Free Hong Kong retirement calculator
A Hong Kong retirement calculator has to start from the fact that makes Hong Kong different from almost everywhere else: there is no state pension at all. No contributory scheme, no universal benefit — the Old Age Living Allowance is means-tested welfare that any household running a retirement plan would fail on assets alone. There is MPF, and there is whatever you saved. Underneath a Hong Kong retirement there is no income floor, so the whole number has to come from the portfolio, and Coastline models it that way rather than inventing a benefit.
What each balance supports, per month
| Balance at 65 | Per month | Per year | Draw rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| HK$3,000,000 | HK$11,667 | HK$140,000 | 4.7% |
| HK$6,000,000 | HK$23,750 | HK$285,000 | 4.8% |
| HK$10,000,000 | HK$40,000 | HK$480,000 | 4.8% |
| HK$15,000,000 | HK$60,000 | HK$720,000 | 4.8% |
| HK$20,000,000 | HK$80,000 | HK$960,000 | 4.8% |
The draw rates barely move, sitting near 4.8% across the whole range — and that is itself the point. In every other country in this app the sustainable rate shifts with the tax on withdrawals and with a state pension arriving partway through. In Hong Kong there is no tax on withdrawals and no benefit to arrive, so the answer is close to pure arithmetic on returns, inflation and how long you live.
| Per month | Per year | Balance needed |
|---|---|---|
| HK$25,000 | HK$300,000 | HK$6,250,000 |
| HK$40,000 | HK$480,000 | HK$10,000,000 |
| HK$50,000 | HK$600,000 | HK$12,500,000 |
| HK$75,000 | HK$900,000 | HK$18,750,000 |
Salaries tax is two calculations, and you pay the lower one
Hong Kong charges the lesser of progressive rates on your net chargeable income (after allowances) and a flat standard rate on your net income (before allowances). That two-way test is the system, and it has a precise consequence: allowances are worth their full value up to a point and then worth exactly nothing. The engine solves the crossover for a single earner with the basic allowance at HK$2,150,500 of salary — below it the progressive calculation wins, above it the standard rate does.
| Salary | Progressive | Standard rate | You pay | Effective rate | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HK$300,000 | HK$8,000 | HK$42,750 | HK$8,000 | 2.7% | progressive |
| HK$600,000 | HK$56,290 | HK$87,300 | HK$56,290 | 9.4% | progressive |
| HK$1,000,000 | HK$124,290 | HK$147,300 | HK$124,290 | 12.4% | progressive |
| HK$2,000,000 | HK$294,290 | HK$297,300 | HK$294,290 | 14.7% | progressive |
| HK$3,000,000 | HK$464,290 | HK$447,300 | HK$447,300 | 14.9% | standard |
| HK$6,000,000 | HK$974,290 | HK$907,120 | HK$907,120 | 15.1% | standard |
Two children push that crossover out to HK$4,530,500, because a child allowance only exists inside the progressive branch — which is why a very high earner with children saves nothing at all from them, while the same allowances are worth real money to a middle earner. Effective rates stay low by international standards throughout: 9.4% at HK$600,000 and 15.1% at HK$6,000,000.
MPF: forced saving, locked late, untaxed out
- Mandatory contributions are capped. 5% of relevant income from you and 5% from your employer, on income between HK$85,200 and HK$360,000 a year — so the employee side stops at HK$18,000 a year however much you earn. It is a deduction from pay, but it is not tax: it lands in your own account the same year, which is why this model keeps it out of the tax figures entirely.
- Voluntary contributions only earn a deduction through a TVC account. Ordinary voluntary MPF earns nothing. Routing HK$60,000 through a Tax-Deductible Voluntary Contribution account instead cuts the bill on a HK$800,000 salary from HK$90,290 to HK$80,090 — HK$10,200 a year, for moving the same money into a different wrapper.
- Access is 65, or 60 if you have genuinely stopped working. There is no penalised early withdrawal at any age. Retiring at 55 on HK$480,000 a year means funding 5 years from ordinary investments first, which the engine prices at HK$2,300,000; at 50 it is HK$4,250,000 for 10 years.
- Nothing is ever forced out. There is no minimum-withdrawal rule at any age, so a pot can be left untouched for life.
The retiree's tax bill is genuinely zero
MPF withdrawals are tax-free. So is every disposal of ordinary investments — Hong Kong has no capital gains tax on shares, on property, or on the sale of a business, at any size and any holding period. There is no tax on dividends or bank interest in the recipient's hands either. A retiree with no rental income and no taxable pension therefore pays nothing, and the projection says so: across the 30 years of the headline scenario, total tax charged is HK$0. Add a taxable occupational pension or a let flat and tax reappears — salaries tax on the pension, property tax at 15% on rental value — and the engine handles both, including the personal-assessment election that is the only route by which a landlord's mortgage interest becomes deductible.
