Dependent parent and grandparent allowance with the co-residence extra.
Total parent allowance
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Aged 60+ portion
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Estimated tax saving
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Your breakdown
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An allowance that rewards supporting your elders
Hong Kong's salaries tax gives you a stack of allowances that reduce the income on which you are taxed, and one of the most valuable for working adults is the dependent parent and grandparent allowance. If you maintain a parent, grandparent, or your spouse's parent or grandparent who is older and ordinarily resident in Hong Kong, you can deduct a set amount from your chargeable income, and a further amount on top if that person lives with you for the whole year. This calculator adds up the allowance across everyone you support and estimates what it saves you in tax.
The mechanism matters. The allowance is not a cash rebate; it lowers your net chargeable income, and your actual saving is that reduction multiplied by the marginal rate it removes. Because Hong Kong's bands are progressive, the same allowance is worth more to a higher earner whose top dollars are taxed at the upper rates, and less to someone near the bottom of the scale.
Age bands and the co-residence top-up
The amount depends on the dependant's age and whether they live with you. The figures this calculator applies are $50,000 for a dependant aged 60 or above, doubled to $100,000 if they reside with you all year, and $25,000 for one aged 55 to 59, again doubled to $50,000 with full-year co-residence. So a parent over 60 living under your roof is the most valuable case. These amounts are the model's 2025/26 assumptions, frozen at recent levels but reset each Budget, so confirm the current figures with the Inland Revenue Department.
One parent over 60, living with you
Take the defaults: a single parent aged over 60 who lives with you all year, and net chargeable income of $400,000 before this allowance. The base allowance is $50,000 and the co-residence top-up is another $50,000, so the total allowance is $100,000. That drops your chargeable income from $400,000 to $300,000. Because those top $100,000 were sitting in the 17 percent band the calculator applies, the tax saving is $100,000 at 17 percent, which is $17,000.
The conditions, and one thing to avoid
To claim, the dependant must be ordinarily resident in Hong Kong and you must contribute to their maintenance, with the residing-together top-up requiring genuine, full-year co-residence rather than the occasional visit. The most common mistake is two siblings both claiming the same parent. The allowance for any one dependant can be claimed by only one person in a year, so families need to agree who claims, ideally the sibling with the higher marginal rate, because that is where the deduction is worth the most. There is no extra Hong Kong tax lurking elsewhere to offset the benefit, no separate care levy or wealth tax, so the saving this tool shows is the clean result.
Common questions
Can my brother and I split the allowance for the same parent?
No. The dependent parent allowance for a given parent goes to one claimant for the whole year; you cannot each take half. If several adult children support a parent, decide together who claims, and the answer is usually the highest earner, because the allowance reduces income at that person's top rate and so produces the largest saving. The others get nothing for that parent, though each can claim separately for a different qualifying dependant they support.
Is there a separate allowance if I pay for a care home instead?
Yes, but you choose one or the other for the same person, not both. If your parent lives in a residential care home, the elderly residential care expenses deduction can be claimed for the fees instead of the dependent parent allowance. Run the numbers both ways: the care-home deduction is capped but can exceed the allowance when fees are high, while the dependent parent allowance is simpler and better when the parent lives with you. This calculator covers the allowance route; compare it against the care-expenses deduction before deciding.