On 11 September 2018, the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“Hong Kong”) announced that an arrangement has been made between the Mainland and Hong Kong for conducting automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters (“AEOI”). The first set of information will be exchanged by end of September 2018.

Hong Kong currently has 75 counterparty reportable jurisdictions for AEOI purposes. Financial institutions in Hong Kong are required to submit information on financial accounts held or controlled by residents in these 75 jurisdictions to the Inland Revenue Department annually.To date, the Hong Kong government has activated exchange relationships with 50 jurisdictions including the Mainland, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia and will exchange information already collected on accounts as of 31 December 2017 with these jurisdictions later this month. As regards the remaining 25 reportable jurisdictions, information will be exchanged with each of them once an exchange relationship is activated by Hong Kong and that other jurisdiction.

We will continue to monitor the progress of implementation of the AEOI and keep you posted. If you have any questions or would like to discuss how we can assist in this regard, please contact: