Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue Department announced, on 28 January 2025, that starting from 3 February 2025 the new annual rate of interest payable on Tax Reserve Certificates will be 0.3417% against the current rate of 0.4250%, i.e. the new rate will be HKD 0.0285 per month per HKD 100.

Tax Reserve Certificates bear simple interest, and interest is calculated monthly (including part of a month) from the date of purchase to the date of payment of tax. Interest is only credited when certificates are used to pay tax, and no interest is due where the principal value of a certificate is repaid to its holder.

The rate of interest payable on Tax Reserve Certificates is reviewed every month based on the average prevailing interest rate for the 12-month time deposit for HKD 100,000 to HKD 499,999 offered by the three note-issuing banks.

The new rate will apply to all certificates purchased on or after 3 February 2025. Certificates purchased before 3 February 2025 will continue to earn interest at the rates prevailing on their respective purchase dates.

Below is a summary of the interest rates for the past periods:

Period Interest rate per annum
For certificates purchased on or after 4 September 2023, and before 3 June 2024 0.9250%
For certificates purchased on or after 3 June 2024, and before 7 October 2024 0.8833%
For certificates purchased on or after 7 October 2024, and before 4 November 2024 0.8000%
For certificates purchased on or after 4 November 2024, and before 2 December 2024 0.7167%
For certificates purchased on or after 2 December 2024, and before 6 January 2025 0.5500%
For certificates purchased on or after 6 January 2025, and before 3 February 2025 0.4250%
For certificates purchased on or after 3 February 2025, until further notice 0.3417%

Interest will cease to accrue after 36 months.

Earlier,  Hong Kong IRD announced on 29 November 2024 that starting from 2 December 2024, the new annual rate of interest payable on Tax Reserve Certificates will be 0.5500% against the current rate of 0.7167%.