PANews reported on December 17 that the Hong Kong government recently announced its commitment to the OECD's Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information, stating that Hong Kong will implement a framework for the declaration of crypto assets (declaration framework) to enhance international tax transparency and combat cross-border tax evasion. Hong Kong has pledged to implement the declaration framework with appropriate partners under a reciprocity principle, and these partners must meet standards for ensuring data confidentiality and security. Considering the latest timeline set by the Global Forum, the government tentatively plans to complete the necessary local legislative amendments by 2026 or earlier and to begin the first automatic exchange of information under the declaration framework with relevant tax jurisdictions starting in 2028.
The OECD announced the declaration framework in June 2023 to ensure global tax transparency is maintained. As an extension of the existing 'Common Reporting Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information on Tax Matters,' the declaration framework outlines a similar mechanism that allows users or controllers of crypto assets to automatically exchange tax information related to crypto asset accounts and transactions with their tax jurisdictions every year. To ensure the declaration framework can be implemented fairly and effectively worldwide, the Global Forum has invited all relevant crypto asset industries and tax jurisdictions identified as directly related to the declaration framework (including Hong Kong) to implement the declaration framework.