On March 07, 2025, the Air Passenger Departure Tax (Amendment) Bill 2025 was gazetted in LegCo. This bill seeks to amend the Air Passenger Departure Tax Ordinance to adjust the departure tax for passengers, introduce a new financial arrangement for operators, and streamline the administration of the tax.
This article was generated using SAMS, an AI technology by Timothy Loh LLP.
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On March 07, 2025, the Air Passenger Departure Tax (Amendment) Bill 2025 was gazetted in LegCo.
This bill seeks to amend the Air Passenger Departure Tax Ordinance (Cap. 140) to adjust the departure tax for passengers, introduce a new financial arrangement for operators, and streamline the administration of the tax.
The bill proposes amending the Air Passenger Departure Tax ("APDT") from $120 to $200 per passenger to increase revenue. This adjustment is proposed to commence on 1 October 2025, and passengers purchasing tickets on or after this date will be subject to the new rate.
The bill also proposes empowering the Financial Secretary to approve operators to retain a part of the collected APDT to offset their administration fees, thereby reducing the financial burden on the government.
The amendments to the Ordinance aim to streamline the financial arrangement, ensuring that the administration fees collected by operators are directly offset against the APDT they are responsible for.
This new arrangement will reduce the administrative burden on the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, as it will no longer be required to budget for the administration fees or credit these fees to the relevant revenue account.
Instead, the Civil Aviation Department will continue to scrutinize the returns submitted by the operators to ensure accurate reporting.
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