John Lee Leads Delegation to Strengthen Hong Kong-Zhejiang Economic Ties on April 22

2025-04-20 10:00 Last Updated At：10:08

CE leads delegation to visit Zhejiang

The Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, will lead a delegation to visit Zhejiang on April 22 (Tuesday) to attend the High-Level Meeting cum First Plenary Session of the Hong Kong/Zhejiang Co-operation Conference in Hangzhou, and the Hong Kong Investment Promotion Conference - Zhejiang (Ningbo) Forum cum Ningbo-Hong Kong Economic Co-operation Forum in Ningbo. He will return to Hong Kong on April 25.

Mr Lee said that Hong Kong and Zhejiang have long maintained frequent exchanges, keeping close ties in economic affairs and trade, cultural exchanges and youth engagement. Under the overall blueprint of the country, both places play important and unique roles. A specific co-operation mechanism between the two places will be established through this visit, further strengthening collaboration, achieving complementarity and mutual benefits, and making greater contributions to the country's high-quality development.

Officials including the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Chan Kwok-ki; the Deputy Financial Secretary, Mr Michael Wong; the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Erick Tsang Kwok-wai; the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Algernon Yau; the Secretary for Housing, Ms Winnie Ho; the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong; and the Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs, Miss Alice Mak, will join parts of the trip. The Director of the Chief Executive's Office, Ms Carol Yip, will also accompany Mr Lee on the trip.

During the visit, Mr Lee and the delegation will meet with leaders from Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou and Ningbo, and will visit local facilities and projects in areas including innovation and technology, and healthcare.

Mr Chan will depart on April 23 and return to Hong Kong on April 24. He will be the Acting Chief Executive from the afternoon of April 22 to noon on April 23, and from the evening of April 24 to April 25. The Secretary for Justice, Mr Paul Lam, SC, will be the Acting Chief Executive during Mr Chan's absence.

IRD Issues 2.66 Million Tax Returns, Urges Timely Filing Before June 2 Deadline

2025-05-02 16:50 Last Updated At：16:58

Inland Revenue Department issues tax returns for individuals

The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) today (May 2) issued about 2.66 million tax returns for individuals for the year of assessment 2024/25 and urged taxpayers to file their returns on time. The filing deadline is one month (by June 2) for general cases andthree months (by August 2)for sole proprietors. An extension of one month will be granted for returns filed electronically (i.e. the deadline is July 2 for general cases and September 2 for sole proprietors).

The Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Mr Benjamin Chan, today hosted a press conference on the completion of tax returns, three new tax portals to be launched under eTAX this July, and tax collection in the financial year 2024-25.

Mr Chan said that the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Tax Concessions) Bill 2025 was passed by the Legislative Council on April 30, 2025, which gives effect to the proposal in the 2025-26 Budget to reduce salaries tax, tax under personal assessment and profits tax for the year of assessment 2024/25 by 100 per cent, subject to a ceiling of $1,500 per case. Taxpayers only need to complete the tax returns for the year of assessment 2024/25 as usual. The tax concessions will be reflected in their final tax payable.

He also introduced the following new tax measures to be implemented from the year of assessment 2024/25:

(1) a two-tiered standard rates regime for salaries tax and tax under personal assessment;

(2) an increase in deduction ceilings for home loan interest or domestic rent from $100,000 to $120,000 for taxpayers who are residing with their newborn children born on or after October 25, 2023;

(3) a new deduction for expenses on assisted reproductive services, subject to a ceiling of $100,000; and

(4) enhancement measures for the deduction of expenses under profits tax to provide tax deductions for expenses incurred for reinstating the condition of leased premises to their original condition, and to remove the time limit for claiming annual allowances in respect of industrial/commercial buildings or structures.

Mr Chan encouraged taxpayers to file their tax returns through eTAX, which is easy, secure and environmentally friendly, and to ensure that they reach the IRD in time.

He said, "The IRD is committed to promoting tax digitalisation and has been upgrading the functions of electronic tax filing to facilitate taxpayers and enhance the efficiency, reliability and accuracy of return filing. The IRD will launch three portals under eTAX this July, namely Individual Tax Portal, Business Tax Portal and Tax Representative Portal. Existing individual tax services provided by eTAX will be migrated to the Individual Tax Portal with a new design and enhanced functions. A mobile application for the portal will also be launched. The Business Tax Portal and the Tax Representative Portal enable businesses and service agents respectively to handle tax and business affairs electronically."

He reminded taxpayers that when filing profits tax returns online, they may submit at the same time supporting documents in a specified electronic format. Details on electronic filing of profits tax returns are available on the IRD's website. Taxpayers are also reminded to pay sufficient postage if they choose to submit their returns by post to ensure timely delivery. Underpaid mail items will not be accepted by the IRD.

Taxpayers may visit the IRD's "e-Seminars"for details on completing tax returns. From today to June 2, the IRD will deploy additional staff to operate the telephone enquiries hotline 187 8022 and extend the service hours (8.15am to 7pm on weekdays, and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays).

On tax revenue collection, Mr Chan said that $374.5 billion was collected by the IRD in the financial year 2024-25, an increase of $32.5 billion compared with the previous year. The breakdown is as follows:

IRD's tax revenue collection in financial year 2024-25

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Tax Type

2024-25

Revenue

(Provisional

Figures)

($million)

2023-24

Revenue

(Actual

Figures)