On 4 March 2020, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) of Hong Kong announced that Mainland China and Hong Kong have entered into a bilateral arrangement for the automatic exchange of country-by-country (CbC) reports. Under this, Hong Kong entities of reportable groups whose ultimate parent entity (UPE) is tax resident in Mainland China are not required to file a local CbC report for the relevant accounting period in Hong Kong. Where such entities are now relieved from their filing obligation because of the exchange arrangement, they should notify the Department through the CbC Reporting Portal on or before 31 March 2020.

The arrangement applies to accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2018.