Hong Kong's Legislative Council passed the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework and Amended Common Reporting Standard) Bill 2026 on Nov. 4, 2026, according to a government passage announcement. The bill requires covered crypto-asset service providers to begin collecting information under the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) in 2027, ahead of the Inland Revenue Department's first international exchanges in 2028.
Two reporting calendars
The legislation sets separate schedules for CARF and the amended Common Reporting Standard (CRS). The Inland Revenue Department's implementation background specifies Jan. 1, 2027, for CARF and Jan. 1, 2028, for the amended CRS.
Under CARF, covered providers collect and report information to the tax authority, and the department conducts international exchanges. The first collection year comes before the cross-border sharing date for covered firms.
The amended CRS, which covers financial account information, takes effect in 2028, with exchanges under that revised standard beginning in 2029. Its timetable is separate from CARF's 2027 collection and 2028 exchange schedule.
Provider scope and reporting requirements
In its CARF explanation, the Inland Revenue Department describes reporting providers as businesses carrying out customer exchanges between crypto-assets and fiat currencies, or between crypto-assets. These include businesses acting as counterparties or intermediaries and those operating trading platforms. Obligations depend on the provider's connection to a jurisdiction under the framework's nexus rules.
The department describes reportable users, and relevant controlling persons of entity users, by tax residence in reportable jurisdictions. A provider must identify the relevant users or controlling persons before it can prepare information for the annual reporting process.
The explanation lists identifying details, tax-residence information, and aggregated transaction information among the required data. That scope is key when assessing a provider's obligations and which customers' information is reportable.
CARF establishes due diligence and annual reporting requirements for crypto-asset service providers. It concerns tax transparency, with providers gathering information that tax authorities can use, rather than setting an individual user's tax bill.
Next steps
Hong Kong says exchanges will be reciprocal and subject to confidentiality and security safeguards. The Inland Revenue Department will issue guidance and has established a dedicated team to provide technical support and answer industry inquiries.
The department also says it will develop a CARF reporting portal and publish the data schema that defines the reporting format, with further details to follow. Those materials will set out more of the reporting process for providers preparing to collect the required data in 2027.
In December 2024, Hong Kong intended to complete legislative amendments by 2026 and begin crypto-information exchanges in 2028. The Nov. 4 vote marks the legislative milestone ahead of the collection year.
