| Tax Information :
Tax Reserve Certificates
There are two types of Tax Reserve
Certificates (TRCs): the ordinary TRCs and the TRCs for 'Conditional
Standover Order'.
Ordinary TRCs are introduced to assist
taxpayers to build up funds for tax payment. To use this service,
taxpayers can join the 'Electronic TRCs Scheme'. Civil Servants and civil service
pensioners can also opt for the 'Save-As-You-Earn'
Scheme.
Ordinary TRCs are now issued only
in electronic form. Paper TRCs was abolished
with effect from 1 September 1999.
TRCs for 'Conditional
Standover Order' are a form of security, which the taxpayer
is required to provide for the payment of the tax held over upon
his objection or appeal against an assessment. Such TRCs are issued
only in paper form.
The
Electronic Tax Reserve Certificates (TRCs) Scheme
The Electronic TRCs Scheme is a 'Save
for Tax' scheme open to all taxpayers to assist them to build up
funds for tax payment. It provides TRC users with a full range of
electronic services, including various electronic purchase methods
(monthly bank autopay, telephone, internet and bank automated teller machine) and the auto tax payment service .
Opening a TRC Account
Please furnish an Application Form
(I.R.1306)
in hardcopy to our TRCs Section. After processing your application,
we will notify you of your TRC Account Number (TAN). With this number,
you can purchase and redeem electronic TRCs.
Every taxpayer can open one TRC account
only and joint-name account is not allowed.
Optional "Save-As-You-Earn
Scheme" (SAYE) for Civil Servants
The optional "Save-As-You-Earn Scheme"
is a 'Save for Tax' scheme to assist serving Civil Servants and
Civil Service Pensioners to build up funds for tax payment. Direct
deduction will be made from your monthly salary / pension to purchase
TRCs. The scheme provides full range of electronic services. Apart
from purchasing by salary / pension deduction, you can also use
various electronic payments (monthly bank autopay, telephone, internet and bank automated teller machine) to purchase TRCs. When
your tax bill dues, you will enjoy the auto tax payment service.
Joining the SAYE Scheme
Simply furnish
an Authorization Form to authorize a monthly deduction (at a minimum
of $300 and in multiples of $50) from your salary or pension every
month to purchase TRCs. The TRCs will be deposited into your TRC
account. The authorization form should reach the Treasury one month
before the effective month in which the deduction is made.
Upon joining the scheme, you will
be notified of your TRC Account Number (TAN). You can purchase and
redeem TRCs at any time with your TAN.
For serving Civil Servants, the Authorization
Form (G.F. 605) or (I.R.1295)
is available at the Personnel Registry of your department. The
completed form should be returned to the Treasury via your Head
of Department.
For Civil Service Pensioners, the
Authorization Form Try 489 is available from the Pensions Division
of the Treasury and Pensioners' Welfare Unit of Civil Service Bureau.
Please note that a fresh Authorization
Form Try 489 must be completed by a pensioner notwithstanding that
he has formerly participated in the Scheme as a serving Civil Servants.
Changing or terminating the monthly deduction from
salary or pension
Please inform the Director of Accounting
Services by completing a fresh Authorization Form. Notification
of changes or termination of deduction should reach the Treasury
one month before the effective month in which the change or termination
is made.
Any balance of TRCs in your account
after termination of the monthly deduction will be carried forward
for your tax payment in future.
For more information, serving Civil
Servants may contact their respective Departmental Secretary/ Personnel
Registry direct and Civil Service Pensioners may contact the Pensions
Division of Treasury at 2829 5113 or 2829 5114.
Purchasing
TRCs
With a TRC account,
you may purchase TRCs monthly through bank autopay, or at any time via a telephone, the Internet, a bank automated teller machine, by post
or in person . The TRCs so
purchased will be deposited into your TRC account.
TRCs must be issued
in denominations of $300 or above and in multiples of $50. TRCs
will earn interest only when they are redeemed to pay the holder's
tax. Please note that if they are redeemed for other purposes, no
interest will be payable.
Purchase channels:-
| |
1. |
You may purchase TRCs monthly
at a specified sum by bank autopay. The deductions are normally
made from your bank account within the first 5 working days
of each month.
