Making MPF contributions for your employees

Both employers and employees need to contribute regularly to an MPF scheme. The amount is based on the employee's relevant income. There's a minimum and maximum relevant income level that applies to how much you'll need to contribute.

You can also make additional voluntary contributions for your employees. This is done on top of mandatory contributions. It's a way to boost your employees' benefits.

You can do all this via Business Internet Banking (BIB). Read on to learn more.

Pay contributions in full by the due date

You must submit the contribution details and make contributions for your employees in full. This must be done once every payroll cycle (also known as a contribution period). It must be done in full on or before the relevant contribution day. You should make the contributions to the trustee via the eMPF Platform.

For non-casual employees who are paid monthly, you must make contributions on or before the 10th day of each calendar month. This is following the end of the contribution period. That means, for example, for a 1–31 January contribution period, you should pay contributions on or before 10 February.

The contribution day will be postponed to the next business day if it's on a:

• Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday
• Day when a typhoon signal no. 8 or above, or a black rainstorm warning is raised
• Day when the eMPF Platform is suspended (and the suspension affects the performance of the relevant duty of an employer such as making of the contributions) 

You can check contribution days on the MPF Contribution Days Calendar.

If you fail to pay in full and on time, you'll incur a 5% surcharge on the outstanding mandatory contributions. You may also face a financial penalty or even imprisonment by the MPFA (Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority). For more details, please refer to the MPFA website.

Calculate your mandatory contributions correctly

Under MPF legislation, both you and your employees must each make mandatory contributions. That means the total contribution amount for each employee is made up of 2 parts. Each part is 5% of the employee's relevant income. The 2 parts are:

• The employer's mandatory contributions for the employee
• The employee's mandatory contributions which are paid out of their own salary

A minimum and maximum relevant income level applies. The MPFA reviews these relevant income levels regularly. For the latest relevant income levels, please refer to the MPFA website.

Report contribution details

You should also remember to complete and submit a remittance statement when you're making the mandatory contributions. You can do so by paper form or electronically, to the eMPF Platform.

The remittance statement should include details such as:

• The relevant contribution period
• The relevant income and contribution amounts for each employee

Issue pay records to your employees

You must provide each employee with a pay record. You need to do this within 7 business days of making mandatory contributions. The pay record should show:

• The employee's relevant income
• The date of contribution paid to the trustee
• The amount of mandatory and any voluntary contributions made, by both employer and employee

You can also make additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) for your employees. These can be done as part of their benefits. Like mandatory contributions, the AVCs that employers make are profit tax-deductible. You can learn more about tax details on the Inland Revenue Department website.

We offer the following options for employers who want to make AVCs:

• Fixed amount contributions
• Percentage of relevant income
  - Designated contribution formula
  - Designated contribution percentage
• Lump sum contributions

You can submit the contribution data and the payment instructions online. For details, please visit the eMPF website.

You can submit the contribution data by paper remittance.

You can pay the contribution by cheque, direct debit or direct credit. For details, please visit the eMPF website.

You can make MPF contributions and submit remittance statements[@empf-authorisation], [@empf-remittance] via our Business Internet Banking (BIB) or Business Express mobile app MPF service platforms. It's simple, secure and convenient.

Through it, you can:

• Prefill each employee's latest contribution record
• Calculate both the employee's and employer's mandatory contributions automatically, based on the relevant income
• Add new employees and report terminated employees
• See remittance statements submitted via BIB over the last 12 months

You can learn more about new features and the information that the eMPF Platform may require of you. To do that, please check out these guides:

• HSBC Business Internet Banking MPF services user guide (PDF)
• HSBC HK Business Express mobile app MPF services user guide (PDF)
• Authorization Consent Process (PDF)

You can submit your contributions, enrol new employees and report terminations electronically. But you'll need to change the file format before you can upload and submit it to the eMPF Platform.

We can support you in adapting to the eMPF contribution submission format. Please contact us if you'd like our assistance.

If you need assistance, you can call our MPF Employer hotline on +852 2583 8033.

Lines are open (except on public holidays):

• Mondays to Fridays, 8:30am to 7:30pm
• Saturdays, 8:30am to 1pm

For questions related to your contributions, please contact the eMPF Platform. They're available Mondays to Fridays, 9am to 7pm (except on public holidays).

You can call their eMPF contribution inquiry hotline on 3197 2834.

For more ways to reach them, please visit the eMPF website.

As an employer, you must make contributions for your new employees, right from their first day of employment.

Your new employees will enjoy a '30-day contribution holiday'. That means they don't need to make contributions for the first 30 days of their employment. They also don't need to make contributions for:

• Any incomplete payroll period that immediately follows this 30-day period – if their wage period is monthly or shorter
• The calendar month in which the 30th day of their employment falls – if their wage period is longer than monthly

You don't need to enrol employees in an MPF scheme if they're employed for less than 60 days.

You must pay the first contributions to the trustee via the eMPF Platform. This must be done on or before the 10th day of the calendar month in which your new employee's 60th day of employment falls.

If you fail to pay in full and on time, you'll incur a 5% surcharge on the outstanding mandatory contributions. You may also face a financial penalty or even imprisonment by the MPFA (Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority). For more details, please refer to the MPFA website.

Under age 18 or expat in short-term employment

Your employees are exempt from enrolling in an MPF scheme if they're under age 18. They're also exempt if they're entering Hong Kong with an employment visa under section 11 of the Immigration Ordinance, and working in Hong Kong for less than 13 months.

But when they reach age 18 or if they work in Hong Kong for longer than 13 months as an expat, you'll need to enrol them in an MPF scheme. You'll also need to make mandatory contributions for them. The enrolment period and '30-day contribution holiday' will apply to them when this happens.

Reached age 65 and continued employment

If your employee reaches age 65 and continues their employment, they don't need to make mandatory contributions from the day they turn 65. You only need to calculate mandatory contributions for that period up to the date on which they turn 65.

You must submit contribution details and make contributions for casual employees once every payroll cycle (also known as contribution period). This must be done in full, on or before the contribution day.

A 'contribution holiday' doesn't apply to casual employees. That means both the employer and employee must make mandatory contributions from the first day of employment.

Even if your casual employee ceases their employment within 10 days, you must arrange contributions for the days they worked.

The mandatory contribution amount for casual employees is subject to minimum and maximum relevant income levels. The MPFA reviews these relevant income levels regularly. For the latest details, please refer to the MPFA website.

If you fail to pay in full and on time, you'll incur a 5% surcharge on the outstanding mandatory contributions. You may also face a financial penalty or even imprisonment by the MPFA (Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority). For more details, please refer to the MPFA website.

Retroactive salary adjustments are a common practice in many industries.

You may have fully settled mandatory contributions for your employees in a previous contribution period. At the time, you did it according to their relevant income on the remittance statement. But let's say, there's now a change in their relevant income for that period. That means there's now an increase in their mandatory contributions which can't be settled as part of that contribution period.

These will be considered default contributions. The eMPF Platform will report them to the MPFA.

You'll need to report salary adjustments properly to avoid default contributions. To do so, you should report the relevant income details and make mandatory contributions properly when you back-pay your employee.

You must pay the last contributions on time when an employee ends their employment.

To work out what the amount is and when you need to pay it by, you can check out our last contribution calculator.

You can pay by cheque, direct debit or direct credit. For details on payment methods, please visit the eMPF website.

For questions related to your contributions, please contact the eMPF Platform. They're available from Mondays to Fridays, 9am to 7pm (except on public holidays).

You can call their eMPF Contribution Inquiry Hotline on 3197 2834.

You can also reach them through other ways listed on the eMPF website.