Final · Effective · Applies to VASPs, Banks, Fund managers
The Legislative Council passed the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework and Amended Common Reporting Standard) Bill 2026 on 4 November 2026. The government says CARF will be implemented in Hong Kong next year, when relevant service providers start collecting the specified information, and that the Inland Revenue Department will exchange it with partner jurisdictions from 2028. The amended Common Reporting Standard takes effect in 2028, with exchanges under it from 2029.
Why it matters: For SFC-licensed platforms the law adds little beyond a tax-residence check and an annual return; its reach is the unlicensed firms with a Hong Kong nexus, which now have to register with the tax authority whether or not they have anything to report. R.M.
The government announced the passage in a press release on 4 November 2026. The Legislative Council (LegCo) passed the Bill that day so that Hong Kong can implement the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) and its amendments to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) (para 1).
CARF. It is implemented “next year”, when relevant service providers must start collecting the specified information. The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) will exchange that information with partner jurisdictions from 2028 (para 4).
Amended CRS. It takes effect in 2028, and the IRD will exchange financial account information under it from 2029 (para 4).
Support. The IRD will issue guidance and has set up a dedicated team to answer industry enquiries (para 5).
The release does not describe what the Ordinance requires. The IRD’s CARF page, which still describes the Bill as introduced on 3 June 2026, says reporting crypto-asset service providers (RCASPs) that meet the nexus rules must register on a CARF Portal by 31 January of the year after they first meet a nexus criterion, whether or not they have anything to report (“Reporting portal and mandatory registration”). They must obtain self-certifications from existing users within 12 months of CARF coming into operation (“Due diligence requirements”) and keep records for six years after the return’s due date (“Record keeping requirements”). The earlier Regulatory Wire item sets out the Bill’s provisions by paragraph of the LegCo Brief.
Implications
With the Bill passed, firms with a Hong Kong nexus have a 1 January 2027 start in law. The IRD’s page says the CARF Portal and the data schema for returns will be “announced in due course”, so platforms have less than two months to design self-certification flows against a schema that is not yet published (“Reporting portal and mandatory registration”).
Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, argues that applying current exchange standards protects Hong Kong’s standing as a financial centre and gives crypto service providers, financial institutions and digital asset users confidence to operate and invest over the long term (para 3).
For platforms the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) already licenses, the Ordinance adds little. They already verify identity for anti-money laundering checks; what CARF adds is a tax-residence self-certification from every user and an annual return to the IRD.
The weight falls on firms outside SFC licensing. The registration duty does not depend on a licence: a provider that meets the nexus rules must register on the CARF Portal whether or not it has anything to report (IRD CARF page, “Reporting portal and mandatory registration”). That gives the tax authority its own register of crypto firms with a Hong Kong nexus, and a second route to platforms the SFC does not supervise. The Bill’s LegCo Brief says the IRD will use the SFC’s list of trading platforms to find firms that have not registered (earlier Regulatory Wire item); no document says information will flow the other way, so that part rests on inference. The IRD’s guidance and the first count of registrations on the CARF Portal will show how many firms the register reaches beyond the SFC’s list.
Elsewhere in Asia
Singapore made its CARF regulations in August 2026, also starting on 1 January 2027, with registration due by 31 March 2028 for providers in scope during 2027. India brought crypto-assets, central bank digital currency (CBDC) and e-money into its CRS rules in March 2026, and its section 509 rules require CARF-style reporting from calendar year 2026. No State of Play entry covers tax.
What to watch
The Ordinance’s publication in the Gazette, the IRD’s guidance, CARF Portal and data schema, the lists of reportable and partner jurisdictions the Commissioner will publish (“Lists of reportable and partner jurisdictions”), and the CARF start on 1 January 2027.