Under the Government's special work arrangements to achieve social distancing more effectively whilst providing basic, limited-scale public services, the Inland Revenue Department announced today (February 8) that from February 10 all of its services, except the following, will be suspended:

(1) Business Registration Office
(2) Stamp Office
(3) Central Enquiry Counter, only for enquiries relating to tax clearance for taxpayers leaving Hong Kong

     The above three offices will provide service from 9am to noon on Monday to Friday.

     The department appeals to members of the public for their understanding that the above services will only be provided at a much reduced scale and services in all other areas will not be provided at the service counters. They should also be prepared to experience a longer waiting time before they can be served. The department encourages the public to use its electronic services to handle their tax affairs as far as possible. A list of such services can be found in the Department's website at www.ird.gov.hk/eng/ese/index.htm.

     The department further announced that deadlines for tax payments, lodgement of objections and holdover applications and submission of tax returns and information that fall between January 29 and February 16 will be automatically extended to February 17.

     The department will review the situation and make further announcement where necessary.

Ends/Saturday, February 8, 2020
Issued at HKT 10:00

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