5. An employer may occasionally receive a Recovery Notice issued under Section 76(1) of the Inland Revenue Ordinance requiring him/her to deduct the employee's salary for tax payments. Should the employer fulfill this obligation under the Recovery Notice before or after making the income deduction required under the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance?

The Inland Revenue Department is prepared to accept, in the absence of legal precedent to the contrary, the priority of the income deduction for making mandatory contributions to a registered MPF scheme over the income deduction for paying default tax . Mandatory contributions refer to those contributions which an employer has a statutory responsibility to make under section 7A(1)(b) and section 7A(2)(b) of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (Cap.485 of the Laws of Hong Kong). They do not cover other contributions including the employee's voluntary contributions made through the employer under section 11 of that ordinance.

For enquiries about a recovery notice issued by the Inland Revenue Department, please call the telephone number printed on the recovery notice.