The Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No.7) Bill published on 29 December 2017 proposes to modify Hong Kong’s tax relief for various businesses including reinsurance, captive insurance, aircraft leasing, shipping and corporate treasury centers as these were deemed to be harmful preferential tax regimes in their present form by an OECD review in October 2017.
Under the proposed regime, the profits tax rate for the first $2 million of profits of corporations will be lowered to 8.25 per cent. Profits above that amount will continue to be subject to the tax rate of 16.5 per cent. For unincorporated businesses which are mostly partnerships and sole proprietorships, the two-tiered tax rates will correspondingly be set at 7.5 per cent and 15 per cent. A tax-paying corporation or unincorporated business may save up to $165,000 and $150,000 each year respectively.
