30 Annual Report 2017-18
7 Information Technology
The Department has been making extensive use of information technology to enhance operational efficiency and provide quality services to the public.
IT Environment
The Department has built up a comprehensive and integrated IT infrastructure with different types of computer application systems and platforms. The Department’s network connects the computer system and workstations of staff on different floors. Assessment process is automated by the “Assess-First-Audit-Later”
system. Tax audit and investigation work is facilitated by the use of data mining and advanced analytical tools.
The Document Management System and Workflow Management System enhance the control and monitoring of documents, files and workflow, facilitate the tracking of case progress, and thus enable the Department to improve overall service quality. A wide range of information is stored in the Department’s Intranet and General Enquiry Knowledge Database for convenient access by our staff at work. Moreover, e-mail and Internet facilities provide an efficient and environment-friendly communication platform for our staff.
In 2017-18, we successfully completed the System Infrastructure Enhancement project to migrate all the mainframe tax applications to the midrange platform and enhance the interoperability and overall efficiency of the computer systems.
Electronic Services
eTAX
The Department continues to provide a wide range of online tax services to the public, including internet filing of tax returns, e-stamping of property documents, business registration e-services, electronic notices, electronic payments and lodgement of applications, etc.
eTAX services are widely used by the public. As at 31 March 2018, there were some 807,000 registered eTAX users. The take-up rate increased year after year (Figure 34).
31 Annual Report 2017-18
Figure 34 eTAX Usage Statistics
2016-17 Number
2017-18
Number Increase
Internet filing of tax returns
- Tax Return-Individuals, Property Tax Return and Profits Tax Return 567,583 610,378 +7.5%
- Employer’s Return of Remuneration and Pensions
BIR56A 13,517 14,278 +5.6%
IR56B 107,580 114,067 +6.0%
- Employer’s Notifications of Commencement of Employment, Cessation of Employment and Employee’s Departure from Hong Kong
19,145 23,506 +22.8%
Stamping of Property Document 292,224 310,141 +6.1%
Business Registration Number Enquiry 2,049,465 2,215,110 +8.1%
Application for Supply of Information on the Business Register
- Requisition 141,998 166,555 +17.3%
- Business registrations involved 440,471 469,681 +6.6%
Other Electronic Services
During 2017-18, some 43,800 employers furnished annual returns for 2,879,700 employees in total by diskettes, DVDs or USB storage devices. About 68% of these employers used the free software provided by the Department.
