Seconded or Locally Hired? How Hong Kong Taxes Australians Under the 60-Day Rule

If you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident moving to Hong Kong, the answer depends first on where your employment is located. A Hong Kong employment is taxed on all of your Hong Kong income. A non-Hong Kong employment is assessed by the days you spend in Hong Kong, and the 60-day rule is an exemption that applies only if every condition is met, including visits totalling no more than 60 days in the year of assessment. The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) and GovHK pages checked on 2026-10-10 set out these rules, and the sections below explain how they work for an Australian.

Where is your employment located?

GovHK lists three factors for deciding where an employment is located:

Factor	Question to ask
Contract	Where was the contract negotiated, entered into and enforceable?
Employer	Where does the employer reside?
Pay	Where is the remuneration paid?

If all three factors are outside Hong Kong, the employment is generally regarded as outside Hong Kong. GovHK adds that the IRD may look beyond these factors. The IRD also says the great majority of people coming to work in Hong Kong have Hong Kong employments, so a move to a Hong Kong office or a Hong Kong contract is the usual starting point.

Full charge or days in Hong Kong?

The two bases work differently.

Hong Kong employment: all earnings from the employment are assessable to salaries tax.
Non-Hong Kong employment: tax is assessed by the days you spend in Hong Kong. This is the days-in-days-out basis.

Salaries tax is charged on income arising in or derived from Hong Kong from an office, employment or pension. A year of assessment runs from 1 April to 31 March, which is different from the Australian income year of 1 July to 30 June.

How are the 60 days counted?

The IRD’s guide to salaries tax for people coming to work in Hong Kong (PAM 42) sets out the 60-day rule. An exemption may be claimed only where all of these apply:

The job is outside Hong Kong.
The work is controlled and supervised outside Hong Kong.
The trips to Hong Kong are “visits”.
Visits in the year of assessment total no more than 60 days.

Two counting points matter for planning:

Both the arrival day and the departure day count towards the 60 days.
Trips for training, conferences or reporting on work count as rendering services in Hong Kong.

What do the IRD’s two examples say?

PAM 42 gives two questions and answers that match common moves.

Recruited from Australia into a Hong Kong branch. A person who studied and worked in Australia and is then recruited to work in the Hong Kong branch of an international firm has a Hong Kong employment. That person pays tax on full income.
Full-time secondee. A person seconded to work full time in Hong Kong has a Hong Kong employment and is taxed on full income. The IRD gives no relief because of nationality, residence or citizenship.

Under these examples, a full-time secondment to Hong Kong falls under the full-charge basis, not the 60-day rule. Individual cases need a registered tax agent in Australia or a qualified Hong Kong tax adviser.

Can Australian tax paid on the same work reduce Hong Kong tax?

Australia and Hong Kong do not have a comprehensive double taxation agreement. The IRD’s list of comprehensive agreements includes New Zealand but not Australia, and the Australian Treasury’s list of income tax treaties has no entry for Hong Kong. The official pages checked do not state why there is no agreement or whether one is being negotiated.

Without an agreement, the Australian side is decided only by the ATO’s domestic residency tests. There is no treaty rule to settle a case where both places treat you as resident. Leaving Australia or holding a Hong Kong visa does not automatically make you a non-resident of Australia, and spending a fixed number of days abroad does not do so either.

On the Hong Kong side, PAM 42 describes an exemption for income on which you have paid tax similar to salaries tax in another territory, for services rendered there. Since year of assessment 2018/19, this exemption does not apply to territories with a comprehensive agreement with Hong Kong. Australia has no such agreement, so the exemption remains the relevant route for services rendered in Australia and taxed there. You will need evidence of the foreign tax paid. The pages checked describe this exemption route, not a tax credit, for Australia.

How much salaries tax applies once you have a Hong Kong employment?

The progressive rates on net chargeable income are:

Net chargeable income (HK$)	Rate
First 50,000	2%
Next 50,000	6%
Next 50,000	10%
Next 50,000	14%
Remainder	17%

Tax on the first HK$200,000 is HK$16,000. You pay the lower of two calculations: the progressive rates on net chargeable income after deductions and allowances, or the standard rate on net income after deductions but before allowances. From 2024/25 the standard rate is 15% on the first HK$5,000,000 of net income and 16% on the remainder.

The official pages checked describe provisional salaries tax, which you will also pay, but they do not set out how the provisional calculation works, so this article does not explain it.

Frequently asked questions

Does moving to Hong Kong automatically make me a non-resident of Australia?

No. Australian residency is decided on facts and circumstances under the ATO’s tests. Holding a Hong Kong visa, leaving Australia, or spending a fixed number of days abroad does not automatically make you a non-resident.

Does the 60-day rule apply if I have a Hong Kong employment?

The 60-day rule is an exemption for a non-Hong Kong employment, and it needs all its conditions to be met, including visits totalling no more than 60 days. PAM 42’s examples show that a person recruited into a Hong Kong branch, or a full-time secondee, is taxed on full income.

Can I count the Australian tax I paid as a credit in Hong Kong?

The official pages checked describe an exemption for income taxed similarly in another territory, for services rendered there. Australia has no comprehensive agreement with Hong Kong, so the exemption route is the relevant one. You will need evidence of the foreign tax paid. Whether this suits your own situation needs a qualified Hong Kong tax adviser.

Who should I ask about my own case?

This article is general information, not personal tax advice. Individual cases need a registered tax agent in Australia or a qualified Hong Kong tax adviser.