Net-to-Gross Salary Calculator (Hong Kong)
Want an employee to take home exactly HK$40,000 a month? Offering HK$42,105 isn't enough — MPF and salaries tax haven't been deducted yet. This calculator reverses Hong Kong's 2024/25 salaries-tax and Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) rules: enter the desired net-of-everything figure (monthly or yearly), pick marital status, dependent children and any home-loan interest deduction, and the tool solves for the gross salary the employer must budget — along with the actual tax, MPF and total employer cost (including the 5 % employer MPF contribution).
Please enter a valid number
Required gross monthly
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Calculation breakdown
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- Employee MPF (annual)
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- Employer MPF (annual)
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- Salaries tax (annual)
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- Take-home pay (annual)
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- Total employer cost (gross + 5 % employer MPF)
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For employer budgeting and offer-negotiation purposes; defer to the IRD assessment for final figures.
Formula
Solve for gross such that gross − 5 %·min(gross, $360,000) − HK_salaries_tax(gross, less MPF, allowances) = target_net (bisection, $0.50 precision)
- · HK Salaries Tax (YA 2024/25): five-band progressive 2 %/6 %/10 %/14 %/17 % (each band $50,000) and a two-tier standard rate 15 %/16 % above $5M chargeable income — the IRD applies whichever is lower. Source: HK Inland Revenue Department.
- · Allowances built in: $132,000 basic (single) / $264,000 (married), plus $130,000 per dependent child. Dependent-parent and single-parent allowances are not modelled.
- · MPF: employee mandatory 5 %; exempt below $7,100/month, capped at $1,500/month above $30,000. The $18,000/year tax-deductible cap for the employee mandatory contribution is enforced.
- · The 5 % employer MPF is shown separately under "total employer cost" — useful for budgeting and offer-letter discussions.
- · Home-loan interest deduction caps at $100,000/year (up to 20 cumulative years). Leave at 0 if there is no mortgage.
- · Internally we run a bisection because gross → net is strictly increasing (top marginal rate 17 % + MPF capped). The solver converges to within HK$0.50 of the target.
- · Everything runs locally in your browser. Salaries-tax scope only — rental income and unincorporated business income are out of scope.
Frequently asked
If I want an employee to take home HK$40,000 net per month, what should the employer budget?
For YA 2024/25 with a single filer, no children and no home-loan interest, a net of HK$40,000 / month (HK$480,000 / year) requires a gross of about HK$42,375 / month. The employee's MPF is capped at HK$1,500 / month and the salaries tax averages HK$875 / month. The employer should also budget the matching 5 % employer MPF (also capped at HK$1,500 / month), bringing total employer cost to ≈ HK$43,875 / month. If the employee is married with two children, the gross drops to roughly HK$41,750 / month thanks to the extra HK$522,000 of allowances. Add a mortgage with HK$100,000 of annual interest and the gross drops further to ≈ HK$41,000 / month. The tool computes the exact number for any combination of inputs.
Why does taking home $50,000 / month require so much more than $60,000 gross?
It comes from the progressive-rate "the more you earn, the more you keep less of it" effect. An employee on $50,000 / month earns $600,000 / year — after allowances and MPF, the net chargeable income lands in the top 17 % marginal band. So each extra dollar of gross only adds 0.83 dollars to the take-home. MPF is already capped at $1,500 / month, so the marginal wedge is pure tax. Lifting net from $50,000 to $60,000 / month — a $10,000 / month rise in take-home — means lifting gross by $10,000 ÷ 0.83 ≈ $12,050 / month. The employer MPF is already capped too, so total employer cost rises by the same $12,050 / month. This convex curve explains why senior offers are so expensive to bake into budgets.
Is the 5 % employer MPF counted inside the employee's gross?
No. Hong Kong's employer MPF (5 % mandatory, capped at $1,500 / month) sits on top of the gross salary — it is not part of the gross figure on the offer letter, and it is not part of the employee's assessable income. The take-home and the gross numbers match what appears on the employee's payslip. The widget shows "Employer MPF (annual)" and "Total employer cost" as separate lines so HR and founders can plan the full personnel budget. For the employee, an offer letter quoting gross plus "and statutory MPF" is fully compliant. For the company, annual headcount budgets should be gross + 5 % (capped) + leave + medical + other benefits.
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