This is a lifelong commitment...

Transcription

1 This is a lifelong commitment...

2 Our Business Oper ations ENSURING EMPLOYERS AND SCHEME MEMBERS COMPLIANCE OVERVIEW Our role Ensure that employers, employees and self-employed persons covered by the MPF System comply with MPF requirements In , we Recovered $231.7 million in default MPF contributions through the courts or by persuasion and counselling of the employers concerned Filed claims at the Small Claims Tribunal and District Court on behalf of employees Applied for 570 summonses in respect of default contributions and non-enrolment Submitted 355 claims via liquidators on behalf of employees Issued financial penalty notices to 21 employers Reviewed enforcement strategies and made special arrangements to facilitate the implementation of the removal of the 30-day settlement period for MPF contributions Stepped up action against employers who fail to provide pay records to scheme members in relation to MPF contributions As at 31 March %, 97.3% and 74.1% respectively of employers, employees and self-employed persons were enrolled in MPF schemes ENROLMENT Participation in the MPF System remained stable throughout the year. As at 31 March 2009, the enrolment rates for employers, employees and self-employed persons (SEPs) were 99.3%, 97.3% and 74.1% respectively, as compared with 99.1%, 96.5% and 74.8% in March In actual numbers, about employers, employees and SEPs have joined the MPF System by the end of March In addition, employers, employees and SEPs have enrolled in the Industry Schemes set up for casual employees in the catering and construction industries. About 86% of the working population in Hong Kong were covered under various retirement protection schemes, including MPF schemes, MPF-exempted ORSO schemes or statutory pension plans (such as the Civil Service Pension Scheme). The remaining 14% included 10% who were exempt from the MPF System (people aged below 18, people aged 65 or above, domestic employees and self-employed hawkers, etc), and 4% who should have joined an MPF scheme but have yet to do so. Detailed statistics on enrolment are included in Part A of the Statistics section of this report. ANNUAL REPORT 2008/09 MANDATORY PROVIDENT FUND SCHEMES AUTHORITY 27

3 Our Business Oper ations ENSURING EMPLOYERS AND SCHEME MEMBERS COMPLIANCE (cont d) ENQUIRIES AND COMPLAINTS The number of enquiries received by the MPFA in was as against in The enquiries were mostly about enrolment and contribution arrangements, as well as the transfer or withdrawal of benefits. During the year, complaints were received as compared with in Complaints relating to default contributions accounted for the majority of the cases recorded, followed by those relating to non-enrolment. Statistics relating to enquiries and complaints are in Part D of the Statistics section. HANDLING OF DEFAULT CONTRIBUTION CASES Debt Recovery Actions The MPFA adopts various practicable means to enforce the law against employers who fail to make MPF contributions for their employees or who do not enrol their employees in MPF schemes. In accordance with the MPF legislation, a surcharge calculated at 5% of the default contribution amount is imposed on employers who fail to make MPF contributions for their employees. The surcharges received are credited into the employees MPF accounts. During the year, such payment notices covering different contribution periods were issued. In , the MPFA completed investigations into about employers regarding contributions and surcharges in arrears, and pursued civil claims in substantiated cases. As a result, 148 claims were filed with the District Court during the year on behalf of employees. There were also cases, involving employees, submitted to the Small Claims Tribunal. In addition, the MPFA made 355 applications (on behalf of employees) to liquidators in respect of default contribution cases. 28 MANDATORY PROVIDENT FUND SCHEMES AUTHORITY ANNUAL REPORT 2008/09

