Approved charitable donation relief, capped at 35% of income.
Estimated tax saving
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Deductible amount
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35% income cap
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Your breakdown
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A deduction, not a credit, and only for approved charities
Hong Kong rewards giving by letting you subtract approved charitable donations from your income before tax is worked out. It is a deduction, which lowers the income that gets taxed, rather than a credit that comes straight off the tax bill, so the cash you save depends on your tax rate. Two conditions gate the relief. The donation must go to a charity that is tax-exempt under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance, and the total you claim in a year must be at least $100. A gift to an overseas charity with no Hong Kong exemption, or to a crowdfunding page, usually does not qualify, so check the IRD's list of approved institutions before counting on the deduction.
The 35 percent ceiling that catches generous donors
The catch is a cap. You can deduct donations only up to 35 percent of your assessable income for the year, the limit this calculator applies. Give more than that and the excess simply does not count, and unlike some countries Hong Kong does not let you carry the surplus forward to a later year. This rarely bites for ordinary giving, but a one-off large gift, say funding a building or a major appeal, can blow straight past the ceiling. When that happens, spreading the donation across two tax years, or having a higher-earning spouse claim it, can rescue relief that would otherwise be lost. Treat the 35 percent figure as the tool's working assumption and confirm it with the IRD.
A large gift that runs past the cap
Suppose your assessable income is $400,000 and you donate $200,000 in a year where your marginal band is 10 percent. The cap is 35 percent of income, so only part of the gift is deductible, and the saving is the deductible amount at your rate:
Of the $200,000 given, $140,000 earns relief worth $14,000 and the remaining $60,000 is wasted from a tax point of view, though of course the charity still receives every dollar. The chart shows the gift split into the deductible slice within the cap and the portion above it.
Why the same gift saves different amounts
Because relief is a deduction, the cash benefit tracks your marginal band on the progressive scale, which runs 2, 6, 10, 14 and up to 17 percent under the rates this calculator applies. A top-band donor saves 17 cents on each deductible dollar, while someone in the 10 percent band saves 10 cents. The deduction is never worth more than your top rate, which is why high earners get the most tax mileage from giving. Keep every receipt with the charity's name and exemption reference, because the IRD can ask for proof and an unreceipted donation will be disallowed even if it qualified.
Can my spouse and I pool our donations?
Yes. A married couple can claim the deduction in the name of whichever spouse has the higher income, which raises the 35 percent ceiling and applies the relief at the higher marginal rate. Under joint assessment or personal assessment the donations can be aggregated. It is a simple way to rescue relief that would hit the cap on one income alone.
Do donations of goods or volunteering time count?
No. The deduction is for money donations to approved charities. Gifts in kind, such as goods, services, or your time, are not deductible no matter how valuable, and neither is the purchase price of a charity dinner or raffle ticket beyond any genuine donation element. Only the cash element clearly given without anything in return qualifies.