Profits Tax - Donations

Approved charitable donations are allowable under Section 16D of Inland Revenue Ordinance.

“Approved charitable donation” means a donation of money to Hong Kong SAR Government or an approved charitable organization which is exempt from tax under Section 88 of Inland Revenue Ordinance. A list of such organizations is published on the Revenue's homepage: [Publications] > [list of exempted charities].

No deduction is due for charitable donations totaled less than HK$100.

The maximum deduction is 35% of the assessable profits before deducting loss brought forward.

No double allowance will be given to those donations which have been already allowed under Salaries Tax or Personal Assessment or allowed as qualifying expenditure for Scientific Research or Technical Education.

A donation means a donation of money. If a "donation" is to buy something at lower than its market price, then it will not attract tax relief. See the Hong Kong tax case re Standford Yung Tao Yung.

A donation not meeting the conditions for charitable donation or a donation exceeding the 35% limit can still qualify deduction if it is a revenue expense satisfying Section 16(1) of IRO --- that means it is incurred in the production of assessable profits and it is not capital nature. Of course, the burden of proof for such conditions is on the taxpayer. In general, a donation for charitable purpose will not be accepted by IRD as "in the production of chargeable profits"; therefore it is likely that the Section 16(1) general test will fail.