At a glance
- The test
- Salaries tax on non-Hong Kong employment: visits not exceeding a total of 60 days. Treaty residence: more than 180 days in a year, or more than 300 days over two consecutive years.
- Period
- Year of assessment, 1 April to 31 March.
- What counts as a day
- For the 60-day visit test, both the arrival day and the departure day count. The IRD gives no day definition for the 180 and 300 tests.
The rule
Hong Kong taxes income by source, not by residence. For salaries tax, the IRD says that in the great majority of cases people who come to work in Hong Kong hold a Hong Kong employment, and all their earnings are included.
If the employment is outside Hong Kong, services in Hong Kong are ignored when they happen during visits not exceeding a total of 60 days in the basis period (Inland Revenue Ordinance s.8(1B)). A visit is a short or temporary stay. Trips for training, conferences or progress reports count as services in Hong Kong.
Residence matters mainly for tax treaties. The IRD's certificate of resident status page lists three routes: the person ordinarily resides in Hong Kong, stays more than 180 days in a year of assessment, or stays more than 300 days in two consecutive years of assessment, one of which is the relevant year. Each treaty can word this differently.
How Atrium counts it
Atrium counts a day in Hong Kong when your recorded trips show you there at any point that day. Arrival and departure days both count. The year runs 1 April to 31 March.
It shows the days left before more than 180 days this year, and before more than 300 days over two years (this year with the year before, or with the year after if you have recorded it). It shows whichever is nearer. When a year has 60 days or fewer, it notes that figure against the 60-day visit limit.
This differs from the IRD in two places. The IRD defines a day only for the 60-day visit test and for salary apportionment. For the 180 and 300 tests it gives no definition, so Atrium uses the same any-presence count. Atrium does not apportion salary by days, and it does not decide whether an employment is in Hong Kong, whether a trip is a visit, or whether someone ordinarily resides there. It records what you tell it.
What catches people out
- The 60-day limit is a limit on the total length of visits in the basis period, not on days worked.
- One day can change the result. In the IRD's own example, 60 days of visits is exempt, and leaving one day later is not.
- The IRD counts days differently for different purposes. Visits count arrival and departure days; salary apportionment counts both together as one day.
- The 300-day condition needs no single year above 180 days. Two years can reach it together.
- Ordinary residence is decided on the facts of your life, not on a day count.
Cases
Salaries tax assessment for 1997/98: services in Hong Kong and the 60-day rule
Inland Revenue Board of Review (Hong Kong) · 2001 · Case No. D82/01, decision of 20 September 2001 Source
A taxpayer appealed a salaries tax assessment on income of HK$466,570 from a Hong Kong company for 1 April to 29 December 1997. He said he worked full time in Shenzhen from mid-1997. The Board found one continuous Hong Kong employment and undisputed services in Hong Kong from 1 April to 30 June 1997. It then looked at the 60-day rule: he was present in Hong Kong for 196 days in the basis period, so the rule did not apply, whether or not his stays were visits. The appeal was dismissed.
Once days present in the basis period went past 60, the Board did not need to decide whether the stays were visits.
Worked example (illustrative): three trips adding up to 60 days
The IRD's example is a Singapore-based manager with three trips in 2025/26: 1 to 14 May (14 days), 1 to 24 November (24 days) and 1 to 22 February (22 days). Both the arrival and departure days count, so the total is 60 days, and the IRD says no salaries tax is due on that basis. If the last trip had ended one day later, the total would be 61 days and tax would be calculated on the days-in-days-out basis.
Arrival and departure days both count towards the 60 days, so a single extra day changes the answer.
Sources
- IRD, A guide to Salaries Tax for people coming to work in Hong Kong (PAM 42, April 2026)
- IRD, Certificate of Resident Status
- Board of Review Decision D82/01
Based on the sources above, last reviewed on 2026-10-04. Educational content, not tax advice. Atrium counts days; whether those days make you resident is for you and your adviser to decide.