First Time Contribution Day

1、When ‘Permitted period’ or ‘ First-time contribution day’ is a public holiday, how to 
      handle?
      (1) Permitted period
            The ‘Permitted period’ for non-casual employees under MPF refers to the time period
            within which an employer is required to enrol a new employee into an MPF scheme.
            The permitted period is 60 days from the day on which employment commences.
            However ,if the last day of a ‘permitted period’(ie the 60th day) is a Saturday ,a public
            holiday, a gale warning day or a black rainstorm warning day, then the deadline for 
            enrolment shall be postponed to the next following day which is not a Saturday, a 
            public holiday, a gale warning day or a black rainstorm warning day.

      (2) First-time contribution day
            The ‘First-time contribution day’ for non-casual employees under MPF refers to the
            10th day after the last day of the calendar month on which the 60-day permitted
            period ends. Employers must make the first contributions for the relevant employee 
            on or before that day. However, if the contribution day is a Saturday, a public holiday,
            a gale warning day or a black rainstorm warning day, then it shall be postponed to
            the next following day which is not a Saturday ,a public holiday, a gale warning day 
            or a black rainstorm warning day. 

2、The ‘Permitted period’ and ‘First-time contribution day’ are both related to the 60th day of
      an employee’s employment. If the 60th day of an employee’s employment falls on a
      Saturday , a public holiday, a gale warning day or a black rainstorm warning day, the
      deadline for enrolment can be postponed as explained above, how about the ‘First-time
      contribution day’?

      Let’s refer to the following example. Assume an employee’s 60th day of the employment
      is 31 January 2014. That day is a public holiday, so the deadline for enrolment into an
      MPF scheme will be postponed to 4 February 2014 which is not a public holiday ( as 31 
      January 2014 to 3 February 2014 are public holidays in Hong Kong). In this case, the
      correct ‘First –time contribution day’ should be the 10th day after January 2014, ie 10
      February 2014, or the 10th day after February 2014,ie 10 March 2014?

      The correct answer is 10 February 2014. Although the deadline for enrolment is
      postponed to 4 February 2014 due to a public holiday, the deadline for first –time
      contribution should still be counted based on the 60th day of the employment of the 
      employee. That means employer must make the first-time contribution on or before
      the 10th day (ie 10 February 2014) of the month following 31 January 2014.

      In addition, an employee terminates his/her employment on the 60th day of employment,
      ie the cessation date of employment is the 60th day, employers are required to enrol this
      employee into an MPF scheme and make the contributions. As explained above, if the
      last day of a ‘Permitted period’ is a Saturday, a public holiday, a gale warning day or a
      black rainstorm warning day, then the deadline for enrolment shall be postponed to the
      next following day which is not a Saturday, a public holiday, a gale warning day or a black
      rainstorm warning day.

      The consequences of either failing to enrol an employee on time, or failing to pay
      contributions in full on time, can be severe.Failure to enrol employees in an MPF scheme
      is liable to a financial penalty and even imprisonment, while failure to pay mandatory 
      contributions in full on time to a MPF service provider incurs a 5% surcharge on the
      outstanding mandatory contributions, along with the possibility of a financial penalty and
      even imprisonment. You may refer to the ‘Offences and penalties’ at Mandatory Provident
      Fund Schemes Authority (‘MPFA’) website at www.mpfa.org.hk.