Job Discussion Forums

[sainthood]

Yep - yet ANOTHER post about airfares... is this the biggest problem with Chinese contracts???

Anyway, mine may be a little different.

My contract states that I can have up to 8K reimbursed for flight allowances. If, however, I don't produce a 'valid flight ticket', it will get paid in cash, and thus, subject to tax (at 25%... thus, 8K becomes 6K).

I'm now getting told that I also need a used ticket (and perhaps also a boarding pass) to get reimbursed the full amount (ie, sans tax).

now, I have no problem with supplying a ticket for my flight out of here in a few weeks... but I think this 'used' ticket, AND boarding pass is complete BS!!!

My office isn't helping much, because they are telling me it's what the accounting department is saying they need.

Suggestions??

(btw, I'm going into the local tax dept tomorrow to try to get a full copy of taxes paid by my - fairly high ranking ... top 50 in China - university... cos I suspect someone in there is diddling the books a bit... if I don't produce a fapiao, then I'm betting someone else will - and thus claim the benefit. I think the same may be true for this...).

(PS - yes, also FTR, I am completely legal... Z visa, FEC, etc)

[7969]

In many cases today there is no such thing as a "used ticket" any longer. Paper tickets are on the way out and e-tickets printed on your printer are what most airlines have gone to now. I don't even print them off, I just show up at check-in with my passport and booking reference number.

If they only want a ticket that should be enough for you to get your money up front, but if they want the ticket AND the boarding pass then it's obvious they want to see that you actually took the trip before paying you. You likely already know how easy it is to produce an air ticket, get reimbursed for it, cancel the ticket, get a refund, and then use the benefit for purposes other than what it's intended for. Even after paying the cancellation fee you'd still come out ahead compared to taking the straight cash payment. Not much advantage to you here since the difference between the two isn't a lot. Flight reimbursement should be for a flight and it seems your school is trying to make you accountable for it. 25% taxation seems high though. I'd check into that.

[Non Sequitur]

First I've heard of boarding pass requirement. Does this mean they suspect you got to China other than by flying and the ticket you hold is a forgery?
Beam me over Scotty.
I agree difficulties around this part of contracts does seem to be on the upswing. As semester end approaches be interesting to see if a pattern emerges.
I must say I've always felt apprehensive as airfare refund day approaches. They know you're booked to fly...
My approach is hold back final marks until last minute.
Scary though.

[sainthood]

7969 - it's not the school's responsibility, nor concern, what I do with my allowance! If I provide a valid ticket, then I provide a valid ticket - end of story.

Besides which, there is a MUCH BIGGER ISSUE... and that is - how am I supposed to supply a boarding pass and used ticket - for my RETURN FLIGHT HOME??? It's a swindle, plain and simple! Which means, basically, they don't want to pay me the full amount for leaving the country...

FTR, I was in China before I came to this school.

As for paper tickets on the way out - I totally agree!!! Who gets a paper ticket these days? Even once I've printed it out, I can still just use my passport to go to the check-in counter.

[7969]

[sainthood]

MOD EDIT
FTR - yes, I AM heading home in about a month's time! So, obviously, I will have a 'valid ticket'.

But, I find it completely ridiculous that I should be forced to show a USED flight ticket for a flight I can't take until the end of the contract! (the next year's contract states that it needs to be shown 30 days before the end of the contract! So, what, people aren't allowed to fly home anymore??? Part of the reason I didn't re-sign!!!)

What I'm saying is - if I purchase a ticket, then I have a ticket - end of story!

And, for the record, if I don't have a ticket that the accounting dept likes, then the reimbursement money gets put into my normal salary, and thus, taxed as normal salary - which, at my level, would equal 25%... hence, the tax on 8000RMB would be OMG 2000RMB!

Also, I AM following what the contract states - they're adding an extra layer of BS on top of what the contract stipulates! That's why I'm 'throwing a fit' now - because this wasn't part of the original deal!

So, yes 7969 - I think it's shady (I'm flying out, and not returning to this school). As I mentioned - I don't mind providing the ticket (or copy thereof), but not the extra bit they're after...

