Hong Kong Contractor Day Rate Calculator

8% to 15% is a reasonable range for a PAYG/agency contractor, since an agency handles payroll and MPF administration and Hong Kong has no compulsory employer-side cost beyond MPF for it to cover. A sole proprietor invoicing directly typically needs a higher 15%-25% loading, to self-fund unpaid leave, job security, and mandatory MPF contributions with no employer to share the cost.

Multiply your target base salary by your contractor loading factor (1 plus your loading %), then divide by your realistic billable days for the year (230 is a common default). For example, an HK$720,000 base salary with a 10% PAYG/agency loading over 230 billable days works out to roughly HK$3,450/day. The calculator above runs this for your own numbers, plus the reverse: enter a day rate to see the permanent salary it's equivalent to.

It depends on your structure. A PAYG/agency contractor has MPF deducted the normal employee way (5%, capped at HK$1,500/month), matched by an employer contribution. A sole proprietor is legally required to enrol in MPF too, but contributes the full 5% themselves with no employer match, since a self-employed person has no employer. Always confirm your structure before comparing a quoted rate to a permanent salary.

A PAYG/agency contractor is taxed exactly like an employee under Salaries Tax. A true sole proprietor is technically assessed under Hong Kong's separate Profits Tax regime (a two-tiered rate of 7.5%/15% on assessable profits for unincorporated businesses), not Salaries Tax — this calculator applies the same Salaries Tax mechanism to net business income as a simplification, which usually means it modestly overstates a sole proprietor's tax versus the real Profits Tax outcome.

A full Hong Kong working year is 260 days (52 weeks x 5 days), but a contractor doesn't get paid for all of them. Subtract 12 statutory holidays, a 14-day paid-leave-equivalent buffer, and 4 sick or bench days, and you land at roughly 230 billable days. The calculator lets you adjust this if your own gaps between contracts differ.

PAYG/agency means an umbrella or staffing agency employs you formally and runs payroll on your behalf, deducting Salaries Tax provisional payments and MPF like a normal job — simplest to set up, usually the lower loading. Sole proprietor means you invoice clients directly under your own business registration, are responsible for your own MPF enrolment and (technically) Profits Tax filing, and can deduct genuine business expenses before tax — more admin, but potentially more tax-efficient at higher rates.