Section 71(1) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance provides that tax charged under the provisions of this Ordinance shall be paid in the manner directed in the notice of assessment on or before a date specified in such notice. Any tax not so paid shall be deemed to be in default.

For payment of provisional tax, if the first instalment is not paid by the date specified on the notice of assessment, the second instalment will become immediately due. The entire balance of the total tax payable in the notice of assessment remaining unpaid shall be deemed to be in default and will be immediately recoverable.

The Commissioner of Inland Revenue will initiate recovery actions [including imposition of surcharge of 5% surcharge on the entire balance of the demand notice, issue of recovery notice to third party and initiation of legal action, etc] as authorized by Part XII of the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112) for recovering the total outstanding amount.

For further information about recovering tax in default, please see Recovering Tax In Default.

For information about payment methods, please see Payment Methods.

For genuine financial difficulties to pay tax, please see Application for Paying Tax by Instalments.