Tax Information : Individuals : Allowances

Allowances   What allowances can I claim     Basic allowance     Married person's allowance     Child allowance     Dependent brother/sister allowance     Dependent parent/grandparent allowance     Single parent allowance     Disabled dependant allowance   How to lodge a claim for allowance   Amount of allowances for the latest 7 years   Common questions and answers

What allowances can I claim

If you are assessed to salaries tax or have elected personal assessment, you are entitled to basic allowance for any year of assessment. You are also eligible to claim the allowances as specified in the Inland Revenue Ordinance provided the prescribed conditions are satisfied. Such allowances include:

married person's allowance;
child allowance;
dependent brother/sister allowance;
dependent parent/grandparent allowance;
single parent allowance;
disabled dependant allowance.

You are entitled to basic allowance for any year of assessment unless you are married and have been granted married person's allowance for the year.

You are entitled to the allowance without lodging a claim.

Married person's allowance

You are eligible to claim married person's allowance if you were, at any time during a year of assessment,

your spouse did not have any income chargeable to salaries tax; or

Child allowance

You are eligible to claim child allowance if, at any time during a year of assessment, you maintain an unmarried child, who was:

	under the age of 18; or
	of or over the age of 18 but under 25, and was receiving full time education at a university, college, school or other similar educational establishment; or
	of or over the age of 18, and was, by reason of physical or mental disability, incapacitated for work.

'Child' refers to:

the child of you or your spouse or former spouse; or
the adopted child of you or your spouse or former spouse; or
the step-child of you or your spouse or former spouse.

If a married couple, not being a husband and a wife living apart, have more than one child for whom child allowance is claimed, all child allowances must be claimed by either the husband or the wife. They must decide as to who shall claim the allowance. In general, the overall tax liabilities of a married couple may be minimized if a nomination is made in accordance with the following guidelines:

If more than one individuals are entitled to claim child allowance or dependent brother/sister allowance in respect of the same person for the same year of assessment, they must agree among themselves as to who shall claim the allowance. If there is no agreement, no allowance will be granted.

From 2007/08 onwards, the child allowance will be increased from $40,000 to $50,000 for each child; and for each child born during the year, the child allowance will be increased by $50,000. If your child is born on or after 1 April 2008, you can complete Part 8.2 of your Tax Return - Individuals for 2007/08 by providing details of this new born child. The Department will grant child allowance of $100,000 for that child when computing your 2008/09 provisional tax. For child born after the completion of the tax return, you can apply for holding over of provisional tax after receipt of the notice of assessment.

Dependent brother/sister allowance

You are eligible to claim dependent brother/sister allowance if you or your spouse, not being a spouse living apart, maintains you or your spouse's unmarried brother or sister, who was at any time in the year of assessment,

	under the age of 18; or
	of or over the age of 18 but under 25, and was receiving full time education at a university, college, school or other similar educational establishment; or
	of or over the age of 18 and was, by reason of physical or mental disability, incapacitated for work.

'Brother/Sister' refers to:

the natural brother/sister of you or your spouse; or
the adopted brother/sister of you or your spouse; or
the step brother/sister of you or your spouse; or
the brother/sister of your deceased spouse.

A brother/sister is only treated as maintained by you or your spouse if at any time during the year, you or your spouse had sole or predominant care of the brother/sister.

If more than one individuals are entitled to claim dependent brother/sister allowance or child allowance in respect of the same person for the same year of assessment, they must agree among themselves as to who shall claim the allowance. If there is no agreement, no allowance will be granted.

You are eligible to claim dependent parent/grandparent allowance if you or your spouse, not being a spouse living apart, maintains your or your spouse's parent/grandparent, who at any time in the year of assessment,

	was ordinarily resident in Hong Kong; and
	was aged 60 or more or, being under the age of 60, was eligible to claim an allowance under the Government's Disability Allowance Scheme; and
	had either resided with you and your spouse, otherwise than for full valuable consideration, for a continuous period of not less than 6 months, or had received from you or your spouse not less than $12,000 in money towards his/her maintenance.

You are eligible to claim additional dependent parent/grandparent allowance in respect of each dependent parent/grandparent who resided with you, otherwise than for full valuable consideration, continuously throughout the year of assessment.

For the year of assessment 2005/06 and onwards, a new Dependent Parent/ Grandparent Allowance will also be granted to you maintaining dependent parent/grandparent who does not attain the age of 60 in the year of assessment, but provided the dependant :

	is aged 55 or more but was under the age of 60 at any time during the year of assessment; and
	is not eligible to claim an allowance under the Government's Disability Allowance Scheme throughout the year of assessment; and
	is ordinarily resident in Hong Kong; and
	has either resided with you, otherwise than for full valuable consideration, for a continuous period of 6 months or has received from you or your spouse not less than $12,000 in money towards his/her maintenance.

A new Additional Dependent Parent/Grandparent Allowance will also be granted if the dependant has resided with you, otherwise than for full valuable consideration, continuously throughout the year of assessment. The rate of the new basic and additional allowance is one half of the respective counterpart allowance granted to you maintaining dependent parent/grandparent aged 60 years or more or who is eligible to claim an allowance under the Government's Disability Allowance Scheme.

'Parent' refers to

the natural father/mother of you or your spouse; or
a parent by whom you or your spouse was legally adopted; or
a step-parent of you or your spouse; or
a parent of your deceased spouse.

