MPF Employee

A regular employee is someone aged 18 to below 65 who has been employed for a continuous period of 60 days or more. Employers are required to enrol their regular employees into an MPF scheme and make contributions for them regularly, unless the employees are exempt persons under MPF.

If you are a Hong Kong resident employed by a Hong Kong company, your employer is required to enrol you in an MPF scheme regardless of where you are deployed to work.

If you are a member of an overseas retirement scheme, or if your employment visa allows you to remain in Hong Kong for 13 months or less, then you are exempt from joining an MPF scheme.

In the event that your employment visa is subsequently renewed, bringing your total continuous period of stay in Hong Kong to over 13 months, you would cease to be exempt starting the first day after the end of the 13-month period. Your employer will then be required to enrol you in an MPF scheme and make mandatory contributions accordingly.

If you have been employed for a continuous period of 60 days or more, you are covered by the MPF System regardless of the number of days and hours you work in a week. Your employer is required to enrol you in an MPF scheme.

If you are an executive director involved in the daily operation of the company and receive remuneration (e.g. director's fee) as an employee, the company is required to enrol you in an MPF scheme. However, if you are a non-executive director who is not involved in the daily operation of the company, MPF enrolment is not required.

Yes. No matter how many jobs you are doing at the same time, for each job, as long as you have been employed for a continuous period of 60 days or more, your employer of the respective job must enrol you in an MPF scheme within 60 days of this employment and make mandatory contribution based on your relevant income accordingly. The mandatory contribution made by you and your employer of each job is each capped at 5% of the monthly maximum relevant income level.

Your employer is responsible for selecting an MPF scheme and enrolling you in that scheme. You may give your views to your employer but the final decision on which MPF scheme to join rests with your employer.

After the scheme trustee has confirmed your membership of an MPF scheme, it will provide you with a notice of participation.  The notice of participation will state the name of the scheme, the name and address of the trustee of the scheme, your name and the issue date of the notice. 
With effect from 1 August 2015, the notice of participation replaces the notice of acceptance and membership certificate.

You will receive the following documents from the trustee:

• a general description of the scheme, including:
  • the fees and charges payable under the scheme;
  • the particulars of the constituent funds of the scheme; and
  • the name and contact details of the person to whom enquiries about contributions and related matters may be made;
• an Annual Benefit Statement containing information about:
  • the income and expenditure of your account (including contributions, transfers and transactions);
  • the account balance and accruals; and
  • the extent to which the contributions are vested as well as the gains and losses associated with your account over the relevant financial period; and
• Fund Fact Sheets, which must be issued at least twice per each financial year, summarizing key information including particulars and performance of the related funds.

The requirements relating to Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (AEOI) apply to MPF schemes starting from 1 January 2020. For all new MPF accounts open on or after 1 January 2020, the account holder (including employee and self-employed person) is required to complete a self-certification which includes tax residency (i.e. declaring whether he/she is a tax resident outside Hong Kong). The account opening procedures could not be completed by the trustee if the account holder fails to provide the self-certification.

For details in relation to AEOI, please visit the websites of Hong Kong Trustee’s Association and Inland Revenue Department.

If the director is involved in the daily operation of the company, such as in the case of an executive director, and receives remuneration as an employee, the director's fee would be part of his relevant income.

A director who is not involved in the daily operation or management of the company is an office holder only, and not an employee. His director's fee is his remuneration for holding the office of a director and is therefore not relevant income.

Bonuses expressed in monetary terms are considered relevant income in the contribution period in which they are ascertainable and fall due. If you receive the bonus after terminating service with your employer by the due day, your employer should include the bonus as relevant income for the contribution period in which the bonus is paid, and calculate contributions based on the maximum and minimum levels of relevant income.

Yes. Such contributions are called "voluntary contributions". Unlike mandatory contributions, voluntary contributions and the conditions under which they can be withdrawn are not governed by law but are subject to the governing rules of each MPF scheme. If you are interested in making voluntary contributions, please contact your trustee for details.

Apart from voluntary contributions, you may also make tax deductible voluntary contributions (TVC). You may open a TVC account in an MPF scheme and make TVC directly to the account without going through your employer. Contributions that are made to the TVC accounts are eligible for tax deduction under salaries tax or tax under personal assessment. To meet the purpose of encouraging extra savings for retirement, a TVC account holder can only withdraw the TVC upon reaching age 65 or on other statutory grounds.

No. Your employer's mandatory contributions are fully vested as your accrued benefits in the scheme once they are paid to your scheme trustee. Your employer cannot withhold your benefits derived from mandatory contributions, except for the purpose of offsetting severance or long service payments that have been made to you. However, forfeiture of benefits derived from voluntary contributions made by your employer is subject to the governing rules of your scheme.

As an employee, you have the right to choose the constituent funds offered by your MPF scheme for both the employer and employee portions of the contributions. You may choose one or more of the funds under your scheme to invest your contributions.

You can make your own choice according to your investment objectives, personal circumstances and future plans. For example, a scheme member approaching retirement age may consider choosing fund(s) with lower risks, while a younger member may consider more aggressive fund(s) with potentially higher investment returns.

You have the right to modify your investment portfolio. There may be a limit imposed by the governing rules of your scheme on the number of fund switchings you can make for free each year. Please contact your trustee for details.

