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Hong Kong Tax Agency Suspends Services Because of Coronavirus

Posted on Jan. 29, 2020

Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue Department (IRD) said it will suspend all taxpayer services for three days, starting January 29, to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus. 

In a January 28 release, the IRD said deadlines for tax payments, the filing of tax returns, and the submission of tax challenges will be extended until February 3. Any penalties that would otherwise be owed for failure to submit documents on a timely basis during the suspension of services will be waived, provided that the documents are submitted February 3, the IRD said. 

Taxpayers in need of tax clearance certificates before leaving Hong Kong should notify the IRD by email for alternative arrangements, the tax agency said. 

The South China Morning Post reported January 28 that the government of Hong Kong told civil servants responsible for nonessential services to not report for work until the end of the week. 

The newspaper reported that 106 people in China have died from the coronavirus, with 4,600 more people afflicted by the disease, which apparently started in the city of Wuhan. 

While Hong Kong, which is approximately 600 miles from Wuhan, has had eight confirmed coronavirus cases, no one in the region is reported to have died from the disease.

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