1999-2000 Annual Report, Inland Revenue Department
(Text Only)Human Resources
Organisation Chart | Establishment | Staff Promotions and Turnover | Training and Development | Wider use of Chinese | Staff Relations and Welfare | The IRD Sports Association
Organisation Structure of Inland Revenue Department
as at 31.3.2000
As at 31 March 2000, there were 6 units. The Commissioner, the two Deputy Commissioners and the five Assistant Commissioners form the top management of the Department.
Deputy Commissioner (Technical) is responsible for overseeing the operations of Commissioner's Unit, Unit 1 and Unit 2.
Deputy Commissioner (Operations) is responsible for overseeing the operations of Unit 3, Unit 4 and Headquarters Unit.
Unit | Duties |
---|---|
Commissioner's Unit |
|
Unit 1 (managed by 1 Assistant Commissioner) |
Tax Processing and Review |
Unit 2 (managed by 2 Assistant Commissioners) |
Tax Processing and Review
|
Unit 3 (managed by 1 Assistant Commissioner) |
|
Unit 4 (managed by 1 Assistant Commissioner) |
Investigation |
Headquarters Unit |
|
Unit | Number of Staff |
---|---|
Commissioner's Unit | 67 |
Headquarters Unit | 457 |
Unit 1 | 408 | Unit 2 | 1,517 | Unit 3 | 761 | Unit 4 | 146 |
Total | 3,356 |
The Commissioner, the two Deputy Commissioners and the five Assistant Commissioners form the top management of the Department.
As at 31 March 2000, the Department had an establishment of 3,356 posts, including 25 posts for directorate officers, in 6 Units. Of the total, 2,041 posts were for departmental grades officers (namely Assessors, Taxation Officers and Tax Inspectors), who were required to perform duties directly concerned with taxation. The remaining 1,315 posts were for common/general grades officers who provided supporting administrative and clerical services (Figure 41).
Most of the professional officers serving in the Department were below the age of 45 (Figure 42). The ratio of male to female professional officers was approximately 1:1.1.
Rank | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Assessing Officers (Professional) | 717 | 718 | 724 | 737 |
Taxation Officers | 1,146 | 1,168 | 1,170 | 1,170 |
Tax Inspectors | 133 | 134 | 134 | 134 |
Common/general grade officers | 1,343 | 1,324 | 1,324 | 1,315 |
Total | 3,339 | 3,344 | 3,352 | 3,356 |
Age Group | Male | Female | Total | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of staff | Percentage | Number of staff | Percentage | Number of staff | Percentage | |
Below 25 | 7 | 2% | 15 | 4% | 22 | 3% |
25 to below 35 | 105 | 31% | 152 | 40% | 257 | 35% |
35 to below 45 | 126 | 37% | 163 | 42% | 289 | 40% |
45 to below 55 | 96 | 28% | 53 | 14% | 149 | 21% |
55 and over | 8 | 2% | 0 | 0% | 8 | 1% |
Total | 342 | 100% | 383 | 100% | 725 | 100% |
In 1999-2000, 17 departmental grades officers and 4 common/general grades officers were promoted. 76 officers were recruited by or transferred to the Department. Of the total, 12 were departmental grades officers (Figure 43). During the year, 82 officers left the Department.
Rank | Number of Staff |
---|---|
Assistant Assessor | 10 |
Tax Inspector II | 2 |
Total | 12 |
The Department fully appreciates the importance of training and development, and its role in enhancing staff potentials and performance. 12,585 man-days were spent on staff training during 1999-2000. This represents an increase of 6% as compared with the previous year.
Induction Training
The trainers of the Department conduct a two-part taxation law and practice course with formal examinations for the newly appointed Assistant Assessors. They also provide induction courses for all grades of staff upon their joining the Department. Weekly induction talks and tours are conducted for the new comers who joined the Department in that week.
Continuing Professional Education
The purpose of the in-house Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programme organised by the Training Committee is to keep professional officers abreast of the latest tax-related knowledge. During the year, 12 seminars were held under the CPE programme with a total of 2,755 participants.
