’s seniority or salary.
- IR56B reports each current employee’s annual pay, filed with the BIR56A cover form (issued 1 April, due within one month).
- IR56E notifies the IRD of a new hire, within three months of employment starting.
- IR56F covers an employee stopping work but staying in Hong Kong; IR56G covers an employee leaving Hong Kong for good or a substantial period, filed one month before departure, with two copies submitted and final payments withheld until the IRD issues a Letter of Release.
- IR56M reports payments to non-employees above HK$25,000 or HK$200,000 annual thresholds, filed with the IR6036B cover.
Hong Kong employers report remuneration to the IRD using the IR56 family of forms. The form depends on the trigger, not the employee's role.
- Annual pay reporting: IR56B, filed with the BIR56A cover (issued 1 April, due within 1 month)
- New hire:IR56E, within 3 months of employment starting
- Leaver staying in HK: IR56F, 1 month before cessation
- Leaver departing HK: IR56G, 1 month before departure; withhold all payments until the Letter of Release
- Non-employees (consultants, agents): IR56M, annually with the IR6036B cover
IR56 forms in Hong Kong decide how you tell the Inland Revenue Department what you paid employees and contractors. File the wrong code, or the right one late, and you create payroll compliance risk fast.
This guide is a form selector: which IR56 form fits which situation, what goes on it, and when it’s due.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- What the IR56 forms are and why the codes matter
- Which form each situation triggers (selector table)
- What IR56B, E, F, G, and M each cover
- Deadlines and the mistakes employers actually make
- How the forms connect to the BIR56A employer’s return
What are IR56 forms?
IR56 forms are the set of forms Hong Kong employers use to report remuneration to the Inland Revenue Department. Each form matches an employment event: annual reporting, a new hire, an employee leaving, an employee departing Hong Kong, or payments to someone who is not an employee.
The IRD uses these reports to open, update, and close each person’s salaries tax record. It cross-checks them against what individuals declare on their own salaries tax return (BIR60).
You file the IR56 side; the employee files the BIR60 side. Same income, two reports. The IRD matches one against the other.
You must also give the employee a copy of each completed IR56B, E, F, or G you file, so they can complete their own return correctly.
Which IR56 form do I file?
Match the situation to the form. This table is the whole decision:
Form | Use it when… | Timing (2025/26) |
BIR56A | Annual employer’s return cover form | Issued 1 April; file within 1 month |
IR56B | Reporting a current employee’s annual pay | Filed with the BIR56A |
IR56E | A new employee starts | Within 3 months of commencement |
IR56F | An employee stops working but stays in Hong Kong | 1 month before cessation |
IR56G | An employee leaves Hong Kong for good or a substantial period | 1 month before departure; withhold final payments |
IR56M | Payments to non-employees (consultants, freelancers, agents) | With BIR56A; IR6036B cover |
The sections below take each form in turn: what it covers, the trigger, and the part people get wrong.
When do I file IR56B for annual employee pay?
IR56B is the annual form that reports what you paid each current employee during the year to 31 March. You file one IR56B per employee, attached to the BIR56A cover form.
It covers salary, director’s fees, bonuses, commissions, and taxable benefits.
Two points worth knowing:
- Directors count. A sole director drawing fees from their own company still gets an IR56B, even if they’re the only person on the payroll.
- Not every casual worker appears on IR56B. On the annual return, you report employees who are married, part-time, directors, or single with annual income of HK$132,000 or more (the 2025/26 basic allowance threshold). Everyone else may still need an IR56E when they join.
The figures on IR56B are what the IRD expects to see mirrored on the employee’s BIR60.
When do I file IR56E for a new hire?
IR56E notifies the IRD that you’ve taken on a new employee who is likely to be chargeable to salaries tax. File it within three months of the employment starting.
It gives the IRD the start date, salary, and personal particulars needed to open the employee’s tax record.
Nothing external prompts this form. No cover form arrives, and the deadline runs quietly from the hire date. Build it into your payroll and MPF onboarding checklist alongside MPF enrolment.
After you file IR56F or IR56G for an employee, do not file IR56B for that person again in the same year of assessment. The IRD treats that as double-reporting the same income. If you filed IR56G in July, skip that employee on the April BIR56A/IR56B set for the year that covers their departure.
When do I file IR56F when an employee leaves?
IR56F is filed when an employee stops working for you but is staying in Hong Kong, whether they resigned, were dismissed, retired, or died.
File it one month before the cessation date (or as soon as practicable if that’s not possible). The IRD uses it to finalise the employee’s salaries tax position for the period worked.
No money-withholding applies here. That obligation belongs to IR56G. Mixing the two up is the most common leaver mistake.
Before you file, ask whether the employee plans to leave Hong Kong after their last day. If yes, IR56G is the right form, not IR56F.
When do I file IR56G when an employee departs Hong Kong?
