hong kong tax

[cabbages]

i'm aware that the current rate of income tax is 15% in HK but are there other salary taxes such as national insurance etc Also what about rates for health service, water usage, police services etc, is this paid for out of income tax or by another tax.

appreciate any info

cabbage

[christep]

The income tax is actually increasing slightly - it's 16% for the year 2004/5 (tax year is April to March).

The only other tax is the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) which is a compulsory defined contributions pension scheme for which the employee contribution is 5% of salary, capped at HK$1000 per month.

HK residents get hospital services which are essentially free at the point of delivery (there is a nominal fee - HK$100 I think - to deter time wasters). The medical care is standard, but the free "accommodation" is in shared wards. Most employers in HK provide medical insurance which covers GP visits, some drugs and a certain amount of uprating of the hospital care to include private or semi-private rooms etc.

Police service is "free". (In fact the HK government gets most of its income from property, company and gambling taxes)

If you own property then you will be liable for rates, but when renting it is normally included in the monthly rental.

Water is a payable service like other utilities. It isn't expensive (I pay about HK$50 per month for water). Electricity bills can be higher if you want your home to be air-conditioned and dehumidified 24*7, but the unit price of electricity is similar to the UK or Australia.

[Squiddley]

Tax

If it'll help you get a better idea, here's the Inland Revenue Department's own "Salary Tax Computation" web page (http://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/ese/st_comp_2004_05/stcfrm.htm)

For the MPF box, I'd suggest a figure of 5% of your annual salary. I believe employers have to pay 5%, and employees can opt to "top up" an further 5% of earnings. Basically it improves the payout at the end of the line. I'm not that up on it though, as I opted to keep my contribution-free retirement scheme. (I'm nothing to do with CX/KA.)

Each child under 18 entitles you to HK$30K per annum deduction from gross earnings, as do "dependant parents not living with you". Property owners can deduct mortgage interest payments for up to 7 years, which was recently extended from 5. (Sorry, but again I can't recall exactly!) I've only claimed once, when rates were really high, but since they dropped so much, I'm biding my time.

There's no P.A.Y.E though you can opt to buy tax certifictaes, which earn interest and can be handled by the bank. They can arrange a standing order for a monthly purchase, then you take your tax bill to them and they fix it for you. Also, each year at tax time, banks offer loans of considerably lower interest to pay your tax for you. The amounts are usually very high, and the rates pretty low... depending only repayment schedules!

Medical

My kids were born under the G'ment system, as well as the related follow-up. Whilst there's no (well not much) faulting the standard of medical care, the service leaves MUCH to be desired and expect to wait! For maternity, if you can afford it or your Co. will cover you, go private!

If you need A&E out patient care, there's a flat fee of HK$100 for ID holding residents and HK$500 for others. Expect to wait! It took almost 6 hours to get my daughter's fractured elbow taken care of, and we were in the queue behind an old man who "woke up feeling dizzy and lethargic" (I read his sheet!) Apparently if you call 999 (and in a way waste resources) you get much faster treatment. HKG has a long way to go to improve this aspect of medical care.


Hope something's useful here :)

[ShyTorque]

Squiddley,

If it makes you feel any better, the HK hospital system is by no means worse than what can now be expected in UK.

I have been, quite frankly, appalled since our return here 6 yrs ago from Kowloon. Judging by my experiences since then, most of the time you may as well do your own first aid because the long wait in casualty can often make things worse, such as when my young son suffered a severe hand burn. He was given no treatment at all for nearly 8 hours and he was in agony by the time he was seen. Since the "merger to improve services" with another hospital nearly 30 miles away, our local hospital has just one doctor on duty at weekends. One person cannot be expected cope with the workload, especially when English is his second language. :rolleyes:

[cabbages]

Christep / Squidd

thanks - very useful gen

cabbage