What this does and doesn't model
- No state pension is modelled, because none exists. The Old Age Living Allowance, the Old Age Allowance and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance are means-tested social assistance, not retirement benefits, and are deliberately left out. A real annuity or an occupational pension is modelled as a pension income phase, correctly taxed.
- The Budget rates waiver is not projected. Most recent Budgets have waived a slice of salaries tax up to a cap, but the cap is re-decided every year and has ranged widely. Projecting one forward would invent a permanent tax cut, so the engine applies none — making working-year tax slightly conservative in any year a waiver actually lands.
- The year of assessment runs 1 April to 31 March; these rows are calendar years, charged at the rates of the year of assessment beginning in that calendar year. Nine months of twelve line up.
- Allowances and deduction ceilings are inflated, not frozen. Hong Kong has no statutory indexation — the Financial Secretary resets them at each Budget in lumpy steps. Inflating them keeps a plan's real tax rate stable; freezing them nominally for forty years would model an equally invented real tax rise.
- Owner distributions are treated as unincorporated business profits and charged two-tiered profits tax, not as tax-free dividends — because a Hong Kong company pays profits tax before distributing, and that entity-level tax is outside this household model.
Why this one is different
Most free calculators aimed at Hong Kong do one of two things: apply a single flat "tax rate" to everything, or quietly run a model built for somewhere else with the currency symbol swapped. Coastline runs a separate Hong Kong engine:
- Real Hong Kong tax rules, year by year. It applies salaries tax computed BOTH ways — progressive on net chargeable income and the two-tiered standard rate on net income — with the cheaper one taken, plus every allowance and deduction, and the personal-assessment election for anyone with rental income — recomputed every single projection year rather than once.
- The right accounts, with the right access rules. A MPF balance is modelled as a MPF balance — including the ages at which you can and cannot reach it, which is where a borrowed model goes most badly wrong.
- Saving and spending, end to end. Accumulation and drawdown in one projection, so the plan connects rather than stopping at a target number.
- The arithmetic is shown. Every figure opens into the calculation behind it — you can check the model instead of trusting it.
- Free, no signup. No account, no email, no bank linking. Your inputs run the projection and are then discarded.
Because there is no benefit floor here, sequence risk matters more than almost anywhere: run the plan through the Monte Carlo simulator before trusting a single average-return line, and check the drawdown side with the safe withdrawal rate tool. Coastline also models the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Everything is documented in the methodology.
Educational projections, not financial or tax advice. Figures use 2026/27 Hong Kong rates and allowances in today's dollars. MPF scheme rules and fees vary by provider and are not modelled — check your own scheme documents.
Common questions
How much do I need to retire in Hong Kong?
For a single retiree at 65 spending HK$40,000 a month (HK$480,000 a year) to 95, Coastline's engine puts it at about HK$10,000,000 across an MPF pot and ordinary investments. All of it has to come from the portfolio, because there is no state pension. At HK$25,000 a month the figure is HK$6,250,000; at HK$75,000 a month it is HK$18,750,000. Assumes 6% nominal returns and 3% inflation.
Does Hong Kong have a state pension?
No. There is no contributory or universal public retirement benefit of any kind, so the state pension line in this projection is HK$0 at every age. The retirement pillar is MPF plus private saving. The Old Age Living Allowance and Old Age Allowance are means-tested social assistance with asset and income limits that a household running a retirement plan would exceed by a wide margin, so Coastline does not model them as retirement income — modelling a phantom benefit would be actively dangerous. It is also why the headline figure here is HK$10,000,000: the portfolio funds all of it.
At what salary does the standard rate beat the progressive rates?
Hong Kong charges the lower of the two, and for a single earner claiming only the basic allowance the engine solves the crossover at HK$2,150,500 of salary: below it the progressive calculation is cheaper, above it the two-tiered standard rate is. Claiming two children pushes the crossover out to HK$4,530,500, because allowances only exist inside the progressive branch — which is why very high earners get no value from them at all.
Do I pay tax on my MPF or my investments in retirement?
No. MPF withdrawals are tax-free, and Hong Kong has no capital gains tax on shares, property or a business sale, and no tax on dividends or bank interest in your hands. In the headline projection on this page, total tax across a 30-year retirement is HK$0. Tax reappears only if you have a taxable occupational pension or rental income, both of which the engine models.
When can I withdraw my MPF?
At 65, or from 60 on the early-retirement ground if you have ceased all employment and self-employment. There is no penalised early access at any age, so retiring earlier means bridging the gap from ordinary investments: at 55 on HK$480,000 a year the engine prices that 5-year bridge at HK$2,300,000, and at 50 the 10-year bridge at HK$4,250,000.
Is a TVC account worth it?
It is the only way voluntary MPF money earns a deduction — ordinary voluntary contributions earn nothing. Routing HK$60,000 a year through a Tax-Deductible Voluntary Contribution account cuts salaries tax on a HK$800,000 salary from HK$90,290 to HK$80,090, a saving of HK$10,200 for moving the same money into a different wrapper. The trade-off is that TVC money is locked to the MPF access age.