'Grandparent' refers to

a natural grandfather/grandmother of you or your spouse; or
an adoptive grandparent of you or your spouse; or
a step-grandparent of you or your spouse; or
a grandparent of your deceased spouse.

Only one person can be granted an allowance in respect of the same dependant. If more than one person is entitled to the allowance in respect of the same dependant, they must agree among themselves as to who shall claim the allowance.

If a deduction for elderly residential care expenses has been allowed to you for any year of assessment in respect of a parent or grandparent, no dependent parent/grandparent allowance will be granted to you for the same parent or grandparent for that year of assessment.

Single parent allowance

You are eligible to claim single parent allowance if you were single throughout that year of assessment and had at any time during that year the sole or predominant care of a child in respect of whom you are granted child allowance.

In essence, the entitlement to single parent allowance rests on the claimant having had fulfilled the responsibility, on the ongoing basis, for the provisions of daily care and supervision for his/her child during the year of claim, and being able to satisfy two other conditions.

The first condition is that throughout the year of claim you must be single, divorced, widowed or if married, was living apart from the spouse. Therefore, no allowance can be claimed for the year of marriage, divorce, death of spouse or separation with the spouse. The earliest opportunity will be the year following these events.

The second condition is that you are granted child allowance for the year of claim. [Please note that partial child allowance may be granted when both parents had contributed money towards the child's maintenance and education. Under the law the Commissioner is empowered, in case of dispute, to split the allowance according to the amount of contribution by each parent during the year of assessment concerned.]

Whilst child allowance is granted on account of money contributions to maintenance and education; single parent allowance is granted on account of time spent on the provision of daily care and supervision.

If both parents want to claim single parent allowance, the allowance may be apportioned by reference to the periods of time in which the claimants had the sole or predominant care of the child concerned during the year of assessment. The law provides that, in case of dispute, the Commissioner may decide the basis for such time apportionment.

The law also specifies that no parent can claim single parent allowance on the ground that he/she had made contributions to the maintenance and education of the child during the year of assessment. And, no allowance is due in respect of any second or subsequent child.

Disabled dependant allowance

You are eligible to claim disabled dependant allowance if you or your spouse, not being a spouse living apart, maintains a dependant who is eligible to claim an allowance under the Government's Disability Allowance Scheme.

The dependant may be:

your spouse; or
your child; or
the parent or grandparent of you or your spouse; or
the brother or sister of you or your spouse.

The allowance is granted in addition to the following allowance or deduction in respect of the disabled person:

married person's allowance; or
child allowance; or
dependent parent/grandparent allowance or elderly residential care expenses; or
dependent brother/sister allowance.

How to lodge a claim for allowance

A claim for the allowance (except basic allowance) may be made in Part 8 of the Tax Return - Individuals (B.I.R. 60) for the relevant year of assessment. You are not required to submit documentary evidence in support of the claim together with the tax return. You should, however, retain such documentary evidence for production to the Inland Revenue Department for verification when required.

If you have omitted to claim an allowance in the tax return, you may lodge a claim subsequently in writing, but not later than 6 years after the end of the year of assessment to which the claim relates. You may also complete the relevant parts of I.R. 831 and return it to the Inland Revenue Department. If you wish to download I.R. 831, please click here. Please send it to the Department by post (P.O. Box 28777, Gloucester Road Post Office, Hong Kong) or by fax (2877 1232) after completion.

You may fill in I.R. 831 electronically, sign it by means of a digital certificate and transmit it to the Inland Revenue Department through the Internet. If you wish to submit I.R. 831 electronically, you have to install the e-Form program in your computer first, and then download the e-Form I.R. 831 and install it in the e-Form program. For details, please visit our web page Electronic Services : e-Form.

Amount of allowances for the latest 7 years

Year of assessment		2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06 and 2006/07	2007/08	2008/09#
		$	$	$	$	$	$
Basic allowance		108,000	104,000	100,000	100,000	100,000	108,000
Married person's allowance		216,000	208,000	200,000	200,000	200,000	216,000
Child allowance
	For each of the 1st and 2nd child	30,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	50,000	50,000
	For each of the 3rd - 9th child	15,000	30,000	30,000	40,000	50,000	50,000
	For each child born during the year, the child allowance will be increased by	0	0	0	0	50,000	50,000
Dependent brother/sister allowance		30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000
Dependent parent/grandparent allowance
	For each parent/grandparent aged 60 or above or is eligible to claim an allowance under the Government's Disability allowance Scheme	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000
	For each parent/grandparent aged 55 or above but below 60	0	0	0	15,000	15,000	15,000
Additional dependent parent/grandparent allowance
	For each parent/grandparent aged 60 or above or is eligible to claim an allowance under the Government's Disability allowance Scheme	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000	30,000
	For each parent/grandparent aged 55 or above but below 60	0	0	0	15,000	15,000	15,000
Single parent allowance		108,000	104,000	100,000	100,000	100,000	108,000
Disabled dependant allowance		60,000	60,000	60,000	60,000	60,000	60,000

# 2008-09 Budget:

(1)	Proposals are subject to the enactment of the legislation.
(2)	As one of the Budget proposal, basic allowance is increased to $108,000 and married person's allowance is increased to $216,000.

For common questions and answers on allowances, please click here.