To effect bank autopay, please
submit a Direct Debit Authorization Form (I.R.1306
for those without a TRC account and I.R.1317
for those having a TRC account). Please do not submit
forms I.R.1306
and I.R.1317
in electronic form as these forms contain a 'Direct
Debit Authorization' which must be sent to banks in hardcopy
for signature verification. After we received the approval
notifications from the banks, it normally takes about 7 working
days to set up an autopay arrangement and inform you in writing.
To change or terminate bank
autopay instructions, please notify our TRCs Section by completing
an Application Form I.R.1317
. Please note that the completed form (in hardcopy)
must reach us fifteen working days before the date of change
or termination. TRCs still remaining in your account after
termination of autopay will be carried forward for your tax
payment in future. |
| |
2. |
To purchase TRCs by telephone, you must have
a PPS account.
You can open a PPS account with a bank ATM card at any of
the PPS terminals installed at many outlets of those merchants
who have joined PPS.
To purchase TRCs by phone, please dial 18011
with a tone phone for bill registration (using the TAN) and
18031 for bill payment. The merchant code for the Inland Revenue
Department is "10". |
| |
3. |
You can purchase TRCs via a personal computer
with an internet connection through "eTAX",
"PPS by Internet" or the internet banking service
of your banks. For details, please visit
www.gov.hk/etax or Treasury's
Homepage |
| |
4. |
TRCs can be purchased with your ATM card
at any of those HSBC/Hang Seng Bank ATMs with the "Bill Payment"
signage or the JETCO ATMs with the "JET PAYMENT" logo. |
| |
|
To purchase TRCs by e-payments,
please note the following:
| |
|
Enter your
13-digit TRC Account Number (TAN) in the transaction.
|
| |
|
Payments made
before the daily cut-off time of your selected
payment service provider will be taken as received
on the same day and the TRC will bear that day's
prevailing interest rate. |
| |
|
Every ATM
card or bank account has a daily transaction
limit. You may consult your bank about this
limit. |
|
|
| |
5. |
Please send in a completed Purchase Form
(I.R.1318)
together with a crossed cheque to the Inland Revenue Department,
P.O. Box 28282, Gloucester Road Post Office, Hong Kong. The
cheque should be crossed and made payable to "The Government
of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" or "The Government
of the HKSAR". Please write your TAN on the back of the cheque.
Cash must not be sent through the post. Post-dated cheques
will not be accepted. |
| |
6. |
You can purchase TRCs
at Post Offices by EPS, cheque or cash by quoting your TAN.
For addresses and opening hours of post offices, please visit
the Hongkong Post web site www.hongkongpost.com
or call their enquiry hotline 2921 2222. |
The "Auto
Tax Payment Service"
Both the "Electronic Tax reserve
Certificates" Scheme and "Save-As-You-Earn" Scheme
offer "Auto Tax Payment Service" which ensures on-time
tax payment.
Around 2 weeks before your tax due
date, we will send a proposal for redemption to you showing the
details of certificates intended to be redeemed and the balance
of tax payable by you. On the tax due date, certificates in your
account will be redeemed automatically on a First-In-First-Out basis
to settle your tax and a redemption statement will be issued to
you. Therefore, if there is no addition to or withdrawal from your
account and the amount of tax due remains unchanged from the date
of proposal to the tax due date, you should follow the proposal
to pay the balance of tax payable by the due date. Otherwise, you
should adjust and pay such amount not met by your certificates.
The service covers only the tax charged
on the account holder. To redeem TRCs to pay for property Tax for
jointly-owned properties, please submit a Redemption Form (I.R.1333)
one month before the tax due date.
Any balance of tax not covered by
the TRCs redeemed shall be payable on or before the tax due date.
The un-used TRCs will be carried forward in your TRC account.
Account
Statement and Account Details Enquiry
A Mid-year Statement will be issued
to you in September every year showing your account balance as at
31 August of the year. You can also check the TRC account details
by requesting for a statement of TRCs. To obtain the statement,
you can complete and return an Application Form (I.R.1334).
Individual TRCs account holders can
also check and print the account details via their eTAX Accounts
if they are registered eTAX Account Holders.
