Hong Kong to woo finance and tech firms with new tax breaks

Hong Kong will introduce various tax incentives for new finance and technology industries to attract businesses and reinforce the city’s role as a leading financial hub, the city leader has announced in his policy address.

Tax concessions to draw intellectual property (IP) businesses and selected industries to the city were among the new measures Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu announced on Wednesday, while the halving of the profits tax rate for gold traders would be sped up.

To speed up the growth of Hong Kong’s international gold trading market, the city will push to slash the profits tax rate for qualifying physical commodity traders from the standard 16.5 per cent to 8.25 per cent by next year.

The aim was to attract more commodity traders to set up or expand their businesses in Hong Kong, Lee said.