The Hong Kong SAR (HKSAR) Legislative Council passed the draft legislation (Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Tax Concessions for Intellectual Property Income) Bill 2024) on the patent box tax incentive regime on 26 June, 2024.

The draft bill proposes a concessionary tax rate of 5% for qualifying intellectual property income (IP) created through research and development (R&D) activities in HKSAR. This benefit applies retroactively to assessment years starting on or after 1 April, 2023.

This legislation aims to encourage enterprises to pursue more research and development (R&D) activities and promote intellectual property (IP) trading, strengthening Hong Kong’s competitiveness as a regional IP trading center.

Earlier, on 28 March 2024, the Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department published the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Tax Concessions for Intellectual Property Income) Bill 2024 in the Gazette to implement the “patent box” tax incentive.