Now you can settle your tax bill 24/7
Hongkongers can now pay their taxes around the clock and almost everywhere. Convenience stores will accept their payments from today.
Taxpayers can settle bills of up to HK$5,000 at 7-Eleven, Circle K and VanGO branches, and at China Resources Vanguard supermarkets, across the city.
The move is the next step in a government pilot scheme launched in February allowing families to settle water bills - also with a limit of HK$5,000 per transaction - at more than 1,000 outlets of the selected merchants.
The scheme has been expanded to cover 13 more government bills, including business registration renewal fees, waste disposal charges, government rates and rents, market stall rents and even student loans owed to the Student Financial Assistance Agency.
A spokesman for Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said the scheme's expansion was in response to public demand.
The bureau would not say if people had to pay charges for the convenience stores and supermarkets offering the service.
According to data from the Inland Revenue Department, the government collected HK$209 billion in 2010-11 in individual and corporate taxes and other levies such as estate duty and business registration fees. That was a rise of 16.7 per cent from the previous year.
People can still pay bills in person at 126 post offices or through internet banking, PPS (by phone or Internet) and by post. They can also make autopay payments, use ATMs or pay at venues specified on bills.
People should carefully check the details on each receipt, including reference number, date, time and amount paid, and keep the receipt for reference, the government said.
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types of bill can now be paid at convenience stores and via a supermarket chain
