[freeier]

there are some deduction for interest expenses in a housing loan.
not sure about the exact formula though.

if you don't get any interest subsidy from your company, then buying an apartment might not be the best idea unless you are absolutely sure housing price is goin to go up as well as rental cost.

[PDLM]

1) Yes, assuming that your employer does exercise "Proper Control" that you are indeed spending the $11500 on rental.

2) I'm less expert on mortgage interest (never done it here) but you can't treat hosuing allowance in the same way if it isn't being used to pay rent. Assuming that you are living in the property you have bought then you can claim the mortgage interest as deductible against tax (but only for, I think now, 10 years during your life), There is a lot of detail here: http://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/tax/ind_hli.htm

[dizzyhytes]

Originally Posted by PDLM

Put simply, if you spend more than 10% of your total annual gross income (including bonuses) on rental then, all other things being equal, you will pay less tax if you get the amount of your rent specified as Housing Allowance (and your employer does all the necessary things). If you spend less than 10% of your total annual gross income on rent then you would actually pay more tax by having it set up as Housing Allowance.

Sorry for the late reply however many thanks for your responses, they were very helpful. Kind regards Kathy

[peacock]

hey there,
I find this thread extremely informative. especially as I currently spend 30% of my salary on rent.
I have a question though. The place I'm staying is a shared apartment and I'm subletting from this local guy (who is the main tenant). he seems to be 'scared' of making some kind of contract - suppposedly because subletting is illegal??!?
anybody have advise on this matter, as i would really like to scale down my salary for tax matters.

I guess I should get a proper contract with the person i rent from, and have him sign a 'receipt' form every month, which i then pass to my employer - correct?

many thanks

[PDLM]

Subletting is not illegal. However, it is very likely specifically forbidden in the main tenancy agreement. Your employer should require both a copy of the receipts but also a copy of the (sub-)tenancy agreement under which you are paying rent. If you can get both of them then fine - you just have to persuade your employer to go through the fairly minor bureaucracy required to file everything consistently.