[luxplaces]

Hi folks,

Wondering if there's some tax gurus around here to help me with the income tax question. I am new to HK, starting the new job in mid June. My job will put me to a lot of travels (approx. 80% of the time - guess what I do! ) so I am wondering how my income is going to be taxed.

I found out from earlier threads (very helpful!) that in HK you are taxed at a flat rate of around 16%, that there's no tax withholding, etc. My question is, am I going to be taxed on the actual number of days that I am in HK during the year, or the 80% travel outside HK doesn't really affect my tax bill.

If I am taxed for, say, 70 days for the financial year 06/07, where else should I pay the tax? I travel to mainland China, Japan, Korea, S'pore, the US, Europe... You name it...

Thanks a bunch guys.

[PDLM]

As far as HK is concerned, if your employment contract is in HK then you will struglle to get tax reduced unless you are in HK less than 60 days in the year. See http://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/pdf/pam42e.pdf

A number of expats manage to get their tax reduced if they are transferred to HK but retain their contract of employment in another country - in that case IRD allows pro-rating of taxes if you have a regional/global job. But I haven't seen this applied to HK contracts of employment, and the pamphlet above doesn't seem to give any indication that it can be.

As far as the other countries are concerned you would need to consult experts on them individually. However, in most cases you would need to be in a specific country at least 90 days during their tax year in order to be subject to tax there.

[luxplaces]

Wow thanks a lot PDLM. Very helpful indeed.