Financial Year in Hong Kong: Dates, Financial Year End and Tax Rules
- Published: 9 November 2026
- 10 min read
- Running a Business, Tax & GST
Melody Huang
Author
As a content specialist at Osome, Melody Huang creates clear and relevant content tailored to the needs of entrepreneurs in Hong Kong. She combines business expertise with a practical writing style, helping readers understand incorporation requirements, manage accounting obligations, and make informed decisions. Her work empowers Hong Kong businesses to grow and stay compliant.
Anosha Minhaj
Reviewer
Anosha Minhaj is a Tax Associate and reviewer at Osome, ensuring that all tax-related content is accurate, compliant, and up to date. With a strong focus on corporate tax, reporting requirements, and regulatory details, she provides Hong Kong readers with clear and reliable guidance to help businesses understand and meet their tax obligations.
A financial year in Hong Kong is the accounting period a company uses for its statements. Founders often assume the Hong Kong government sets that date. Two companies incorporated on the same day can close books on different dates, sitting in different audit and profits-tax calendars. This page covers what a financial year and a fiscal year mean, who chooses the fiscal year-end date and by when, how long the first year can run, and why 31 December and 31 March dominate.
Key Takeaways
- A Hong Kong company chooses its own financial year; Hong Kong government's 1 April to 31 March fiscal year does not bind it.
- The first period cannot exceed 18 months, and an unspecified year-end defaults to the first anniversary month-end.
- Choosing 31 December or 31 March unlocks extended filing deadlines for future profits tax returns, though the first return always carries a standard 3-month deadline.
What Is a Financial Year in Hong Kong?
A financial year is the reporting period a company uses to prepare its annual financial statements. For later years, that span is normally 12 months. The first period can be shorter or longer. The last day is the financial year-end date, which the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622) calls the accounting reference date.
That date is not automatically 31 December, the incorporation anniversary, or the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) year of assessment. The Hong Kong financial year is the company's own bookkeeping year, chosen for its accounts and audit cut-off.
The first financial year begins at incorporation. Directors then lock a recurring close, usually a month-end. The annual return (NAR1) follows the incorporation anniversary, not that bookkeeping close.
The year-end date belongs in the bookkeeping setup, not in a later IRD form. If nobody specifies a date in time, Cap. 622 will pick the anniversary month-end. Osome accounting services help directors choose a date that fits the 18-month first period and keep records from day one.
Financial Year vs Fiscal Year vs Accounting Year
In Hong Kong, financial year, fiscal year, and accounting year are often used interchangeably, but they refer to different concepts. Directors choose a Hong Kong company's financial year, while the fiscal year is fixed by the Hong Kong government. Accounting year is a general term for the financial reporting period in the company accounts.
Term | What it is | How it applies in Hong Kong |
|---|---|---|
| Financial year | The period a company uses to prepare audited accounts | Directors choose the close, often 31 December or 31 March |
| Fiscal year | The period used for government budgets and tax assessment | Always 1 April to 31 March; a private company cannot change it |
| Accounting year | A general name for the reporting period in the company accounts | In practice it matches the financial year; it is not a third legal clock |
The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) assesses profits tax using the 1 April to 31 March year of assessment, regardless of a company's chosen financial year-end. For that reason, many businesses choose 31 March as their financial year-end date to align accounting and reporting cycles.
A Hong Kong company's financial year is used to prepare its audited accounts and financial statements. After the first financial year, each fiscal year is normally 12 months long.
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Choosing the Right Financial Year-End
Hong Kong directors choose the company's financial year-end, which determines the start and end of each financial year. Limited companies have no mandatory financial year-end, but the first financial reporting period must comply with several statutory rules.
The first financial year-end date must meet the following requirements:
- Directors may choose any date, typically a month-end.
- The date must be specified before the last day of the month containing the first incorporation anniversary.
- The chosen date must fall within 18 months of incorporation.
- If the directors don't choose a financial year-end date in time, it will automatically be set to the last day of the month in which the company’s first anniversary falls.
Most companies choose 31 December or 31 March. A 31 December year-end aligns with financial year-end reporting used by many international groups, while a 31 March year-end aligns with Hong Kong's IRD tax year and may provide longer filing timelines.
FYE | Often suits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 31 December | Calendar-year groups and overseas parents | Matches many foreign reporting cycles; later returns usually get a mid-calendar-year window if a tax representative files |
| 31 March | Local SMEs with no calendar-year parent | Same 1 April to 31 March timetable as IRD; later returns get the longest extra filing time |
| Other month end | Seasonal or parent company that does not close in December or March | Allowed; the date still sets the audit period and which later filing window applies |
How Long Can the First Financial Year Be?
The first accounting reference period starts on the incorporation date, which is when the fiscal year begins. It may be shorter or longer than 12 months, but it must not exceed 18 months from incorporation.
