What You Need to Know About IR56F / IR56G

In Hong Kong, different types of employees are required to submit different tax returns to the Inland Revenue Department. IR56F and IR56G are applicable to employees who are about to resign or depart from Hong Kong. This article will help you to complete the IR56F/G tax returns for such employees.

Which scenario do IR56F and IR56G apply to?

You are required to submit the appropriate IR56F or IR56G form to the Inland Revenue Department 1 month before the employee’s resignation or departure from Hong Kong to report the employee’s taxable income.

How to distinguish IR56F and IR56G?

IR56F is the “notification by an employer of an employee who is about to cease to be employed”. It is applicable when an employee leaves employment.

IR56G is “Notification by an employer of an employee who is about to depart from Hong Kong”. It is applicable when the employee leaves Hong Kong for a long or permanent period.

What should we do before an employee who is about to resign?

We are required to submit IR56F form: “notification by an employer of an employee who is about to cease to be employed” to the Inland Revenue Department 1 month before date of cessation.

Besides the personal information for IR56F, what other information is needed?

• Date of resignation
• Reason for resignation
• All earnings from 1 April to the date of resignation

(Severance payment/long service payment made under Employment Ordinance should not be included. Employee’s contributions such as MPF are not deducted)

Note

• Do not repeat the same income in IR56F and IR56B.
• We have to submit IF56F form 1 month before date of resignation. Time is very tight.

Good news! Workstem one-stop human resources system provides a powerful tax reporting function, which can help you automatically fill in the IR56F based on the employee’s personal information, date of resignation and payroll records.

If an employee will depart from Hong Kong after resignation

If an employee will depart from Hong Kong after resignation, we are required to submit 2 copies of IR56G form: “Notification by an employer of an employee who is about to depart from Hong Kong” to the Inland Revenue Department 1 month before the departure of the employee.

Besides the personal information for IR56G, what other information is needed?

The required information is basically the same as that for IR56F, plus a small amount of information about an employee leaving Hong Kong and whether they would return to Hong Kong.

After submitting IR56G and before the employee contacts the Inland Revenue Department to complete the tax clearance procedure, the employee’s salary will be withheld until the Inland Revenue Department issues “Letter of release”.

How to submit IR56F/IR56G?

IR56F: You need to submit a copy of form to the Inland Revenue Department, or you can log in eTax for online tax service.

IR56G: You need to submit 2 copies of form to the Inland Revenue Department, or you can log in eTax for online tax service.

• Sample IR56F provided by IRD
• Sample IR56G provided by IRD

Read More:

Which Form to Submit to IRD When an Employee Who is About to Cease to Be Employed?

Which Form to Submit to IRD when an Employee Leaves Hong Kong?