June 2018 / Hong Kong

The Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 5) Bill 2018 (Amendment Bill) was gazetted on 8 June 2018. The Amendment Bill seeks to implement three tax concession measures as proposed in the 2018-19 Budget. The measures include the following:

• allowing the husband and wife the option of electing for personal assessment separately;
• allowing enterprises to claim a 100% tax deduction for capital expenditure incurred for procuring environmental protection installations in 1 year instead of over 5 years; and
• extending the scope of the tax exemption for debt instruments under the Qualifying Debt Instrument Scheme.

The Amendment Bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council on 13 June 2018. Subject to the approval by the Legislative Council, the three tax measures will be implemented retroactively from the year of assessment 2018/19.