Government welcomes passage of tax concessions and increase in child allowance
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     The Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Joseph Chan, welcomed the passage of the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Child Allowance and Tax Concessions) Bill 2023 by the Legislative Council today (April 19). It gives effect to two proposals made in the 2023-24 Budget, including:
 
  1. the reduction of salaries tax, tax under personal assessment and profits tax for the year of assessment 2022/23 by 100 per cent, subject to a ceiling of $6,000 per case; and
  2. increasing the basic child allowance and the additional child allowance for each child born during the year of assessment under salaries tax and tax under personal assessment from $120,000 to $130,000 starting from the year of assessment 2023/24.
     
     "The two proposals mainly aim at alleviating the burden of taxpayers. The one-off tax concessions will benefit about 1.9 million taxpayers of salaries tax and tax under personal assessment, and 133 500 tax-paying businesses, with the total government revenue forgone amounting to about $9.2 billion. The increase in child allowance will benefit around 324 000 taxpayers and reduce the tax revenue of the Government by about $610 million a year," Mr Chan said.
 
       The tax concessions will be reflected in taxpayers' final tax payable for the year of assessment 2022/23. Moreover, the Inland Revenue Department will apply the new level of child allowance in calculating the provisional tax for taxpayers for the year of assessment 2023/24.

Ends/Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Issued at HKT 15:22

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