4 When the MPFA investigates suspected default contribution cases, some employers pay the contributions in arrears after persuasion and counselling by the MPFA s inspectors. Where the default situation continues, and if sufficient evidence and witnesses are available, the MPFA, after obtaining legal advice, refers cases to the Department of Justice and the Police for criminal prosecution. During the year, the MPFA applied for 529 and 41 summonses in respect of default contributions and non-enrolment respectively. Amongst the 49 employers (involving 271 summonses) who had taken plea by 31 March 2009, 48 (involving 270 summonses) pleaded guilty or were convicted. The total amount of fines imposed was $512,400. Among the summonses issued, 182 were laid against 21 directors/managers of limited companies. Ten of these directors/managers were convicted and fined between $7,000 and $35,000 each. One of the summonses laid against a director with multiple offences was subsequently withdrawn. The rest were pending court judgment. During the year, the MPFA issued statutory demands to eight employers, who were repeat offenders, requesting them to settle outstanding MPF contributions and surcharges within 21 days, failing which the MPFA would file a winding-up/bankruptcy petition with the High Court. Among the eight employers, five had closed down and possessed no assets. The MPFA filed winding-up/bankruptcy petitions against the other three employers. In addition, to better protect scheme members interests, the MPFA also filed winding-up petitions against four employers that were under creditors voluntary winding-up. The High Court granted a bankruptcy order in respect of one employer, while the other cases were pending a court judgment as at 31 March The MPFA is empowered under the MPF legislation to impose financial penalties on defaulting employers. During the year, financial penalties of $5,000 for each case or 10% of the outstanding contribution, whichever was greater, were imposed on 21 employers for default offences. They were mainly repeat defaulters who owed substantial amounts of default contributions. During the year, the MPFA proactively inspected business establishments to check on nonenrolment and default contributions. Major targets of these inspections included catering establishments, retail outlets and construction sites. Inspections were held jointly with the Labour Department at the work places of Government contractors providing cleansing, pest control and security services. In , the MPFA recovered $231.7 million in default MPF contributions. Statistics on enforcement action taken are set out in Part E of the Statistics section. ANNUAL REPORT 2008/09 MANDATORY PROVIDENT FUND SCHEMES AUTHORITY 29

5 Our Business Oper ations ENSURING EMPLOYERS AND SCHEME MEMBERS COMPLIANCE (cont d) Measures to Enhance the Default Contribution Recovery Process To facilitate the investigation of suspected default contribution cases, we developed an electronic Trustees Reported Information System for more timely submission of default contribution records by MPF trustees. With the development of the platform completed during the year, all trustees started submitting default contribution records through the platform from the fourth quarter of Amendments to the MPF legislation to improve the default contribution recovery mechanism and to increase the penalty for contribution defaulters came into effect in The amendment to streamline the default contribution recovery process by removing the 30-day settlement period following the contribution day, took effect on 1 November As a result, employers are now required to make mandatory contributions for their employees on or before the tenth day of each month. In addition to publicizing the change in the legislation, we also reviewed our enforcement strategies and made special arrangements to facilitate implementation of the change. As it was expected that many employers might not be able to comply fully with the new requirements to begin with, special arrangements were put in place to handle the default contribution cases and surcharge appeals flexibly during the first month of implementation. Before imposing a surcharge, we sent warning letters to employers who failed to make MPF contributions on time after the new requirements became effective. With these efforts, the number of surcharge notices issued in respect of late payment of contributions only increased slightly in the first few months of operation. The proposals to increase the penalties for certain MPF offences to bring them on a par with the maximum penalty for wage offences under the Employment Ordinance, to increase the penalty on an employer who fails to remit deducted employee contributions to the trustee, and to introduce a penalty for the provision of false or misleading pay records to employees by employers, became effective on 1 December In anticipation of the implementation of the new penalty for provision of false or misleading pay records, we issued warning letters to 49 employers who had failed to provide pay records. All of these employers subsequently rectified the situation. 30 MANDATORY PROVIDENT FUND SCHEMES AUTHORITY ANNUAL REPORT 2008/09

6 Measures to Enhance SEPs Compliance The MPFA sent leaflets to professional bodies and trade associations and contributed articles to their newsletters to remind their members of SEPs MPF obligations. We also issued reminders to all SEPs who had default contribution records to remind them to make MPF contributions, and investigated suspected cases of false declaration of relevant income. Distributing leaflets to self-employed persons OTHER COMPLIANCE ISSUES Under the MPF legislation, the benefits accrued in an MPF scheme member s account are preserved until retirement. Permanent departure from Hong Kong is one of the circumstances in which a scheme member may withdraw his accrued benefits before attaining retirement age. To tackle the issue of scheme members making false statements to withdraw accrued benefits for this reason, we liaised with the relevant Government departments to vet the permanent departure claims and investigated suspected cases of abuse. During the year, the MPFA prosecuted four scheme members for making false statements in this regard. Three of the scheme members pleaded guilty and were fined between $5,000 and $8,000 each. The other case was pending a court judgment as at 31 March ANNUAL REPORT 2008/09 MANDATORY PROVIDENT FUND SCHEMES AUTHORITY 31