Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Automatic Exchange of Information) Ordinance 2026

The Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Automatic Exchange of Information) Ordinance 2026 was gazetted on 26 June 2026 and will come into operation on 1 January 2027.  This Amendment Ordinance aims to strengthen the existing administrative framework for the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) to ensure effective implementation.  The main legislative amendments are as follows:

Introducing mandatory registration requirement for reporting financial institutions (RFIs)

All RFIs in Hong Kong are required to register in the AEOI Portal for CRS reporting purposes, irrespective of whether they have any information to report to the Inland Revenue Department.  For existing RFIs that remain unregistered, they are required to register in the AEOI Portal by 31 March 2027.  For financial institutions becoming RFIs since 1 January 2027, they are required to register in the AEOI Portal by 31 January of the year following the calendar year in which the financial institutions first become RFIs.  Nevertheless, in certain scenarios (e.g. a trustee and its trusts, an umbrella fund and its sub-funds), if an RFI (e.g. a trust, a sub-fund) has been registered under the account of another RFI (e.g. the trustee of the trust, the umbrella fund of the sub-fund) and the relevant CRS data, including nil reporting, is reported by the latter RFI, the RFI (e.g. the trust, the sub-fund) is not required to make the registration separately.

To assist entities in determining whether they meet the definition of an RFI, the entity may use the self-assessment tool below:

Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (AEOI) - Reporting Financial Institution Self-Assessment Tool

Enhancing record keeping requirements

RFIs are required to keep sufficient records for a period of six years after the due date of the Financial Account Information Return (BIR80), regardless of whether the RFI has ceased to be an RFI or has been dissolved.  For a dissolved RFI, every person who was a director (or a trustee or person who was responsible for the management, if there was no director) of the RFI immediately before its dissolution is required to ensure that the sufficient records of the RFI are kept until the end of the six-year retention period.

Enhancing sanctions

The Amendment Ordinance introduces new sanctions in respect of RFIs’ non-compliance with relevant obligations without reasonable excuse (including failure to register, provision of incorrect or incomplete information, etc.).  It also introduces penalties calculated based on the number of financial accounts involved for certain offences (including failure to carry out due diligence procedures, etc.) to ensure that the penalties are proportionate to the nature and seriousness of the offences.  To improve the timeliness and cost-effectiveness of penalty actions, an administrative penalty mechanism is introduced as an alternative to prosecution.  Where an RFI commits certain offences without reasonable excuse, it can be liable to an administrative penalty in lieu of prosecution in respect of the same facts for which no prosecution has been initiated.

Click here to view full content of this Amendment Ordinance.