Hong Kong Tax Competitiveness Series:
Corporate Tax Rates
TAX
2
Hong Kong Tax Competitiveness Series: Corporate Tax Rates
Introduction The year 2007 is a milestone year for Hong Kong, as it marks the tenth anniversary of its establishment as a Special Administrative Region (SAR). Over the decade, Hong Kong has maintained its status as an international financial centre and a leading business and trading hub within Asia. It has historically ranked highly in surveys on international competitiveness; for example, according to the 2007 MasterCard Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, Hong Kong is ranked as the world’s top business centre and stands fifth in the world among cities in global commerce. A fundamental component of Hong Kong’s competitiveness is its taxation system. Hong Kong has a comparatively simple tax system with relatively low rates of taxation, a policy which is enshrined in the Basic Law. However, in recent years, Hong Kong SAR has seen some challenges to its tax competitiveness as other jurisdictions have lowered their headline tax rates and introduced tax concessions in an attempt to compete for capital and human resources. Hong Kong cannot afford to be complacent or take its past success for granted, especially given the increased competitiveness it faces from its major trading partners in the region. As Hong Kong embarks on the next decade, it is an opportune time to review the competitiveness of its tax system relative to its neighbours in the region and the rest of the world. KPMG in Hong Kong is contributing to this debate and in the next few months will be releasing a series of articles focusing on specific issues and sectors. In the first article of this series issued in June 2007, we examined the key developments in Hong Kong taxation since the handover. In this second issue, we focus on the competitiveness of Hong Kong’s corporate tax rate.
© 2007 KPMG, a Hong Kong partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. All rights reserved.
Hong Kong Tax Competitiveness Series: Corporate Tax Rates
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Hong Kong’s corporate tax rate Chart 1: Hong Kong's corporate tax rate for the past decade Tax Rate
17.5%
17.0%
16.5%
16.0%
15.5%
15.0% 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Year
For the past decade, the Hong Kong government has focused on maintaining a low corporate tax rate so as to minimise the impact taxation has on business in general. Early in the decade, the government reduced the corporate tax rate marginally from 16.5 percent to 16 percent, which was in line with its broad policy of low rates of taxation. However, the negative budgetary impact of the Asian economic crisis in 1997 and SARS in 2003 led the Government to increase the corporate tax rate from 16 percent to 17.5 percent in 2004 in an attempt to bolster public finances. Hong Kong’s economy has rebounded sharply since early 2004, allowing room for the Chief Executive to promise in his election pledge this year to reduce the Profits Tax rate to 15 percent over his current term of office. This would amount to a reduction of approximately 14 percent from the current headline rate, enhancing Hong Kong’s status as one of the world’s most competitive jurisdictions in which to do business.
International trends Over the past decade, there has been a consistent trend internationally of lowering corporate tax rates. KPMG International’s annual Corporate Tax Survey recorded a consistent and dramatic reduction in corporate tax rates over the past years. This reduction began in the mid-1980s in the United Kingdom, when the government of Margaret Thatcher lowered the corporate tax rate from 52 percent to 35 percent between 1982 and 1986.
© 2007 KPMG, a Hong Kong partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. All rights reserved.
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Hong Kong Tax Competitiveness Series: Corporate Tax Rates
When major industrialised economies began reducing their corporate tax rates, this led others to do the same, beginning a process of international tax competition that continues today. This competition suggests that there is some economic benefit in having low corporate tax rates, as it appears that economies that have adopted comparatively low tax rates tend to do better in terms of growth and inward investment than those that do not. The 2007 Corporate Tax Survey1 shows that in the past decade, the average headline corporate tax rate for OECD countries has reduced from 36 percent to 27.8 percent. Within the Asia Pacific region, the average headline corporate tax rate has reduced from 32.2 percent to 30.1 percent. In the past 12 months, the reduction in rates seems to be slowing. Out of the 92 surveyed jurisdictions, only 18 jurisdictions marginally lowered their rates in 2006 while two, namely India and Sri Lanka, have actually increased their rates. In Asia Pacific, the average corporate tax rate remained largely unchanged in 2006, although this will change next year when the full impact of China’s planned reduction in its corporate tax rate (from 33 percent to 25 percent) is felt. Over the past decade, Hong Kong has gone against the international trend of lowering corporate tax rates by actually increasing its Profits Tax rate by 1.5 percent to 17.5 percent. Although Hong Kong’s corporate tax rate remains relatively low against its major trading partners, these jurisdictions are starting to bridge the gap. Chart 2 below compares the Hong Kong corporate tax rate to the average headline corporate tax rates amongst all jurisdictions, OECD and Asia Pacific jurisdictions covered in the Survey. This chart illustrates that the gap between the Hong Kong headline corporate tax rate and the average headline corporate tax rate for these three groups has narrowed, from almost double in 1997 to less than 10 percentage points in some cases.
Chart 2: Corporate tax rate comparison Corporate Tax Rate
40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Year All surveyed countries
1
OECD
Asia Pacific
Hong Kong
The survey report can be found at www.kpmg.co.uk/email/307/307825/SurveyWEB.pdf
© 2007 KPMG, a Hong Kong partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. All rights reserved.
