MPF, beyond the basic contribution

The briefing on reading an offer, and the checklist before you start work, both in the first batch, cover the basic MPF contributions and enrolment. These notes cover three things that come up after you have been in the job for a few years: whether to make tax-deductible voluntary contributions (TVC), what to do with the old account when you change jobs, and whether a person who is not a local can withdraw MPF early on leaving Hong Kong. They follow the MPFA page and frequently asked questions on tax-deductible voluntary contributions, the MPFA page on transferring MPF, the MPFA page on early withdrawal of MPF, the MPFA statutory declaration form MPF(S)-W(SD2) for permanent departure from Hong Kong (17th edition, September 2026), and the GovHK note on tax deduction for contributions to a mandatory provident fund scheme or a recognised occupational retirement scheme. All were checked on 19 October 2026.

Separate the accounts first

1. A contribution account. This is the account, in the scheme your current employer has joined, that receives the contributions you and the employer make for the current job.
2. A personal account. This is the account that receives the benefits transferred from an old contribution account after you leave, or an account you transfer into yourself. An employer-sponsored scheme has no personal account.
3. A tax-deductible voluntary contributions account, a TVC account. You open it and you pay into it. It has nothing to do with the employer.
4. Register and sign in on the eMPF Platform, and you can see every account in your name in one place. If you are not sure how many accounts you have, check on the eMPF Platform first.

Tax-deductible voluntary contributions (TVC)

1. Who may make them. A person who holds an MPF contribution account or a personal account, or a member of an exempt occupational retirement scheme.
2. The tax deduction. The ceiling for each year of assessment, from 1 April to 31 March of the following year, is HK$60,000. That is the combined ceiling for TVC and for qualifying deferred annuity premiums. If you have both in the same year, TVC is deducted first, and the annuity premiums are deducted from what remains of the ceiling. Contributions to more than one TVC account are added together for the ceiling.
3. Separate from the deduction for mandatory contributions. The tax deduction for mandatory contributions is not affected. The GovHK example shows a maximum deduction of HK$18,000 a year for mandatory contributions, counted separately from the HK$60,000 ceiling for TVC.
4. Only money paid into a TVC account is deductible. Ordinary voluntary contributions paid into your existing contribution account are not TVC, and they cannot be deducted.
5. How flexible the payments are. You set the amount and the frequency. You may raise them, lower them, pause them, or start them again, at any time.
6. Opening the account. On the eMPF Platform, under My MPF, register an MPF account, choose a TVC account, and complete the identity check and the investment choice. Most master trust schemes offer a TVC account. You can call the MPFA hotline on 2918 0102, or ask the trustee.
7. If you give no investment instruction, the money is invested under the Default Investment Strategy.
8. The lock-in. TVC is like other MPF. You can take it out at 65, or when a statutory ground for early withdrawal is met. Contributions above the tax-deduction ceiling cannot be taken out early either.
9. A transfer. The whole balance of a TVC account may be transferred at any time to a TVC account in another scheme.
10. The tax return. Each year the eMPF Platform provides a summary of your TVC. Use it when you complete the tax return.

TVC suits a person whose marginal rate of salaries tax is relatively high, who is prepared for the money to stay locked in for a long time, and who plans to stay in Hong Kong for the long term or to withdraw at 65. If you do not plan to stay for the long term, and you need the money to stay flexible, weigh the lock-in and the conditions for withdrawal on permanent departure from Hong Kong, in the section on that ground.

The old account when you change jobs

1. After you leave, the MPF in the old contribution account can go one of two ways.
   1. Into the contribution account under the new employer's scheme.
   2. Into a personal account in any other scheme, including the original scheme.
2. The employer must tell the eMPF Platform the date you left. If, within 3 months after the platform receives that notice, it has received no instruction from you, the benefits are transferred automatically to a personal account in the original scheme, and they stay invested.
3. If the employer has not given that notice, you may lodge a statutory declaration of cessation of employment with the eMPF Platform, as proof of the date you left. The statutory declaration must be an original. You may sign it before a commissioner for oaths at the Home Affairs Department, a notary public, or a justice of the peace. The Home Affairs Department telephone enquiry centre is 2835 2500.
4. The Employee Choice Arrangement while you are still in the job. From November 2012, once in each calendar year, an employee may transfer the whole of the accrued benefits that come from the employee's own mandatory contributions for the current employment, from the contribution account in the employer's scheme to a personal account in a scheme the employee chooses.
5. The MPFA has announced that phase 1 of the Employee Choice Arrangement is planned to take effect on 21 December 2026. That depends on the Legislative Council completing its scrutiny of the relevant legal notice. After it takes effect, an employee whose current employment began on or after 1 May 2025 may also, once in each calendar year, transfer the whole of the accrued benefits that come from the employer's mandatory contributions for the current employment to a personal account in a scheme the employee chooses. How that phase is carried out follows the MPFA's topic page.
6. Accrued benefits from a previous employment that have already been transferred into the current contribution account may be moved, at any time, to a scheme you choose.
7. Several personal accounts can be combined into one. That makes them easier to manage, and makes the charges easier to compare.

