Filing the Hong Kong Employer's Return: BIR56A, IR56B and the IR56 Forms

The Employer’s Return of Remuneration and Pensions, known by its form number BIR56A, is the annual report every Hong Kong employer files with the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) to declare what it paid its employees during the year of assessment, which runs from 1 April to 31 March.

The BIR56A itself is a short cover form. The substance sits in the Forms IR56B attached to it: one IR56B per reportable employee, listing personal particulars, position, period of employment, and a full breakdown of remuneration, including salary, bonuses, commissions, allowances, housing benefits, share awards and options, and MPF contributions.

The IRD uses this data to cross-check the individual tax returns your employees file for Salaries Tax. If the figures on your IR56B and on an employee’s own return do not match, expect an enquiry. That is why accuracy matters as much as the deadline.

The legal basis for these obligations is the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112), and the duty sits with the employer even if payroll is outsourced. Your accountant or payroll provider can prepare the forms, but the company remains legally responsible for filing them correctly and on time.

If your company carries on business in Hong Kong and has hired anyone, your employer obligations already exist. They start on the day you hire your first employee, when you become required to keep payroll records covering personal particulars, employment terms, cash and non-cash remuneration, and MPF contributions. Business records, including payroll records, must be kept for at least 7 years.

The annual filing obligation is triggered by the IRD itself. On the first working day of April, the IRD issues Form BIR56A to employers on its register. From the issue date printed on the form, you have 1 month to complete and lodge it.

Here is the part that surprises many non-resident founders running a company with no staff: receiving a BIR56A means you must file it. The IRD is explicit that the return must be lodged within 1 month even if you did not hire any employee during the year (tick the "NO" box on the BIR56A), the business has not commenced, or the business has ceased.

This is the nil-return scenario, and it is a genuine filing, not an optional formality. Many newly incorporated Hong Kong companies with a sole director and no payroll receive a BIR56A in their first April and assume it does not concern them. It does.

The reverse situation also creates an obligation. If you employed reportable staff during 2025/26 but have not received a BIR56A by mid April 2026, you should request the IRD to issue a return, and a new company can submit Form IR6163 to do so. For the full annual compliance calendar and filing deadlines, see our Hong Kong accounting compliance guide.

Not every person on your payroll requires an IR56B, but the net is wider than most employers expect. For the year of assessment 2025/26, the IRD requires you to report an employee on your BIR56A and IR56B if they are:

• single and paid an annual income of HK$132,000 or more (if employed for less than a full year, a proportionately reduced amount applies),
• married, regardless of the amount paid,
• part-time staff, regardless of the amount paid, or
• a director, regardless of the amount paid.

Two points deserve emphasis for international companies. First, the reporting duty does not stop at the border: the IRD requires an IR56B for reportable employees whether they rendered services in or outside Hong Kong. An employee stationed abroad who barely sets foot in Hong Kong may still need to be reported, with the circumstances explained in the remarks section. Whether their income is ultimately taxable is a separate question; the reporting comes first.

Second, directors are always reportable. A non-resident founder who pays themselves a modest director’s fee through their Hong Kong company must appear on the Employer’s Return, whatever the amount. Combined with the nil-return rule, this means the Employer’s Return concerns essentially every active Hong Kong company, not just those with local staff.

If an employee does not yet hold a Hong Kong Identity Card, for instance someone recruited from overseas, you can file with their passport number and place of issue, then write to inform the IRD once the HKID number is known.

Hong Kong employers can lodge the Employer’s Return in three ways.

Paper filing

Complete the physical BIR56A and attach printed IR56B forms. Workable for a handful of employees but manual at scale, and the BIR56A must be signed by an authorised person such as a director, company secretary or manager.

ER e-Filing Services

The IRD’s electronic filing platform lets employers prepare and submit the BIR56A and IR56 forms online. For companies with more than a few employees, this is the practical default: the system handles form generation and reduces transcription errors.

Mixed Mode

A hybrid arrangement in which IR56B data records are prepared electronically and submitted together with a signed control list and the paper BIR56A. This suits employers whose signatory prefers to sign physically while payroll data lives in software.

Whichever mode you choose, the deadline is identical: 1 month from the BIR56A issue date. An employer can write to the IRD to ask for more time, but extensions are not automatic, and building your payroll calendar around the standard deadline is the safer habit.

The Employer’s Return obligations sit under the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112), and non-compliance carries real consequences. Failing to file the BIR56A and IR56 forms on time, or filing incorrect information, can lead to prosecution, with fines of up to HK$10,000 per offence, and the court may additionally order the employer to complete the outstanding filing within a specified time.

In practice, the IRD’s first response to a missed deadline is often a reminder rather than immediate prosecution, but repeated or prolonged non-compliance escalates. Two failure modes are worth calling out because they are common among non-resident owners:

• The ignored nil return. A dormant or pre-revenue company receives a BIR56A, nobody recognises it, and the deadline passes. The obligation existed the moment the form was issued.
• The missed IR56G withholding. When an employee leaves Hong Kong for good, filing the IR56G is only half the duty. The employer must also withhold all amounts due until tax clearance. If the employer pays out regardless and the employee leaves with unpaid tax, the IRD can pursue the employer for the amounts it should have withheld.

A company that files its Employer’s Return, its Profits Tax Return and its Companies Registry filings late as a pattern invites closer scrutiny across the board.

This guide is based on the Inland Revenue Department’s official employer guidance, verified in August 2026: IRD Employers (ere.htm), What tax obligation do I have as an Employer (ere_obl.htm), Notes and Instructions for Form BIR56A, and Obligations of An Employer (IR56H). Thresholds and deadlines reflect the year of assessment 2025/26 as published by the IRD.

Employer reporting rules can change; always confirm current requirements on ird.gov.hk or with a Hong Kong accounting provider before filing.