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Government Cloud, Policy

Hong Kong's tax office casts doubt over the cloud

By Robin Hicks | 15 April 2009

Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue has voiced concerns over the security of using cloud computing services to manage tax payer information.

Chiu Sai-ming, Chief Assessor at Hong Kong’s Inland Revenue Department, told FutureGov that while it is important that his department take advantage of emerging technologies, the idea that tax payers’ files could be housed outside of the building was “out of the question”.

“We have a challenge to upgrade the system. But the emphasis has to be one data security. We need a system that is reliable and stable,” he said, adding that he hadn’t even considered putting the Inland Revenue’s data management function “in the cloud”.

The Inland Revenue Department launched its eTax service in January last year, and so far ten per cent of tax payers have registered to pay their tax online.

The system allows the department to obtain more accurate tax payer information, as users must fill in all mandatory fields to complete the form, something the paper system cannot guarantee. ETax is expected to save three million sheets of paper over the next tax period.

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