Hong Kong Pillar Two Filing Guide
March 28, 2026
A practical guide to Hong Kong’s Registration, top-up tax notification, GIR / top-up tax return architecture, and current Hong Kong-specific data-format rules
This is a new Safe Harbour included in the January 2026 OECD Side-by-Side Tax Package (see: Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy – Global Anti-Base Erosion Model Rules (Pillar Two), Side-by-Side Package) that deems the top-up tax for a jurisdiction to be zero insofar as it relates to ‘Qualified Tax Incentives’ (QTIs).
The Top-up Tax that relates to QTIs is the difference between:
(i) the Top-up Tax for the jurisdiction calculated with the amount of QTIs used in the year being added to covered taxes (subject to a cap), and
(ii) the Top-up Tax if the SBTI Safe Harbour election hadn’t been made.
A QTI is defined as a generally available tax incentive calculated based on expenditure incurred, or on the amount of tangible property produced in the jurisdiction.
The SBTI Safe Harbour is to apply from fiscal years beginning from January 1, 2026.
Aside from the main election for the SBTI Safe Harbour to apply, the detailed rules for this contain two additional elections.
Tax Credits Election (Art 4)
An MNE group can make an annual election to treat a Qualified Refundable Tax Credit or a Marketable Transferable Tax Credit as a QTI.
Substance Cap Election (Art 4)
The substance cap referred to above for determining the amount added to covered taxes is generally 5.5% of the higher of (1) Eligible Payroll Costs in the jurisdiction or (2) the depreciation and depletion recorded in FANIL for Eligible Tangible Assets located in the jurisdiction.
However, an MNE group can make a 5 year election for the jurisdiction for the substance cap to be 1% of the carrying value of Eligible Tangible Assets located in the jurisdiction (excluding land and other non-depreciable assets) for that Fiscal Year
A practical guide to Hong Kong’s Registration, top-up tax notification, GIR / top-up tax return architecture, and current Hong Kong-specific data-format rules
A practical guide to Germany’s Registration, group head notification and GloBE Information Return (GIR) filing through the BZSt framework
Australia issued the Taxation (Multinational—Global and Domestic Minimum Tax) (Qualified GloBE Taxes) Amendment (Measures No. 1) Determination 2026, on March 20, 2026. This updates Australia’s domestic lists of foreign Qualified IIRs, foreign Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Taxes, and jurisdictions with QDMTT Safe Harbour status
On March 24, 2026, Finland gazetted a law amending its Minimum Tax Act to provide for aspects of the January 2026 OECD Side By Side Tax Package and the June 2024 and January 2025 OECD Administrative Guidance.
On March 24, 2026, Belgium issued an updated draft QDMTT Form and XSD Schema.
A practical guide to Luxembourg’s top-up tax return on MyGuichet.lu, including what the local XML does, which fields drive the filing logic, and where groups usually need extra controls.
On February 27, 2026, South Korea issued an amendment to its international tax adjustment decree to provide for detailed provisions for the application of its QDMTT.
In this article we look at how Japan handles the Pillar Two GloBE Information Return through the e-Tax Multinational Enterprise Information Reporting Corner, what fields Japan localises in the GIR XML and CSV package, and how that sits alongside the Japanese top-up tax return.
View our downloadable checklist for Japan’s Pillar Two filing process.
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