Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF)
Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) is an employment-based retirement protection system. Except for exempt persons, employees (regular or casual) and self-employed persons who are at least 18, but under 65 years of age, are required to join an MPF scheme.
Mandatory Contributions¶
Employees and employers who are covered by the MPF system are each required to make regular mandatory contributions according to the following table:
“Relevant income” refers to all monetary payments paid or payable by an employer to an employee, including wages, salaries, leave pay, fees, commissions, bonuses, gratuities, or allowances, but excluding severance payments or long service payments under the Employment Ordinance (Chapter 57, Laws of Hong Kong).
More information about Relevant Income is available here.
60-day Rule¶
An employer is not required to arrange MPF for his employees who have not been employed for 60 days. The first contribution should be paid to the trustee on or before the 10th day after the last day of the calendar month on which the 60th day of employment falls. However, all income earned in that 60 day period will still be used to calculate the first employer contribution (i.e. MPF still accrues in the background of the system during that period).
Employee Contribution Holiday¶
New employees are not required to make contributions for the first 30 days of employment and any incomplete payroll period that immediately follows the 30-day period (if paid monthly or less).
Exempt Persons¶
The following are exempt persons who are not required to join an MPF scheme:
- Domestic employees;
- Self-employed hawkers;
- People covered by a statutory pension or provident fund schemes, such as civil servants and subsidized or grant school teachers;
- Members of occupational retirement schemes which are granted MPF exemption certificates;
- People from overseas who enter Hong Kong for employment for not more than 13 months, or who are covered by overseas retirement schemes; and
- Employees of the European Union Office of the European Commission in Hong Kong.
Voluntary Contributions¶
Employers, employees and self-employed persons are free to make voluntary contributions on top of their mandatory contributions.
More information about MPF is available here.