Evidence Checklist: Annual Income Proof for Hong Kong Top Talent Pass Category A (2026)

Category A of the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) turns on a single figure: annual income reaching HK$2.5 million or above, or its equivalent in foreign currency, in the year immediately preceding the date of application. On the Hong Kong Immigration Department's Top Talent Pass Scheme FAQ page, Category A applicants may submit three kinds of proof: a notice of salaries tax assessment for the previous assessment year issued by a local competent authority such as a taxation office or revenue department; documentary proof issued by the employing company specifying the value of stock options granted to the applicant; and documentary proof of the financial standing of the applicant's self-owned companies, such as the latest audited financial report, trading profit and loss account, or profit tax return.

Everything below follows from that list. A document is useful here only if it establishes the defined income, for the defined period, in a form the Department can reconcile.

What counts as annual income before you look at any document

Annual income means taxable employment or business income, including salary, allowances, stock options and profits from self-owned companies. Income generated from personal investment will not be taken into consideration.

For business income, in general, applicants should continually hold the relevant company shares throughout the tax assessment year preceding the date of application, for the purpose of calculating the annual income they can acquire from the profits of their self-owned companies.

That definition is the filter. A bank statement, contract, or valuation can be perfectly genuine and still prove nothing for Category A if it evidences income outside the definition, or the right income in the wrong window.

Which documents fall short, and why

The FAQ does not publish a list of rejected documents. The gap is one of fit: each named document answers a specific question, and a filing that answers a different question leaves the case officer with no way to close the gap.

Document	What it must establish	Version that leaves a gap
Notice of salaries tax assessment	Assessable employment income for the previous assessment year, issued by a competent authority	A notice for an assessment year that does not correspond to the year preceding the application
Employer proof on stock options	The value of stock options granted, stated by the employing company	A letter confirming total compensation without specifying the value of the options granted
Company financial documents	Financial standing and profit of a self-owned company: latest audited financial report, trading profit and loss account, or profit tax return	Unaudited internal figures, or accounts for a period when the applicant did not hold the shares
Currency conversion evidence	The Hong Kong dollar equivalent, where income is not in Hong Kong dollars or one of the 17 listed currencies	A converted figure with nothing uploaded to support it

Two failure patterns recur in evidence review. The first is period mismatch: payslips, monthly statements or a part-year contract show income for part of the year, while the criterion is measured across the year immediately preceding the application. The second is category mismatch: documents showing returns on personally held assets, which fall outside the income definition entirely.

Why personal investment income does not count

The FAQ states the exclusion directly — income generated from personal investment will not be taken into consideration. The reason sits in the definition itself. Annual income is taxable employment or business income: salary, allowances, stock options, and profits from self-owned companies. Dividends, interest, rent and trading gains on assets an individual holds personally are returns on capital, not employment or business income, so they cannot be added to reach the threshold.

The line worth drawing carefully is between a company's profit and the money that later reaches you personally. Profits from self-owned companies are inside the definition; a dividend credited to your personal account is the payout of that profit, and documenting the payout instead of the profit shifts the filing onto the excluded side. If you rely on a company you own, document the company's profit with its latest audited financial report, trading profit and loss account, or profit tax return, and keep your shareholding intact throughout the tax assessment year preceding the date of application.

How do I prove income from a self-owned company

The company documents listed in the FAQ are the latest audited financial report, the trading profit and loss account, and the profit tax return. Which one you use matters less than whether it establishes profit attributable to a company whose shares you held continuously across the assessment year.

Assume an applicant who sold half of their shareholding in the middle of the relevant assessment year. On the FAQ wording, the continuous holding requirement is not met for that year, so the profit calculation for the company cannot simply be carried into their annual income figure for Category A.

How do stock options get counted

Stock options are within the definition of annual income, but they need their own document: documentary proof issued by the applicant's employing company specifying the value of the stock options granted. The value has to be specified by the employer. A grant letter that confirms the number of options without a stated value does not perform the function the FAQ assigns to this document.

What if my income is not in Hong Kong dollars

The online application service offers 17 currencies besides the Hong Kong dollar: the Chinese renminbi, U.S. dollar, Sterling, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Singapore dollar, New Taiwan dollar, Swiss franc, Korean won, Thai baht, Malaysian ringgit, Euro, Philippine peso, Indian rupee, Indonesian rupiah and South African rand. Select the currency, and the computer system converts the income into Hong Kong dollars automatically.

If your income is denominated in none of those, you may convert it yourself into Hong Kong dollars or one of the 17 currencies when submitting the online application, then upload the relevant supporting documents for the Immigration Department's assessment.

How to assemble the file before you apply

Confirm which tax assessment year corresponds to your intended application date.

Obtain the notice of salaries tax assessment for that year from the competent authority.

Add employer-issued proof stating the value of any stock options granted.

Add the audited financial report, trading profit and loss account, or profit tax return for any self-owned company you rely on.

Check that your shareholding in that company ran through the whole assessment year.

Select the correct currency in the online form, or convert the figure yourself and upload the supporting documents.

Read this as general reference on how the published criteria work rather than as advice on your own filing; your circumstances, the Department's latest published requirements, and any qualified practitioner you consult govern what you actually submit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the list of three documents fixed, or can I submit other proof?

The FAQ frames the three items as what Category A applicants may submit. The general list of supporting documents for an online application is set out in the Guidebook for TTPS, so treat the FAQ list as the Category A income core and the Guidebook as the full filing list.

Can I combine salary, allowances, stock options and company profits to reach HK$2.5 million?

Annual income is defined as taxable employment or business income including salary, allowances, stock options and profits from self-owned companies, which reads as a single combined figure. Each component then needs the document the FAQ attaches to it.

Do dividends from my own company count toward the threshold?

The FAQ counts profits from self-owned companies, subject to continuous shareholding across the assessment year, while income generated from personal investment is excluded. Document the company's profit with the audited report, trading profit and loss account or profit tax return rather than the payout received personally.

Can investment gains make up a shortfall in employment income?

No. Income generated from personal investment will not be taken into consideration, so it cannot be added to employment or business income to reach HK$2.5 million.

My income is in a currency outside the 17 listed. What should I do?

Convert it into Hong Kong dollars or one of the 17 listed currencies when submitting the online application. Then upload the relevant supporting documents for the Immigration Department to assess.

How long is the initial stay for someone admitted under Category A?

Persons admitted under the TTPS are normally granted an initial stay of 36 months for Category A, on time limitation only without other conditions of stay upon entry.

References

• Hong Kong Immigration Department — Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) Frequently Asked Questions