Introduction On 27 February 2019, the Financial Secretary of Hong Kong announced the Budget for the fiscal year 2019-2020. The forecast is that for the fiscal year 2018-19, there will be a surplus of HKD 58.7 billion, and that the fiscal reserves will reach HKD 1,161.6 billion by 31 March 2019. This Budget has been… read more
Introduction Many of us have heard or might even have read about the taxation of the digital economy. This not only because the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (‘OECD’) and the European Union (‘EU’) both have issued reports on this matter, but also because it has become a ‘hot topic’ within the society itself… read more
Introduction Due to global implementation of common reporting standard (CRS)/automatic exchange of information (“AEOI”), financial institutions (“FIs”) are required to conduct due diligence on account holders to ascertain their tax residency, and accordingly whether certain information of the financial accounts of the account holders is required to be exchanged to foreign tax jurisdiction(s). The due… read more
(A) Introduction The Individual Income Tax Law (‘IIT Law’) of Mainland China was introduced in 1980 and has been amended 6 times since. On 31 August 2018, the Draft Amendment IIT Law, which was released for public feedback on 29 June 2018, was approved by the National People’s Congress (‘NPC’) of the People’s Republic of… read more
Introduction Employers that would like their employees to stay with the company for a long time and/or want their employees to achieve certain performance targets, may offer those employees (conditional) shared-based benefits, such as share options and share awards. One has to be well aware that such share-based benefits are generally regarded by the Hong… read more