Just Moved to Hong Kong? Here’s What the IRD Cares About (and What It Doesn’t)
Last updated 12 June 2026 · 7-minute read · Reviewed against IRD published rates for YA 2025/26 on 12 June 2026.
Hong Kong taxes income from a Hong Kong source — and for individuals, almost nothing else. That’s the headline, and it’s worth reading twice, because it answers most of the “wait, do I have to declare that?” questions you’ve been holding in since you landed. This guide is the calm version of all of them: the overseas rental, the pre-arrival salary, the sign-on bonus, and what your first BIR60 actually wants from you.
The one rule that explains everything
Hong Kong runs on the territorial source principle: salaries tax (薪俸稅) is charged on income that arises in or derives from Hong Kong — essentially, pay for work done here. There is no general tax on worldwide income for individuals, no “tax residency” net that scoops up everything you earn globally the way the UK or US systems do. Income from work done elsewhere generally stays elsewhere. (You may have read about Hong Kong’s new foreign-source income rules — FSIE. They apply to multinational company groups, not to individuals. One sentence, for completeness, and you can forget them.)
Your overseas rental: almost certainly not taxable here
The flat you kept in London, Sydney or Vancouver and now rent out — the question that worries returnees most — has the gentlest answer. Rental income is located where the property is. A UK flat is a matter for HMRC; it does not belong on your Hong Kong salaries tax return, and Hong Kong’s property tax only applies to property in Hong Kong. Keep filing whatever the property’s home country requires, and leave it out of the picture here.
Your salary: usually only the Hong Kong part
For the year you move, the year of assessment runs 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 — but only your Hong Kong employment income lands in it. If your Hong Kong contract started on 14 September, what you earned in your old job through 13 September was income from work done elsewhere, under a different employer, in a different tax system. It’s not assessable here, and the IRD isn’t waiting for you to confess it. Your Hong Kong story starts when the Hong Kong employment does.
The sign-on bonus paid before you started
Here’s the one genuinely grey area: a bonus paid before your Hong Kong contract began. What matters isn’t the payment date but what the money was for. A payment made to induce you to take up Hong Kong employment is, broadly, connected to the services you’ll perform here — so the cautious working assumption is that it’s assessable. A payment that genuinely relates to your old role is a different animal. If your offer letter blurs the two, this is the one item in this guide worth a specific question to a CPA, with the contract in hand, rather than a guess on the form.
Partial year, full allowances
A genuinely pleasant rule: allowances are not time-apportioned. Arrive in September, work seven months, and you still receive the entire HK$132,000 basic allowance — plus any married person’s, child or dependent parent allowances you qualify for — exactly as if you’d been here all year. Combined with only part of a year’s salary being assessable, most people’s first Hong Kong tax bill is smaller than they braced for. The full 2025/26 guide has every allowance and the band arithmetic if you want to estimate by hand.
Personal assessment: probably not your problem
You’ll see an election on the return for personal assessment (個人入息課稅) — a method that pools salary, Hong Kong rental and Hong Kong business income so allowances apply across all of it. If your only Hong Kong income is your salary, it has nothing to pool and nothing to save you. Skip it without a second thought. (If you do pick up a Hong Kong flat or a side business later, it becomes worth a look — as does the joint-versus-separate question if your spouse works here too, covered in the couples guide.)
Your first BIR60, part by part
The return reads in a sensible order once you know only one part really concerns you:
| Section | What it wants from you |
|---|---|
| Personal particulars | Your HKID, current addresses and marital status — your situation as it stands now. |
| Spouse details | Only if married — and where any joint assessment election is made. |
| Income | Your Hong Kong employment income from your start date to 31 March, matching the IR56 statement your employer files. Pre-arrival overseas salary doesn’t go here. |
| Deductions | MPF from your payslips, plus anything else you qualify for — rent on a stamped lease is the one new arrivals most often miss. |
| Allowances | Tick what applies — in full, never pro-rated. |
| Personal assessment election | Usually left blank in a salary-only first year, as above. |
| Sign and submit | Via eTAX for the automatic extra month, ideally. |
A heads-up about year two
When your first assessment eventually arrives, the bill will usually contain your final tax for the partial year plus a provisional charge for the following year — a pre-payment estimated from those same earnings. After a partial first year, that provisional figure is based on a full year of your salary, so the first bill can look surprisingly front-loaded. It’s normal, it’s not a penalty, and it credits against next year’s tax. Budget for it and it loses its power to alarm.
Still filing somewhere else as well? The HK$128 Filer pack on the Filer page produces a one-page summary of your Hong Kong position — useful to hand straight to your UK or overseas accountant. For the Hong Kong side itself, the free calculator plus this guide should carry you comfortably through year one.
Common questions
Is my overseas rental income taxed in Hong Kong?
For individuals, generally no. Hong Kong taxes income by where it arises, and rental income is located where the property is. A flat in London or Sydney is a matter for that country’s tax system, not your Hong Kong salaries tax return. The recent foreign-source income rules target multinational company groups, not individual landlords.
Do I get the full HK$132,000 basic allowance if I arrived in September?
Yes. Allowances are not pro-rated for a partial year. Whether you worked in Hong Kong for twelve months or four, you receive the full HK$132,000 basic allowance for YA 2025/26 — which is why first partial-year tax bills are often pleasantly small.
Do I have to report overseas bank interest or investment gains?
Salaries tax is charged on income from an office, employment or pension. Personal bank interest and investment gains aren’t employment income, so they don’t belong on the salaries tax part of your return. If your affairs are more complicated than holding savings — a business, extensive trading — that’s a conversation for an adviser.
Will I be taxed twice on the same salary?
Hong Kong only assesses the income that arises from your Hong Kong employment, which by itself removes most double-taxation worry. Where another country also claims taxing rights over the same income, Hong Kong has double taxation arrangements with many places — the relief mechanics depend on the other country, so flag it to your overseas accountant.