Hong Kong Tax Competitiveness Series: Corporate Tax Rates
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Table 3 below summarises the tax rates of Asia Pacific jurisdictions for the last decade. Table 3: Asia Pacific jurisdictions corporate tax rates Increase / decrease in percentage points
1997 (%)
1998 (%)
1999 (%)
2000 (%)
2001 (%)
2002 (%)
2003 (%)
2004 (%)
2005 (%)
2006 (%)
2007 (%)
Australia
36
36
36
36
34
30
30
30
30
30
30
-6.0
Bangladesh
40
40
35
35
35
35
30
30
30
30
30
-10.0
China
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
-
Fiji
35
35
35
35
34
32
32
31
31
31
31
-4.0
Hong Kong SAR
16.5
16.5
16
16
16
16
16
17.5
17.5
17.5
17.5
+1.0
India
35
35
35
38.5
39.55
35.7
36.75
35.88
36.59
33.66
33.99
Indonesia
30
30
30
30
30
39
30
30
30
30
30
Japan
51.6
51.6
48
42
42
42
42
42
40.69
40.69
40.69
Republic of Korea
30.8
30.8
30.8
30.8
30.8
29.7
29.7
29.7
27.5
27.5
27.4
-3.4
Malaysia
30
28
28
28
28
28
28
28
28
28
27
-3.0
New Zealand
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
33
-
Pakistan
30
30
35
43
34.65
35
35
35
35
35
35
+5.0
Papua New Guinea
25
25
25
25
25
25
30
30
30
30
30
+5.0
Philippines
35
34
33
32
32
32
32
32
32
35
35
-
Singapore
26
26
26
26
25.5
24.5
22
22
20
20
20
-6.0
Sri Lanka
35
35
35
35
35
42
35
35
32.5
32.5
35
-
Taiwan
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
-
Thailand
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
30
-
Vietnam
35
35
35
32.5
32
32
32
28
28
28
28
-7.0
Average for Asia Pacific
32.2
32.0
31.8
31.9
31.3
31.5
30.6
30.4
30.0
30.0
30.1
-2.1
Year2
-1.01 -10.91
Source: The above figures are extracted from KPMG’s 2007 Corporate Tax Survey.
Table 3 confirms that Hong Kong’s tax rate has remained one of the lowest in the region throughout the period. However, while it is not included in the above table, it is worth noting that Macau’s corporate tax rate reduced from 15 percent to 12 percent in 2005, which is 5.5 percentage points lower than Hong Kong’s headline rate. Furthermore, the headline tax rates of several countries in the region are now only a couple of percentage points above Hong Kong’s rate (see Singapore and Philippines). It is also worth noting that Singapore and China will reduce their headline corporate tax rates to 18 percent and 25 percent respectively from 2008. Jurisdictions that compete with Hong Kong for inward investment, such as Singapore and Malaysia, continue to use other measures to attract and retain inward investment in addition to a low headline corporate tax rate. Singapore and Malaysia offer an extensive range of tax incentives to attract foreign investment and these incentives are often targeted at key industry sectors that Hong Kong
2
Rates as at 1 January each year.
© 2007 KPMG, a Hong Kong partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. All rights reserved.
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Hong Kong Tax Competitiveness Series: Corporate Tax Rates
also seeks to compete in, such as logistics, trading, financial services and wealth management. The effect of these tax incentives is that the income earned is often taxed at a much lower rate than the headline Profits Tax rate in Hong Kong. As an example, Singapore offers a 10 percent tax rate for certain approved financial services activities. In Malaysia, industries with a pioneer status will generally be taxed at around 5 percent. China has also offered a range of incentives, although it is worth noting that these are to be eliminated under the latest China Tax reform which takes effect from 1 January 2008. In addition to tax changes, many jurisdictions have invested a considerable amount in non-tax areas over the last decade to increase their international competitiveness. Jurisdictions such as Singapore and Malaysia now possess a similar combination of infrastructure, access to financial markets and effective legal system as that available in Hong Kong. With an increasing focus on the environment, Hong Kong is also facing an increased threat from other countries in Asia that are considered to have a “cleaner” environment. To counter the perceived threat of challenge to Hong Kong’s competitiveness, Hong Kong should continue to review its taxation system to maintain its leading role in the next decade and beyond. The Chief Executive has already promised to reduce Hong Kong’s Profits Tax rate from 17.5 percent to 15 percent during his current term. Each percentage point decrease in Profits Tax would amount to a loss in the government’s tax revenue of approximately HKD 4 billion per annum; two and a half percentage point reduction would therefore cost approximately HKD 10 billion. Given our narrow tax base and in the absence of any substantial alternative revenue source (such as a general consumption tax), it is questionable whether Hong Kong can afford further cuts in Profits Tax rate beyond 15 percent in the long run. However, as other jurisdictions, especially those in close competition with Hong Kong, continue to reduce their corporate tax rates, a 15 percent headline rate on its own may not be enough. Therefore, Hong Kong may need to consider a targeted incentive programme for sectors that are considered to be important to Hong Kong’s future (for example, international trading, logistics, financial services and shipping). Further, Hong Kong could consider focusing more attention on business functions that are internationally mobile, with the objective of attracting and retaining these functions in Hong Kong.
© 2007 KPMG, a Hong Kong partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. All rights reserved.
Hong Kong Tax Competitiveness Series: Corporate Tax Rates
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Outlook Not long ago, Hong Kong had a distinctive low headline corporate tax rate compared with its major competitors, but the global competitive developments over the past decade mean that many jurisdictions now have corporate tax rates of similar or lower levels. Furthermore, when tax incentives and concessions are taken into consideration, Hong Kong’s low Profits Tax rate may no longer be sufficient to attract and retain investment, representing a genuine threat to Hong Kong’s competitiveness. As we embark on the next decade, and in particular in the face of globalisation which increases the mobility of capital and investments, the key challenge for Hong Kong will be to implement effective initiatives to strengthen its tax competitiveness to maintain its status as an international financial centre and a leading business and trading hub in Asia.
Contact us Lloyd Deverall +852 2826 7295
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[email protected] This Hong Kong Taxation Post Handover Report is printed on "Polymax", made of 20-25% pre-consumer waster, using fibre from a sustainable forest. 100% acid and chlorine free. © 2007 KPMG, a Hong Kong partnership and a member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. All rights reserved.