To encourage the public to save early for retirement financial planning purpose, legislation* has been passed to provide tax incentives for scheme members to make tax deductible voluntary contributions (TVC) starting from 1 April 2019.
Three major features of TVC
Convenient
Eligible persons can open a TVC account in an MPF scheme which offers TVC of their own choice and make contributions directly with trustees.
MPF trustees will provide contribution summaries to facilitate filing of tax returns.
Flexible
No fixed frequency or fixed amount of contributions.
Simple
TVC account holders can transfer all balance to another TVC account of an MPF scheme at any time.
What is TVC?
Who can make TVC?
Holders of contribution accounts or personal accounts of MPF schemes; or members of MPF Exempted ORSO Schemes are eligible to make TVC
How to make TVC
Open a TVC account in an MPF scheme that offers TVC and make contributions directly to the account
How to benefit from tax concessions
Contributions that are made to the TVC accounts are eligible for tax deduction
Tax deduction cap is $60,000 per year**
Tax deduction will be effective from the assessment year 2019/20
Withdrawal arrangement
TVC can only be withdrawn upon scheme member’s reaching age 65 (or on other statutory grounds)
Transfer arrangement
All balance in a TVC account can be transferred to another TVC account of the same member of an MPF scheme at any time
*Inland Revenue and MPF Schemes Legislation (Tax Deductions for Annuity Premiums and MPF Voluntary Contributions) (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 provides that tax incentives will be provided for TVC made by MPF scheme members and premiums paid for qualifying deferred annuity policies (QDAP) from the assessment year 2019/20.
**The cap is an aggregate limit for both TVC and QDAP premiums.
Examples
*The tax deduction cap is $60,000 for each year of assessment, which is an aggregate limit for both TVC and QDAP premiums paid during the relevant year of assessment.
All balance in a TVC account, whether or not a tax deduction in respect of which has been allowed, can only be withdrawn upon the scheme member’s reaching age 65 (or on other statutory grounds).
Notes:
The above table is the tax savings per year computed based on a single person across different income brackets and assuming that the taxpayer is only entitled to basic allowance and tax deductions from mandatory contributions, and 10% of the annual income is used to make TVC. Tax savings are computed based on the tax rate for the year of assessment 2018/19.
The examples are for illustration and reference only. While the tax deduction for TVC can help the taxpayer save up to $10,200 per year, it does not mean that any taxpayer who uses up to $60,000 deduction cap can save $10,200 in tax. How much one can save depends on a number of factors, including personal income, entitled tax allowances and deductions, as well as the premiums paid for the QDAP or TVC made, etc.
Note:
The above example is based on the assumption that the employer and employee each contributes maximum amount of mandatory contributions of $1,500 per month and the employee makes $5,000 TVC each month (i.e. $60,000 TVC per year) for 20 years and the annual investment return is 3% per annum.