The 18-month first-period cap
A long first period is a planning tool for newly incorporated companies. It lets a Hong Kong company adopt a recurring 31 December or 31 March financial year-end date without an immediate first audit a few months after incorporation.
After that first period, each following financial year is normally 12 months. The IRD typically issues the first Profits Tax Return about 18 months after incorporation. A long first year is not a reason to delay the accounting process. The first return will still ask for invoices, bank records, and payroll evidence from day one.
Dates that overrun 18 months
The 18-month cap is a hard stop for recently incorporated companies, counted from the incorporation date to the chosen close. If the target month-end would push that span past 18 months, company's directors need an earlier close of the same kind, such as the next 31 March rather than the one after.
- Incorporated on 1 May 2026, FYE 31 December 2026: about eight months. Permitted.
- Incorporated on 1 October 2026, FYE 31 December 2027: about 15 months. Permitted.
- Incorporated on 1 October 2026, FYE 31 December 2028: about 27 months. Not permitted.
The 18-month cap applies only to the first accounting reference period. Once that close is set, later financial years are normally 12 months. A later extension changes the year-end and has its own 18-month and five-year limits, not another long first year.
How Does the Financial Year-End Affect Tax Filing Deadlines?
The financial year-end date determines which accounts attach to each return, including the first. That first return usually allows three months from issue, regardless of when the books close. From later years, the same recurring date also decides how much extra filing time the company's tax obligations usually get.
The first profits tax return
The first return happens 18 months after the company incorporated. A good tax strategy is for the finance teams to file within three months of issue. There is no need to apply for a group reporting tax filing extension on that first form.
The chosen close date still applies to the accounts attached to that Profits Tax Return. It then repeats as the company's ordinary tax year-end. The company's directors should lock a date that still works after year one, not a date chosen only for the first three-month window.
The IRD tax year is recorded from those audited financial statements. There is no separate “set FYE” form at incorporation.
Later returns and filing windows
The IRD groups companies by financial year-end dates into three accounting date codes, each with a different annual return cycle when a tax representative is appointed:
Group Code | Year-End Range | Filing Deadline Extension |
|---|---|---|
| N | 1 April to 30 November | No extension, due within 1 month |
| D | 31 December | Mid-year extension (mid-August) |
| M | 1 January to 31 March | Longest extension (up to February) |
Without a tax representative, returns are generally due within 1 month regardless of accounting date code. The code is based on the company’s fiscal year-end date and affects later filing deadlines.
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What Should Directors Check Before Locking the Date?
After the group date and the later-year tax filing window are in view, the leftover checks are operational. They ask whether the close fits business operations that day, including stocktakes that have to fall on the year-end date itself.
- Quiet season: Avoid the peak trading month in the business cycle, so stocktakes, auditor queries, and cash flow all land in a quieter period.
- Month-end date: Use a month-end date. A mid-month close splits calendar months in the ledgers.
- Auditor capacity: Ask the accountant and auditor whether the proposed close sits in their peak season, because that timing drives audit readiness.
Those checks confirm the date. They should not reopen the parent match or the later-year filing window already chosen.
Retail teams often close in January so the Christmas rush and the profits sit in one year, and the stocktake is not on 31 December. Pick a month-end after peak trading, then ask whether the accountant is already in their own busy season. IRD filing time follows that accounting date, so a quiet close is easier to live with.
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Can a Company Change Its Financial Year End?
A Hong Kong company can change its financial year end after the first close is set. That change is a separate process from specifying the first accounting reference date. It is not a second chance to pick the first period, and it reshuffles the later audit and profits-tax calendar.
Cap. 622 still puts hard limits on the new period:
- 18-month cap: An altered period cannot run beyond 18 months.
- Accounts deadline: An extension is generally blocked once the deadline for sending the accounts has passed.
- Five-year bar: Directors cannot extend a financial year if an earlier accounting period was extended within the last five years, unless aligned with a holding company's FYE or approved by shareholders.
How Osome Can Help
Setting the tax year-end feels like a formality until the default month-end arrives and the first audit sits on an awkward calendar. Hong Kong startups, SMEs, public companies, and subsidiaries of overseas groups often need the date to match a parent, stay inside the 18-month period, and still leave time for later filings and tax compliance.
Osome accounting services take that choice at incorporation, keep the books from day one, and coordinate the accounts, audit, and filing window. You get a planned fiscal year-end date instead of a leftover default, without treating the first business cycle as the moment to decide.
Summary
Specify the recurring year-end before the first anniversary month-end, then count backwards so the first period stays inside 18 months. Waiting for the first Profits Tax Return is too late. That form usually arrives about 18 months after incorporation, and by then an unspecified date has already defaulted. The default is the anniversary month-end, not a date chosen for the group or the tax calendar. A later change is allowed but tightly limited, so lock a date you can live with after year one. Once the recurring close is set, the quiet-month and month-end checks are a confirmation, not a new search.