Hong Kong tax chief apologises after online interface error leads to 33,000 unfiled returns

Hong Kong’s tax chief has apologised after the government’s watchdog found that more than 33,000 taxpayers failed to file their tax returns via the electronic eTAX platform due to “unclear” wording, in some cases facing penalties as a result. Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue Department. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Commissioner of Inland Revenue Benjamin Chan said on Tuesday that his department will arrange refunds or cancel the penalties issued to some 800 taxpayers in the 2025-26 tax year. The statement came a day after the Office of the Ombudsman said eTAX‘s unclear interface misled users into believing that they had successfully completed their tax returns when in fact their submissions were still incomplete. In a report released on Monday, the Office of the Ombudsman said it launched an investigation into the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) after receiving multiple complaints regarding unsuccessful deliveries of electronic tax returns. “Our investigation revealed that between May 2025 and January 2026, IRD did not receive the tax returns filed by over 33,000 taxpayers via eTAX using a digital signature completed with ‘iAM Smart,’” said Ombudsman Jack Chan. The problem stemmed from unclear wording on the eTAX submission and signature interface. Many users mistakenly believed that the process was concluded after successfully signing via the iAM Smart digital services platform, but they needed to return to eTAX until a confirmation page appeared, the watchdog said. Ex-official among affected taxpayers Speaking on Commercial Radio programme “On a Clear Day” on Tuesday, tax chief Benjamin Chan said the two electronic platforms have been revamped this year. iAM Smart will remind users that they have to return to eTAX to complete their tax return, which will clearly indicate if the filing has been completed, he said. Commissioner of Inland Revenue Benjamin Chan (middle) hosts a press conference on May 4, 2026. File photo: GovHK Chan also said that among the 33,000 taxpayers who failed to file their tax returns via eTAX last year, about 26,000 had corrected their filings afterwards. Only around 800 received a ticket for a fine, he added. Speaking on the same programme, Luk Che-chung, a former chief executive of the Hospital Authority’s Hong Kong East Cluster, revealed that he was one of those slapped with a HK$600 penalty for failing to file his returns on time. Luk said he was shocked when the IRD accused him of not having filed his tax returns, and that he soon paid the penalty on the advice of friends familiar with taxation. At first he was convinced it was his own mistake, he said. “I am over 60 years old, and I thought my memory was failing. I didn’t even know that I hadn’t filed my taxes after signing,” he said in Cantonese. He was relieved to learn about the Office of the Ombudsman’s investigation, he said, adding that the authorities should review the issue to prevent similar incidents from happening again. Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Make a one-off donation. Hans Tse is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in local politics, academia, and media transformation. He was previously a social science researcher, with writing published in the Social Movement Studies and Social Transformation of Chinese Societies journals. He holds an M.Phil in communication from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Before joining HKFP, he also worked as a freelance reporter for Initium between 2019 and 2021, where he covered the height - and aftermath - of the 2019 protests, as well as the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020. More by Hans Tse