As a scheme member, you may check through your Annual Benefit Statements to ensure your contributions are invested in the funds you have chosen.

In addition, there are several layers of oversight built into the MPF System to ensure that trustees and investment managers are complying with the requirements of the MPF Schemes Ordinance:

1)	MPF trustees are required to closely monitor their appointed investment managers, and to file regular returns with MPFA;
2)	All investment managers must be properly licensed by and registered with the Securities and Futures Commission; and
3)	MPFA conducts regular on-site inspections to prevent non-compliance and educates employers and trustees about their obligations under the law.

All MPF schemes are governed by the laws of Hong Kong. To ensure scheme members' interests are adequately protected, a three-pronged approach is adopted:

Stringent approval and registration criteria
To qualify for registration as MPF schemes, provident fund schemes must meet certain prescribed requirements and standards, and only companies meeting stringent criteria on capital adequacy, sufficient presence/control in Hong Kong, fitness and properness, etc., are approved as MPF trustees to manage these schemes.

On-going monitoring
Scheme trustees must submit returns, financial statements and internal control reports regularly to MPFA. MPFA also conducts field inspections, special audits and investigations, and can impose sanctions on trustees who have breached the relevant requirements.

Safety net
As a "safety net" to provide additional security and protection to scheme members, scheme trustees must take out adequate insurance to indemnify scheme members against losses that the members could incur as a result of the administration of the scheme by the trustees or their service providers. If this indemnity insurance is insufficient to cover a member's loss, the member may lodge a claim for compensation from the Compensation Fund.

Your scheme trustee is required to provide you with an Annual Benefit Statement within three months from the end of the scheme's financial year. The Statement shows:

• the income and expenditure of your account (including contributions, transfers and transactions);
• the account balance and accruals;
• the extent to which the contributions are vested; and
• the gains and losses associated with your account over the relevant financial period.

Trustees also provide additional communication channels (e.g. website and hotline) for members to check their accounts.

You may choose to : 

1. transfer your accrued benefits to your contribution account under the MPF scheme of your new employer; or
2. transfer your accrued benefits to an existing personal account that you hold.

If you do not hold any personal account, and you are satisfied with the MPF scheme chosen by your former employer, you may retain your MPF benefits in a personal account under the scheme of your previous job.

You may find more information about this subject here.

If the trustee of your scheme does not receive instructions on how to handle your accrued benefits within three months after receiving the notice of your cessation of employment from your former employer, the accrued benefits will automatically be transferred from the contribution account to a personal account under the scheme. They will continue to be invested in the same funds you chose in the original contribution account.

You may subsequently change your fund choice or investment portfolio by giving new instructions to the trustee. Please contact your trustee for details.

If you have multiple personal accounts, you may consider consolidating them for easier management. Before doing so, you should look into whether the trustee, MPF scheme, and constituent funds that you want to invest in suit your personal needs. You should also be aware that consolidating accounts involves redemption and subscription of funds.

The MPFA maintains a centralized database of members' personal accounts and can tell you whether you have any personal accounts. Simply visit an MPFA office with your identification document (e.g. Hong Kong Identity Card) and we will present your report to you on the spot. You can also download the request form here, and mail or fax the completed form (with a copy of your Hong Kong Identity Card) to us. We will send the report to you by mail. You may find more information here.

You should fill in the "Scheme Member's Request for Fund Transfer Form" (Form MPF(S)-P(M)) and then send it to your new scheme trustee or your new employer (if you are transferring your benefits to the scheme of your new employer). The form can be obtained from your trustee or downloaded here.

As the transfer of accrued benefits involves redemption and subscription of fund units, there may be a spread on the bid-offer prices. Other than this, trustees are generally not allowed to charge any fees or impose any financial penalties for the transfer of accrued benefits.

Your original scheme trustee is required to ensure that your accrued benefits are properly transferred within 30 days after receiving your transfer request. They will then issue a transfer statement to you detailing the particulars of the transfer. The new trustee will also send you a written confirmation stating the amount received from your original trustee.

Yes, a scheme member can transfer his / her accrued benefits to an MPF account even if there is default contribution in the account. If the default amount is received after the transfer has been made, the original trustee is required to ensure that the amount is transferred to the member's MPF account within 30 days upon receipt.

If you have reached the age of 65, you may present a copy of your Hong Kong Identity Card and a completed Claim Form for Payment of Accrued Benefits on ground of Attaining the Retirement Age of 65 or Early Retirement (Form MPF(S)-W(R)) to your scheme trustee and request withdrawal of your accrued benefits. You can withdraw your accrued benefits in a lump sum or by instalments. In general, your trustee should release the accrued benefits to you within 30 days upon receipt of the required documents from you.

The form can be obtained from your trustee.

If your Hong Kong Identity Card (“HKID”) shows only the year but not the exact day and month of your birth, you may submit to the trustee one of the following documents as a proof of date of attainment of age 65:

• a copy of your travelling document showing the day and month of birth such as passport or Home Visit Permit; or
• a statutory declaration of your date of birth; or
• a copy of your HKID with the day and month of the issue date circled (i.e. using the day and month of the issue date as the day and month of your birth).

If you have not submitted any of the above documents, the trustee will use the last day of that year (i.e. 31 December) as your birth date.