Refund
To get a refund on the Electronic
TRCs purchased, please furnish a Redemption Form (I.R.1333)
to our TRCs Section.
As the TRCs so refunded are not redeemed
for payment of your tax, no interest will be payable.
Interest
Rate Update and Interest Calculation
The information on this
home page is for reference only. The interest payable on
tax reserve certificates are calculated based on the prescribed
rate of interest published in the Gazette.
In case of dispute the Gazette rate shall prevail.
|
The interest rate on TRC is reviewed
every month based on the average of the prevailing six-month time
deposit rates below $100,000 offered by the three note issuing banks.
The interest rate on TRC is 0.0667%
per annum with effect from 7 December 2009.
This rate will apply to all certificates issued on or after the
above date until further notice. Certificates which were issued
before such date will continue to earn interest at the rates in
force at their respective dates of issue.
Please refer to the Tax
Reserve Certificates (Rate of Interest) (Consolidation) Notice Schedule
for the previous TRC interest rates.
Interest payable on an ordinary TRC is governed by
the following rules:-
| |
The TRC will earn interest only when used for
payment of the holder's tax. |
| |
Once purchased, the TRC
will bear the interest rate prevailing at the date of purchase. |
| |
The TRC will bear simple
interest which is calculated from the date of purchase to
the date of redemption. |
| |
The TRC will earn interest for a maximum period
of 36 months. |
Paper
Tax Reserve Certificates (TRCs)
For ordinary TRCs, new paper certificates
are not issued since 1 September 1999. However, your paper TRCs
bought before that day can still be redeemed for paying your own
tax or for a refund at its face value.
To redeem paper TRCs for payment of
tax, please complete and sign the Redemption Instructions on the
reverse side of the certificates and send them in together with
your tax demand note 6 weeks before the tax due date. If the TRCs
are not enough to cover your tax liability, a crossed cheque payable
to "The Government of the HKSAR" should also be enclosed bearing
the difference between the tax payable and the principal of the
TRCs. Any interest and surplus principal of the redeemed TRCs will
be refunded to you by post.
To redeem paper TRCs at face value,
please complete and sign the Redemption Instructions on the reverse
side of the certificate. No interest will be payable on such redemption.
All signed certificates should be
forwarded to our TRCs Section at 5/F, Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester
Road, Wanchai, HK.
If a paper TRC is lost, the Department
will consider to redeem it if a Letter of Indemnity is furnished
An application for a duplicate paper TRC has to be made in writing
with a payment of $140.
TRCs for
'Conditional Standover Order'
When an assessment is under objection
or appeal, the Commissioner may order the tax-in-dispute be held
over conditionally upon the purchase of a TRC. The TRC can be issued
in whatever amount specified by the Commissioner and it can only
be used to settle the tax due on the assessment in dispute.
The TRC so purchased will bear simple
interest but interest is payable only on that part of the capital
sum eventually repaid to taxpayer upon final determination of the
objection or appeal. For a TRC issued on or after 1 September 1999,
interest is payable from the date of issue of the TRC to the date
of final determination of the objection or appeal at such rates
in force from time to time over the tenure of the TRC.
Forms
You can:
-
download
the required forms (except G.F. 605 and Try 489) from Internet,
-
get a fax copy of them (except G.F. 605,
Try 489 and I.R.1334) from our Fax-A-Form Service (telephone
no. 2598 6001), or
-
obtain from the Inland Revenue Department
at 1/F or 5/F, Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai.
Enquiries
and Submissions
For further information, please call 187 8033.
The opening hours of the TRCs Section are:-
| Monday to Friday |
8:15 a.m. to 12:30
p.m. and |
|
1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. |
Written enquiries can be sent to 5/F,
Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai.
Enquiries and submissions can also
be made through electronic media. Please refer to the web page on
Electronic Submission of Information for the
prescribed format, manner and procedures of filing electronic documents
and the e-mail address. Please do not submit forms I.R.1306
and I.R.1317
in electronic form as these forms contain a 'Direct Debit Authorization'
which must be sent to banks in hardcopy for signature verification.
FAQ
Q & A
for Tax Reserve Certificates
|
|