7 of the seminars were conducted by staff speakers :
- Field Audit and Tax Investigation
- Feedback by Participants on the Second APEC-OECD Symposium on International Business Taxation 1998
- Feedback by Participants on their attendance of overseas courses/seminars
- Revenue Ordinance 1999 and Electronic Tax Reserve Certificates
- Tax Cases
- Prosecution and Litigation Procedures
- Profits Tax Issues, Cases Review
The other 5 seminars were delivered by experts in various fields :
- Processing Trade in China
- Emotional Intelligence [EQ] - An Overview
- Conflict of Interest
- Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 1999
- Investing and Doing Business in China
Video sessions were arranged for those who could not attend the seminars.
The Department also encourages and sponsors officers to attend various seminars organised by academic and professional institutes. During the year, 114 officers were sponsored by the Department to attend such seminars.
Overseas Training
Overseas training offers good opportunities to officers for broadening their perspective, enhancing their knowledge and expertise, and developing their management and leadership skills and potentials.
During 1999-2000, 18 professional officers attended overseas courses in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Malaysia, Austria, Australia and Korea. In addition, one officer attended a Tsinghua course in Beijing about the Mainland's legal system, government structure, culture and related matters.
Other Training
Officers of the Department are also given training courses organised by the Civil Service Training and Development Institute or other organisations. These include courses on Putonghua and English language training, the use of Chinese in official writing, report writing skills, human resources management and various computer courses.
During 1999-2000, the Department continued to arrange training courses for the staff to increase their proficiency in Chinese Language. In addition, the Department's Committee on Comprehensive Chinese Communication conducted at the end of 1999 a survey on the use of Chinese by staff. The results revealed that the percentage of using Chinese language has increased further as compared with the 1998 survey.
Maintaining effective communication with staff at all levels is of utmost importance in enhancing the Department’s operational efficiency and productivity.
The Departmental Consultative Committee (DCC)
This is chaired by the Deputy Commissioner (Operations) and aims at promoting better understanding and co-operation between management and staff. Representatives of staff groups and associations continue to make good use of DCC meetings as a means of exchanging views with management on a wide range of issues of mutual concern. These include promotion, career posting, training, recruitment, working environment, office security and safety and staff welfare. During the year, staff representatives were consulted on proposals in the various major areas under the Civil Service Reform and were kept informed of the progress.
In view of the large number of common/general grades staff in the Department and the significant role played by them in the Department’s operation, a General Grades Consultative Committee was formed in June 1999. This provides a useful channel for general grades staff to discuss and voice out their opinions on matters of specific interest to their grades, and helps to strengthen communication and co-operation between management and general grades staff.
The "Meet-the-Staff Programme"
Apart from the above formal consultative channels, the “Meet-the-Staff Programme” for the Assessor grade officers works well in strengthening communication between the senior management and the non-directorate professional officers.
The IRD Staff Suggestions Committee
During 1999-2000, the Department received 32 constructive suggestions from staff through the Staff Suggestions Scheme. 2 of them were granted cash awards in recognition of staff's contribution and efforts.
On staff motivation, the Department has continually organized many activities and functions in fostering a sense of belonging and in promoting customer service culture among staff. These activities include the annual Outreaching Programme, the Best Customer Service Award Competition and the Slogan Competition. The launch of the Excellent Service Programme in 1999-2000 was another new initiative in this aspect. Eight Excellent Service Teams were formed to take part in a one-year pilot programme with a view to mapping out improvement proposals beneficial to both management and staff.
The Inland Revenue Department Newsletter
The quarterly Departmental Newsletter continues to disseminate information to staff about activities of and changes in the Department. It provides an additional communication channel between management and staff.
The Inland Revenue General Staff Welfare Fund
This remains a ready source of finance in providing interest-free loans and grants to staff with unexpected financial hardship. The Fund also subsidizes the purchase of consolation gifts to hospitalized staff.
The Long Service Travel Award Scheme
In 1999-2000, 23 long-serving officers were granted awards of a free travel together with their spouses under the Long Service Travel Award Scheme.
The Association with the main objective of promoting sports and social activities and providing welfare for the staff and their families, organised a wide variety of activities during the past year including Fun Fair, Annual Dinner, Cantonese Operatic Songs Concert, camping, courses, sports event and competitions, etc. All of them have received overwhelming support from its members.
Like the previous years, the Association continued to participate in charitable activities organised by other institutions. In December 1999, the General Committee of the Association joined the Charity Walk organised by the Hong Kong Society of Accountants to raise funds for Mother's choice.
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(Last updated/reviewed : August 30, 2001))