Proving HK$2.5 Million Income for Hong Kong Top Talent Pass Category A in 2026
A shareholder-director can count profits from a self-owned company toward the HK$2.5 million Category A threshold, but the shares must generally be held continually throughout the tax assessment year preceding the application, and income from personal investment is excluded. That is what the Hong Kong Immigration Department states on its Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) Frequently Asked Questions page as of October 2026. The rest of this article works through what that means in practice for owner-managed income, which documents carry the proof, and where files most often fall out of alignment. It is general reference drawn from official wording, not an assessment of your own case; where your income structure sits close to a boundary, the official page and a qualified professional's view should decide it.
What income actually counts toward HK$2.5 million?
Category A covers persons with annual income reaching HK$2.5 million or above, or its equivalent in foreign currency, in the year immediately preceding the date of application. Annual income is defined as taxable employment or business income, and the definition expressly includes salary, allowances, stock options and profits from self-owned companies.
Two filters do most of the work here. The income has to be taxable, and it has to be employment or business income. Income generated from personal investment is not taken into consideration, so gains that come to you as an investor rather than as an earner sit outside the calculation even if the amounts are large.
Can a shareholder count company profits toward the threshold?
Yes, and this is the route most high-net-worth applicants use. Profits from self-owned companies appear inside the definition of annual income alongside salary and allowances. The right to count them is not open-ended, though: for business income, the Immigration Department states that applicants should in general continually hold the relevant company shares throughout the tax assessment year preceding the date of application, for the calculation of the annual income they can acquire from those profits.
Read that literally and the holding period is the test, not the size of the company's profit. A business that made several million in the relevant year does not lift an applicant over the line if the shareholding did not run across the whole assessment year in question.
Consider a hypothetical applicant who acquires a majority stake four months before filing. On the stated approach, that holding does not span the assessment year preceding the application, so the profit-based head of income would rest on a period the stated rule does not cover. The safe reading is that shareholding acquired or disposed of inside the assessment year weakens the profit claim, and the department's use of "in general" signals that the wording sets the expected position rather than an automatic arithmetic test.
Which documents actually carry the proof?
The FAQ sets out three documentary routes, and which one you use depends on how the income arose:
| Income being proved | Document the FAQ names | Worth noting |
|---|---|---|
| Employment income | Notice of salaries tax assessment of the previous assessment year, issued by a local competent authority such as a taxation office or revenue department | The authority is the one where you are taxed, not necessarily a Hong Kong body |
| Stock options | Documentary proof issued by the employing company specifying the value of the stock options granted | The value has to come from the employer, not from your own estimate |
| Profits of a self-owned company | Documentary proof of financial standing: latest audited financial report, trading profit and loss account, or profit tax return | Marked as applicable where company profits form part of the claim |
The full supporting-document list sits in the Guidebook for TTPS (ID-E-1026), and applications are submitted through the online system with documents uploaded there. Where a company's financials are the backbone of the claim, the holding evidence and the profit evidence should describe the same entity and the same period.
How is the "year" measured?
Three reference points appear in the official wording, and they need to line up. Income must reach the threshold in the year immediately preceding the date of application. The salaries tax assessment notice should be for the previous assessment year. Business income is tied to the tax assessment year preceding the date of application for the purpose of the shareholding rule.
The practical consequence is consistency. If part of your claim rests on a salaries tax notice and part on company accounts, both should speak to the same window, because a mismatch between the assessment year reflected in one document and the period over which your shares were held is the kind of gap that invites further questions. The FAQ states these references without translating them into calendar dates, so the assessment year your local tax authority uses is what governs the shape of the evidence.
What if the income is not in Hong Kong dollars?
The online application offers 17 currencies besides the Hong Kong dollar: the Chinese renminbi, U.S. dollar, Sterling, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Singapore dollar, New Taiwan dollar, Swiss franc, Korean won, Thai baht, Malaysian ringgit, Euro, Philippine peso, Indian Rupee, Indonesian Rupiah and South African Rand. Pick one and the system converts the income into Hong Kong dollars automatically.
If your income is denominated in none of these, you convert it yourself into Hong Kong dollars or into one of the 17 currencies when submitting the online application, and you upload supporting documents for the Immigration Department's assessment. Self-employed applicants paid in a currency outside the list should expect the conversion workings to be part of the evidence, not a footnote.
Does an income test return at the extension stage?
Category A applicants admitted under the scheme are normally granted an initial stay of 36 months on time limitation only, without other conditions of stay. Extension applications can be made online within three months before the limit of stay expires, and at that point the applicant must prove either employment in Hong Kong with a stable income or that they have established or joined a business in Hong Kong. A successful extension is normally granted on time limitation only for not more than three years, or until the employment contract expires, whichever is shorter.
There is also a higher track. Applicants who have met the extension requirements (employment in Hong Kong with a stable income, or having established or joined a business in Hong Kong), have been permitted to remain under the TTPS for not less than two years, and have an assessable income for salaries tax of not less than HK$2 million in the previous year of tax assessment may apply for assessment under the top-tier employment stream, which normally brings an extension of six years. One further constraint matters for planning: the initial stay under the TTPS is granted once only, so an applicant who leaves and lets the limit of stay expire cannot come back through the same scheme.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can business profits alone qualify, without any salary?
Yes. Annual income for Category A is taxable employment or business income, and profits from self-owned companies are listed within that definition. A claim built entirely on company profit still has to meet the shareholding condition described above.
I bought into the company partway through the year. Can those profits count?
The stated position is that applicants should continually hold the relevant shares throughout the tax assessment year preceding the application. A stake acquired mid-year does not meet that description, so the profit-based element of the claim becomes vulnerable.
Do stock options count toward HK$2.5 million?
Stock options are named in the definition of annual income. The proof required is documentary evidence issued by the employing company specifying the value of the options granted to you.
Is investment income ever counted?
No. The Immigration Department states that income generated from personal investment will not be taken into consideration, regardless of amount.
What if my income is in a currency that is not on the list of 17?
Convert it into Hong Kong dollars or into one of the 17 listed currencies when you submit the online application, and upload the relevant supporting documents for assessment.
How long is the initial stay for Category A?
Persons admitted under Category A are normally granted an initial stay of 36 months on time limitation only, without other conditions of stay. Categories B and C are normally granted 24 months.