Salaries Tax And Income Tax | Compare Tax Loans

It's common knowledge that employees in Hong Kong get taxed on their salary. According to the Inland Revenue Ordinance, salaries tax, profits tax and property tax are types of direct tax.

So what’s a personal assessment? Instead of a tax levy, a personal assessment is a form of tax relief for individual taxpayers who face profits tax and property tax. This can also include sole proprietors, business partners and property owners.

If you have income that's subject to profits tax and/or property tax, submitting a personal assessment may give you some tax relief. Your salary, business profit or loss, and rental income will be aggregated and this can reduce your tax bill.

But if you’re only charged salary tax and have no other income streams, you won't benefit from a personal assessment.

According to the Hong Kong government's eTAX portal, the salaries tax you owe can be calculated in the following ways, whichever is lower. You can also use the Inland Revenue Department's tax calculator.

Every tax season, HSBC offers special tax loan schemes that can give you financial flexibility.

The most common fixed loan schemes include instalment loans, tax loans, and credit card cash instalment plans. Their repayment periods, loan amount limits and fees vary to meet different goals and needs.

As the name suggests, tax loans are personal loans from banks during tax season to offer taxpayers better liquidity. Personal loans have a speedy approval process and usually come with a lower interest rate during tax season.

A personal instalment loan, on the other hand, is available all year round for any large financial needs.

Both types of loans accept monthly instalment repayments starting from 6 months.

Loans products comparison
—	Instalment loans	Tax loans	Credit card cash instalment plans
Main purpose	Big-budget items, such as home renovation, continuing education, a wedding and medical expenses	Paying tax, home renovation, a wedding or continuing education	Small-budget items, such as shopping and travelling
Available period	Anytime	October to February every year (depends on promotional period)	Anytime
Features	Some banks offer loan redraw services	Allow borrowers to split the approved loan amount into two for withdrawal	No need to open a loan account
Repayment period	6 to 60 months	6 to 24 months	6 to 60 months

Loans products comparison
—	Main purpose	Main purpose
Instalment loans	Big-budget items, such as home renovation, continuing education, a wedding and medical expenses	Big-budget items, such as home renovation, continuing education, a wedding and medical expenses
Tax loans	Paying tax, home renovation, a wedding or continuing education	Paying tax, home renovation, a wedding or continuing education
Credit card cash instalment plans	Small-budget items, such as shopping and travelling	Small-budget items, such as shopping and travelling

—	Available period	Available period
Instalment loans	Anytime	Anytime
Tax loans	October to February every year (depends on promotional period)	October to February every year (depends on promotional period)
Credit card cash instalment plans	Anytime	Anytime

—	Features	Features
Instalment loans	Some banks offer loan redraw services	Some banks offer loan redraw services
Tax loans	Allow borrowers to split the approved loan amount into two for withdrawal	Allow borrowers to split the approved loan amount into two for withdrawal
Credit card cash instalment plans	No need to open a loan account	No need to open a loan account

—	Repayment period	Repayment period
Instalment loans	6 to 60 months	6 to 60 months
Tax loans	6 to 24 months	6 to 24 months
Credit card cash instalment plans	6 to 60 months	6 to 60 months