Job Discussion Forums

[Glaswegian]

I am new to the Hong kong forum. Looking to find some information about Lingnan University.

I am particularly interested in an Assistant prof job, they advertised in Times Higher Education (Not English). The advertised salary scale for Assistant Professor is around HK$45,300 to HK$71,400 plus they give a 9000HK$ as an accommodation allowance. There are only very few threads found, using �Lingnan University� as a keyword. It would be great, if anyone could please let me know more about the following:

(1) What is the tenancy procedure? What will be the rent for a decent two bed room flat? Do the letting agents give furnished accommodation?
(2) Any information on locality? How is Tuen Mun city?
(3) How about the cost of living?
(4) For eg: If I am on 45K salary, what will be the take home salary after tax deductions?

[Yes Sir I Can Bogey]

Your take home pay will be 100% of your salary minus just HK$1,000 a month MPF (a poxy state pension plan) or 100% with no deductions if you opt out, for which you have to show evidence of already holding a personal pension plan. Tax in HK is not PAYE, rather you pay at the end of the financial year upon receipt of your bill.

Asking how much the cost of living is rather resembles asking how long a piece of string � or noodle � is. HK can be as cheap or as expensive as you desire. It all depends on whether you have a family/are single, and what sort of lifestyle you wish to lead.

Tuen Mun is not a city, but is a development out in the West, up near the border with China. You would probably be best living somewhere nearby in the NTs and travelling into work each day. Stay in a serviced apartment for your first few months and have a look around to see what takes your fancy. Some areas up there are still pretty basic.

Renting a flat is a piece of cake in HK, especially in the current economic climate. If I were you though I would go for a decent flat, not a descent one.

[Glaswegian]

Thank you very much. I've edited 'descent'

[anninhk]

Although your take home pay will be 100% of your salary we do pay tax here - at around 15% so you will have to save some of your salary to pay that. Tax is usually paid in January but sometimes it takes a year or so for the tax department to get round to billing you and so you usually have to pay for two years instead of one in your first bill.

[Yes Sir I Can Bogey]

The tax rate depends on one's marital status. Those who are single pay vastly more than those who are hitched. I think 15% is about right for the former, though many of my single friends say their tax is typically one month's salary. As a married person tax is only around 10%, and if you have kids then it goes down to around 7% or 8%.

[once again]

I have never come across any form of lower tax rate for someone who is married. If you are married, you may be able to use your spouses' allowance of non taxable income if he/she is not actually working, but that does not affect the tax rates.

[Yes Sir I Can Bogey]

The 'married person's allowance' is covered under INLAND REVENUE ORDINANCE - SECT 29:

http://www.hklii.org/hk/legis/en/ord/112/s29.html

All because you have never heard of something does not mean it does not exist.

You can read more about the married person's allowance here:

http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/taxes/salaries/allowances/allowances/allowances.htm

[once again]

I didn't say that I had not come across a married person's allowance. I said that I had not come across a lower tax rate. From what I can gather, the allowance is pretty much what I said in my post. A spouse can elect to use the other spouse's untaxed income amount. The current married allowance is just double the single persons allowance. Joint assesment, in my experience, has never been advantagous if both people are working and earning more than the untaxed income allowance.

None of this actually changes the rates at which tax is levied.

If you could point me to other sources that say any different, I would be most grateful.

[Yes Sir I Can Bogey]

And if you could explain how it makes any difference to the end result � to the users of the forum, especially those not in HK yet � I would be most grateful.

[once again]

I take it that from your response that you cannot point me to a source that states that tax rates differ. Am I to assume that you are now saying that your original comments are wrong?

Moreover, it's simple to see how your misinformation makes a difference.

You say that a married person's tax rate is a lot lower than a single person's, and is around ten percent.
In reality, if both spouses are earning more than 108,000 a year, then the actual amount of tax paid would be the same whether each spouse was single or married. You state that single people pay vastly more. I guess that means you also think that married people pay vastly less. That is simply not the case. I think that makes a difference to people wondering about tax and coming to Hong Kong.


Suggesting that the tax bill of a married couple with a child will be half of that of a single person is simply misleading.

For anyone who would like a better picture of the tax situation in Hong Kong, they can go here.


http://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/pdf/pam61e.pdf

[Yes Sir I Can Bogey]

Sounds suspiciously similar to gobbledegook to me; the gobbledegook of someone who has no idea what they are talking about. When you are married your tax liabilities are reduced � that is, your final tax demand is lower than it would be if two single people who were living together counted their incomes as a joint income and then paid their tax together.

It seems that your mathematics leave something to be desired.

[once again]

Please show us all how the tax demands of two people are married are less than they would be when they are single.

[Yes Sir I Can Bogey]

Sure, take a look at the links I provided above. In brief, your allowance is higher, that is, you can earn more before paying tax. Thus, it follows, that you pay less tax, that is, the tax demand is lower than it would be if you did not receive that allowance, that is, than it would be if you were not married.

And, once you have children, your tax is further reduced.

Let those who can read do so!

[once again]

Actually, for anyone really interested in the tax requirements of Hong Kong, please refer to the website earlier. It is the simplest I have found. It is better to ignore anything you hear here, and go to the source. MOD EDIT

[Yes Sir I Can Bogey]

Saying that the website I posted, namely:

http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/taxes/salaries/allowances/allowances/allowances.htm

is nonsense and should be ignored is quite a serious charge. Please note that it is a government website/source.