Hong Kong Tax Calculator: How to Estimate Salaries Tax and Check Personal Assessment

What the official calculator covers

The Inland Revenue Department states on its Tax Computation page that its Tax Calculator can “calculate your tax liability under salaries tax or personal assessment”. It produces an estimated salaries-tax liability and can also test whether personal assessment may be advantageous.

Its scope should be understood precisely: it is not a standalone profits-tax computation. Profits-tax income becomes relevant when the calculator tests whether a person with property-tax or profits-tax income should elect personal assessment. It does not replace the calculation required for a profits-tax return.

How the salaries-tax result is formed

The Department explains that:

“Salaries Tax payable is calculated at progressive rates on your net chargeable income or at standard rate on your net income, whichever is lower.”

The calculator therefore compares tax calculated under the progressive rates with tax calculated under the standard rate. The lower amount is the salaries-tax result under this rule.

The official definitions are:

Net Chargeable Income = Total Income - Deductions - Allowances
Net Income = Total Income - Deductions

The difference between the formulas is the treatment of allowances. Allowances are deducted when calculating Net Chargeable Income for the progressive rates, but they are not deducted when calculating Net Income for the standard rate.

Why the year of assessment matters

A Hong Kong year of assessment runs from 1 April to 31 March of the following year. The input figures, published rates, allowances and tax reduction must therefore relate to the same year being checked.

The Tax Computation page provides separate links under current legislation, including 2026/27 and 2025/26. The correct link is the one matching the income, deductions and allowances for the year being estimated. Selecting a link for a different year could cause the calculator to use the wrong published figures for that check.

How provisional salaries tax relates to the final liability

The Department says that provisional salaries tax for a year is “usually based on the income less the allowances of the preceding year”. It is consequently linked to the preceding year’s figures rather than simply calculated as a separate percentage of the current year’s income.

The same page explains the relationship through its Internet Filing function. When a current-year return is filed, that function can compute salaries-tax liability from the information supplied in the return. Before or after electronic submission, it estimates the salaries tax and shows the amount payable under each instalment after deducting the provisional tax charged for the year.

That is the relationship described by the Department: the annual salaries-tax liability is used to work out instalment amounts, with provisional tax for the year deducted from those instalments. The Tax Calculator’s estimate should not be confused with a binding assessment or with an additional liability imposed separately from the return.

Step-by-step use of the calculator

The Department’s procedure is straightforward:

Select the link for the relevant year of assessment.
Select the appropriate marital status.
Input total income and the other requested information, including deductions, allowances and dependant-related details where applicable.
Press the “Compute” button at the bottom of the input page.
Read the estimated tax liability shown on the resulting page.

The same inputs used in the calculator should be retained for a manual check. In particular, do not use an allowance figure from one year merely because the calculator page displays several year links.

Testing joint assessment for a married couple

The Tax Calculator can test the possible effect of joint assessment. The Department says that it can indicate whether it is to the taxpayer’s advantage to elect joint assessment when the income and deductions of the taxpayer and spouse, where applicable, are entered on the input page.

The relevant output is therefore a comparison indicating whether the joint-assessment election appears advantageous on the figures supplied. For this test, both spouses’ relevant income and deductions must be included; checking only one spouse’s salaries-tax result would not reproduce the Department’s joint-assessment test.

Testing personal assessment with other tax income

The calculator can also test personal assessment where the taxpayer and/or spouse had income chargeable to property tax and/or profits tax. The Department instructs users to input the total income and deductions of both spouses, where applicable, so that the calculator can indicate whether electing personal assessment is advantageous.

This is the calculator’s proper connection with profits tax. The amount is included in the broader personal-assessment comparison, but the tool does not independently compute the profits-tax liability. Property-tax income and profits-tax income should therefore be treated as inputs to the personal-assessment test rather than as outputs of a separate calculator module.

The Department’s disclaimer

The Tax Computation page expressly warns:

“The tax payable figure produced by the Tax Calculator is for your information only.”

The Department says its correctness “always depends on whether you have entered the correct income figure, deductions, your marital status and the number of your dependants”. It also states that the Inland Revenue Department accepts no liability whatsoever for loss or damage resulting from use of the calculator.

Accordingly, the result should be described as an estimated liability based on supplied data, not as a binding assessment or a guaranteed final figure.

Checking the result against the progressive rate table

For a hand check, begin with the same Total Income, Deductions and Allowances entered into the calculator. Apply the official formulas for Net Chargeable Income and Net Income, then compare tax under both published rate structures.

The Tax Rates of Salaries Tax & Personal Assessment table publishes the following progressive rates for Year of Assessment 2020/21 onwards:

First 50,000 at 2%, producing 1,000.
Next 50,000 at 6%, producing 3,000; 100,000 / 4,000 cumulatively.
Next 50,000 at 10%, producing 5,000; 150,000 / 9,000 cumulatively.
Next 50,000 at 14%, producing 7,000; 200,000 / 16,000 cumulatively.
The remainder at 17%.

Apply those bands only to the calculator’s Net Chargeable Income.

For Standard Rate, 2024/25 onwards, the same table publishes:

15% on the first $5,000,000 of net income.
16% on the remainder.

Apply that structure to Net Income, then compare it with the progressive-rate amount. The Department’s rule is to use whichever amount is lower.

For 2025/26, the published table also records a tax reduction of 100%, subject to a maximum per case of $3,000. The reduction is stated to apply to profits tax, salaries tax and tax under personal assessment. A hand check for that year must therefore account for the published reduction as well as the applicable salaries-tax calculation.

Checking the allowances for 2026/27 onwards

The Department’s allowance amounts for 2026/27 onwards supply the figures used to check the relevant calculator inputs:

Basic allowance: 145,000.
Married person’s allowance: 290,000.
Child allowance: 140,000 each for the 1st to 9th child.
Dependent parent/grandparent: 27,500 for a person aged 55 to under 60, or 55,000 for a person aged 60 and above.
Single parent: 145,000.
Disabled dependant: 75,000.
Personal Disability Allowance: 75,000.

Use only the entries applicable to the figures being checked, then recalculate Net Chargeable Income under the formula published by the Department. If the hand result differs from the calculator, recheck the selected year, marital status, total income, deductions, allowances, dependant information and the rate structure applied. For 2025/26, also check the published tax reduction against the progressive and standard-rate calculations.

Questions people ask about this

Why are allowances used in one calculation but not the other?

The Department’s formulas use allowances only when deriving Net Chargeable Income for the progressive rates. Net Income for the standard-rate calculation is Total Income less Deductions, without the allowance deduction.

Does a lower progressive-rate amount always determine the answer?

The published rule is not limited to the progressive result. Salaries tax is calculated at progressive rates on Net Chargeable Income or at the standard rate on Net Income, whichever is lower.

Does using spouse figures in the calculator make the joint-assessment election?

The calculator can indicate whether electing joint assessment is advantageous when the relevant income and deductions of both spouses are entered. Its stated function is to provide that indication, not to describe the result as a submitted election or final assessment.

Is the 2025/26 tax reduction the same as the standard rate?

They are separate items in the published table. The standard rate is 15% on the first $5,000,000 of net income and 16% on the remainder, while the 2025/26 tax reduction is 100% subject to a maximum per case of $3,000.

What does the calculator’s “for information only” warning mean?

The Department says correctness depends entirely on the income figure, deductions, marital status and number of dependants entered. Its output is an estimated liability based on those inputs, not a guaranteed assessment result.