Before you transfer, check these points.

1. Compare the fund expense ratios, and the investment choices, of the old scheme and the new one.
2. During a transfer, the money is out of the market for a short time.
3. After the transfer, check that the balance in the new account matches the amount that was transferred out.

Early withdrawal on permanent departure from Hong Kong

1. The conditions.
   1. You make a statutory declaration that you have left Hong Kong, or will leave Hong Kong, to live somewhere else, and that you have no intention of returning to Hong Kong for employment, or of settling in Hong Kong as a permanent resident.
   2. You provide proof, satisfactory to the trustee, that you are permitted to reside in a place outside Hong Kong.
2. How to apply. Apply to the trustee through the eMPF Platform. Attach proof of identity, the statutory declaration, and proof that you are permitted to reside outside Hong Kong. Do not post the documents to the MPFA or to the trustee.
3. Payment. The trustee generally pays within 30 days after it has received all the required documents.
4. Once in a lifetime. Under section 163(3) of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (General) Regulation, once benefits have been paid to you on the ground of permanent departure on a given date, you cannot, before the age of 65, apply again on the ground of permanent departure on a later date. A claim for the benefits in another account, or in another scheme, on the same date of departure is not subject to that limit (section 163(6)). The MPFA keeps a register of all claimants, and checks claims against it.
5. The consequences of a false statement.
   1. Under section 43E of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance, the maximum on a first conviction is a fine of HK$100,000 and imprisonment for 1 year. On each later conviction the maximum is a fine of HK$200,000 and imprisonment for 2 years.
   2. Wilfully making a false statutory declaration is, under section 36 of the Crimes Ordinance, punishable by imprisonment for 2 years and a fine.
   3. The MPFA may refer the case to the Immigration Department. The MPFA carries out spot checks and investigations on its own initiative.
6. What this means if you are not a local. The statutory declaration says that you have no intention of returning to Hong Kong for employment, or of settling here as a permanent resident. If you plan to come back to Hong Kong to work, or you intend to apply for permanent resident status after 7 years, that declaration conflicts with the plan, and you should not withdraw on this ground. You can also leave without withdrawing. The benefits stay in the account and stay invested, and you take them at 65, or when another statutory ground is met.
7. A warning. The MPFA asks people to watch for criminal groups that incite others to make a false statutory declaration. An intermediary that claims it can arrange an early withdrawal of MPF for you is high risk.

Other statutory grounds for early withdrawal

1. Early retirement. You have reached the age of 60, you have stopped all employment and all self-employment, and you make a statutory declaration that you have no intention of being employed or self-employed again. You may withdraw in one lump sum, or by instalments.
2. Total incapacity. A registered medical practitioner, or a registered Chinese medicine practitioner, must certify that you are permanently unfit for the work you did before.
3. Terminal illness. A doctor certifies that life expectancy is 12 months or less. You must apply through the eMPF Platform within 12 months after the certificate is issued.
4. A small balance. You hold not more than HK$5,000, and you hold it in only one MPF scheme. At least 12 months have passed between the date of the last contribution and the date of the application. You declare that you have no intention of being employed or self-employed again.
5. Death. MPF forms part of the estate. The personal representative, or the Official Administrator, claims it.

A checklist

1. Register on the eMPF Platform, and check every account in your name.
2. Within 3 months after you leave a job, decide where the old contribution account goes. Otherwise it is transferred automatically to a personal account in the original scheme.
3. Decide whether to open a TVC account. First work out how much tax the marginal rate would save, and then consider the lock-in until 65.
4. Before you leave Hong Kong, be clear about whether you will come back, and then decide whether to withdraw on the ground of permanent departure.

Sources

• MPFA, Tax-deductible voluntary contributions, page and frequently asked questions (checked 19 October 2026)
• MPFA, Transferring MPF, page, and the note on the Employee Choice Arrangement (checked 19 October 2026)
• MPFA, Early withdrawal of MPF, page (checked 19 October 2026)
• MPFA form MPF(S)-W(SD2), Statutory declaration for a claim for payment of MPF accrued benefits on the ground of permanent departure from Hong Kong (17th edition, September 2026)
• GovHK, A brief introduction to tax deduction for contributions to a mandatory provident fund scheme or a recognised occupational retirement scheme (checked 19 October 2026)