Taxation Implications for Foreign Employees in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is not a tax haven, but is probably the only international financial centre that is not covered by a Double Tax Agreement (DTA). The relevant DTAs between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the UK, the PRC and Australia or the PRC and the US do not apply to Hong Kong. This is because the wording of the relevant DTAs expressly states that the treaties apply only in ‘all territories of the People's Republic of China in which the laws relating to Chinese tax are in force', within which Hong Kong, a special administrative region, does not fall. As a consequence, residents of the UK and Australia or citizens of the US who are employed in Hong Kong are required to work out whether they are subject to the domestic tax regimes of their home jurisdictions