[roadwalker]

Sainthood, perhaps you could ask the accountants at your school to apply the ticket reimbursement (or in this case airfare allowance) to the following month instead of lumping it with your teaching income. Assuming your last paid month is June, they could count it as July income. There is nothing logically tying the reimbursement specifically to June. If that is possible, that would significantly lower the tax burden.

[Miles Smiles]

The school is capable of buying your ticket out. In fact, if your contract calls for reimbursement in and out, it has to accept the e-ticket receipt for your plane ticket coming in, and since the school will be canceling your residence permit (or not renewing it) it has the added responsibility of buying your plane ticket out).

I've noticed that in recent years, the FAO's have been buying tickets through travel agencies instead of through the government aviation agency (or whoever they used to buy them through), and the carrier is likely to be an American carrier. Be sure to claim your frequent flier miles. Delta has Sky Miles.

[kev7161]

This is the end of my seventh year at the same school. A couple of years ago, they started asking for red-stamped receipts for airfare reimbursement. All of us had the same argument. If we are booking online, there are no red-stamped receipts. As a matter of fact, I flew down to Guangzhou once on an e-ticket. I went to the airline's counter to request a receipt and they feigned ignorance. So I called the guy in charge of this stuff at my school (woke him up on a Sunday morning) so he could talk to them in Chinese about why I was requesting a fapio and they THEN said they'd send one to the school. It never materialized. I still got my reimbursement though, somehow.

When I traveled last winter, I got a receipt (in Guangzhou again!) at a very specific place in the airport; please don't ask me where. I don't remember. My friend whom I was traveling with also got one under his name and I was able to give my school HIS receipt as well (He doesn't work for the school). Any hotel receipt or train ticket goes toward "travel expenses" as well, so I keep all of those throughout the school year. This summer I'm flying out of Hong Kong on Delta Airlines. It will be interesting to see if I can get a Chinese-style receipt from them in HK before I board.

My school collects all sorts of travel-related receipts and uses them towards reimbursing the nearly 40 FTs we have working here. It always seems to be a big hassle every semester, but they always seem to make it work. I believe them when they say the government wants these receipts (I assume they get some sort of tax break or refund), it just seems a little ludicrous in 2012 and the age of the internet to ask for old style paper receipts.

[sainthood]

@Roadwalker - wouldn't be a great problem - except they're already paying me January's winter holiday pay in July cos of tax issues They had previously offered to put in 2 lots of 4000 into 2 separate salaries - but again that means tax (which at my tax level, doesn't really make any difference).

@ Miles - not a bad idea! (although, it's not the FAO giving me the issues, it's the accounts dept. Not sure how they'd feel about doing it for me - and if it would make any difference to them). Btw, I'm not American, so the carrier doesn't help... Qantas, however, is pretty well known

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

[sainthood]

Well, well well.... (3 holes in the ground :p)

What an interesting development today...

I went to the local Tax dept to find out precisely how much tax had in fact been paid out of my salary... she coudn't find my passport number in the system!

She says maybe they entered it incorrectly , but there should be a number used by the employer that they paid into - like a social security or tax file number.

So, after a couple of phone calls, we get to speak to someone in the finance dept of my uni.

Said person is angry that I'm in the tax dept, and angry that I should be asking for this number. He also refused to give that number - to either myself (well, my friend/translator) OR to the tax dept worker... and I must go into the finance dept to (maybe) get that number. My friend/translator is under the impression that the finance person might just outright refuse to give me this number!!!

The obvious reason is... absolutely NO tax has been paid for us (or, at the very least, a lot of diddling has been going on!)

Stay tuned for precisely which university it is... no doubt in the next installment (which will be after tomorrow, when I don't get the number I need, and I have to post a "do not work for this university" post )

[choudoufu]

just be nice............you're not being sneaky.

you wanted to apply for the social security tax refund.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Not surprised. Just confirms what I already knew: lots of foreigners unknowingly working for universities illegally yet they believe themselves to be completely legal.

Meanwhile, some people in said university are making an absolute killing for those foreigners being there...

Famous last words. before being arrested, fined, and deported: I was legal, I had a Z-visa!

[Miles Smiles]