Personal Assessment vs Separate Assessment
Compare Salaries Tax, Property Tax and Profits Tax under personal assessment versus separate assessment to see which method gives the lower overall tax bill.
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Earnings & Deductions
Estimated tax saving
Separate assessment
Recommended option
Separate assessment is about HK$1,600 lower in this illustration.
| Item | Separate | Personal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Salaries tax | HK$49,150 | — |
| Property tax | HK$12,000 | — |
| Profits tax | HK$0 | — |
| Total | HK$61,150 | HK$62,750 |
View tax breakdown
Total tax assessed separately
Total Personal Assessment Tax
Tax Savings
Lower-tax option
Separate assessment - Salaries Tax
Separate Assessment - Property Tax
Separate Assessment - Profits Tax
Personal Assessment - Gross Income
Personal Assessment - Total Deductions
Tips for assessing:Choosing Separate assessmentwill save you about HK$1,600 in tax.
For property income, first deduct only irrecoverable rent and rates paid by the owner; a statutory 20% allowance for repairs and outgoings is then applied. Do not enter management fees, government rent or ordinary repair bills here. This is a simplified comparison of the items entered; eligibility and the final assessment remain subject to the IRD.
Does personal assessment actually save Hong Kong tax?
Personal assessment is not a lower fixed rate. It aggregates salaries, unincorporated business profits and property income, then applies personal allowances and progressive rates. It can help where there is a business loss, home-loan interest on a let property, or unused personal allowances. Employment income alone usually does not become cheaper just by ticking the box.
Property income is the item most often entered wrongly. For Property Tax, irrecoverable rent and owner-paid rates come off first; a 20% statutory allowance then covers repairs and outgoings. Management fees, government rent and actual invoices are not deducted line by line. This page takes the first two items and applies the 20% itself.
The result is a prompt to check the return, not an election. Losses brought forward, property-loan interest, spouse-specific deductions, the full set of personal allowances and associated-entity limits for two-tier profits tax are outside this illustration.
Elect personal assessment only if you meet the Inland Revenue Department conditions for that year of assessment. Keep salaries records, the tenancy, rates receipts and business accounts separate, then follow the return notes. The assessment notice is authoritative.
Data status
Year of assessment 2026/27
Tax rates, allowances and deduction caps follow published Inland Revenue Department information.
Income, deductions and household circumstances are user inputs; the result is an estimate, not an assessment.
Does not cover every eligibility condition, cross-border income, double-tax relief, provisional-tax adjustments or IRD discretion.
2026-08-20: Added the HK$100,000 self-education cap and HK$100 donation minimum, and rechecked the deduction breakdown.
References
- 1Eligibility for Personal Assessment(GovHK)
- 2Property Tax return notes: deductions and the 20% allowance(Inland Revenue Department)
Site data last reviewed: 2026-08-09 · The sources above are for reference only; please refer to the latest official announcements from the relevant organisations.
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Client-side only: All data is calculated on your device and is not uploaded to any server. Results are for reference only and do not constitute professional financial or legal advice.