IR56G is filed when an employee is about to leave Hong Kong for good or for a substantial period of time. File two copies about one month before the expected departure date.
From the date you file IR56G until the employee produces a Letter of Release from the IRD, you must withhold all amounts due to them. That includes final salary, bonus, commission, leave pay, and reimbursements.
The release works like this:
- The departing employee completes tax clearance with the IRD.
- The IRD issues a Letter of Release.
- Only then do you pay over what you withheld.
Paying out early makes the employer liable for the employee’s unpaid tax. The IRD can issue a recovery notice (IR113C) requiring your company to settle the tax from amounts withheld.
The IR56G withholding rule catches employers who treat a departing expat like any other leaver. If the person is leaving Hong Kong, file IR56G (not IR56F) and hold all payments until the Letter of Release arrives. Releasing the final salary early transfers the employee's tax risk to you.
When do I file IR56M for contractors and consultants?
IR56M reports payments to people who are not your employees: consultants, freelancers, commission agents, and similar service providers.
You file it annually with the IR6036B cover form, submitted together with your BIR56A. It applies to non-incorporated payees (individuals, sole proprietorships, partnerships, and unincorporated bodies).
Reporting thresholds for the year ended 31 March (per IRD employer guidance):
|
Payee type |
Report if annual payments exceed |
|
Consultants, agents, brokers, freelance artistes, entertainers, sportsmen, writers |
HK$25,000 |
|
Sub-contractors |
HK$200,000 |
Give each payee a copy of their IR56M so they can complete their own tax return. If you engage contractors regularly, track running totals per payee through the year.
Payments to incorporated companies are generally not reported on IR56M unless disguised-employment rules apply.
How does BIR56A fit with the IR56 forms?
BIR56A is the cover form for the annual employer’s return. The IRD issues it on 1 April each year. You file it, with an IR56B for each reportable employee, within one month.
Even a company with no employees must file a nil BIR56A (tick “NO” on the form and sign).
You can file on paper or through the IRD’s Electronic Filing of Employer’s Return service under eTAX, which handles bulk IR56B submission.
If you employed staff during the year but have not received BIR56A by mid-April, request a duplicate from the IRD. New employers sometimes need to submit Form IR6163 to ask for an employer’s return to be issued.
For the step-by-step completion and submission walkthrough, the employer’s return filing guide covers BIR56A and IR56B in full.
What are the IR56 filing deadlines and common mistakes?
Most IR56 problems are about timing, not form completion. The deadlines that matter:
|
Trigger |
Form |
Deadline |
|
Annual return issued |
BIR56A + IR56B |
Within 1 month of 1 April issue |
|
New hire |
IR56E |
Within 3 months of start date |
|
Leaver staying in HK |
IR56F |
1 month before last day |
|
Leaver departing HK |
IR56G |
1 month before departure; withhold until release |
|
Non-employee payments |
IR56M + IR6036B |
With annual BIR56A |
The mistakes we see most:
- Filing IR56F for someone leaving Hong Kong. The right form is IR56G, and skipping it means the withholding obligation is missed too.
- Late IR56E for new hires. Nothing prompts you; the three-month window runs from the start date.
- Releasing final pay before the Letter of Release. That transfers the departing employee’s tax risk to you.
- Filing IR56B after IR56F or IR56G for the same employee in the same year. That can double-count income.
- Forgetting IR56M for regular contractors. Payments above the thresholds are reportable even though the person was never on payroll.
These dates sit in a wider Hong Kong tax filing deadlines calendar.
When is Sleek not the right fit for IR56 filing?
- You only run payroll in-house with a dedicated HRIS that already auto-files IR56E, F, and G at each trigger.
- You need one-off tax advice on a disguised-employment or cross-border employment case, not ongoing payroll filing.
- Your company has no Hong Kong employees or contractors and only needs general tax information.
- You’re a large enterprise with in-house tax counsel managing employer returns across multiple jurisdictions.
If you want IR56 triggers tracked as staff join, leave, or depart Hong Kong, without building payroll compliance in-house, outsourced payroll services in Hong Kong are the usual fit.
How Sleek files your IR56 forms
Sleek treats the IR56 family as part of the payroll cycle, not a separate compliance chore. The right form goes in at the right trigger.
With Sleek, you can:
- Have every trigger tracked: Our payroll service files IR56E at onboarding, IR56F or IR56G at departure, and the BIR56A/IR56B set at year-end, matched to your actual staff movements.
- Get the leaver call right: We determine whether a departure is an IR56F or IR56G case and manage withholding and the Letter of Release process where it applies.
- Keep contractor payments reportable: We track non-employee payments against the IR56M thresholds through the year.
- Reconcile with the employee side: Our accounting and tax team keeps IR56 figures consistent with what your directors and staff report on their own returns.
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FAQs about IR56 forms in Hong Kong
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