Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF)

If you are an employee or a self-employed person, the MPF System enables you to save for your retirement. Except for exempt persons, all employed persons aged 18 to aged below 65 are required to join MPF schemes. The following are the exempt categories:

• Domestic employees (including foreign domestic helpers);
• Self-employed hawkers;
• People covered by statutory pension or provident fund schemes, such as civil servants and subsidized or grant school teachers;
• Members of occupational retirement schemes which are granted exemption certificates;
• People from overseas who enter Hong Kong for employment for less than 13 months, or who are covered by overseas retirement schemes; and
• Employees of the European Union Office of the European Commission in Hong Kong.

Once your employer has enrolled you in a MPF scheme, a membership certificate from the MPF trustee will be issued to you. You have the right to choose among the constituent funds offered under the scheme.

Mandatory contributions are calculated on the basis of 5% of an employee’s relevant income, with the employer also contributing 5%. An employee’s mandatory contributions are subject to minimum and maximum relevant income levels, while an employer’s mandatory contributions are subject to a maximum relevant income level. Self-employed persons also have to contribute 5% of their relevant income, subject to the minimum and maximum levels of their relevant income.

You may withdraw the lump sum benefits in your MPF scheme when you attain the retirement age of 65, or under other special conditions such as early retirement at 60 or permanently departing from Hong Kong.

For details of MPF:

Hotline: 2918 0102

Website: www.mpfa.org.hk