[zazz]

ok....i suppose i have been a bit daft on this one.

when the mpf scheme was first thrust upon us ...some rep from hsbc came to my office and i enrolled on an mpf scheme.

but,,as i was self employed..i moved offices and never heard a dicky bird since.

so i carried on and didnt make any payments..it was all forgotten.

but now because i have an hsbc account i am getting a couple of harassing letters to my home address saying that if i dont start to play the game they will report me to the relevant goverment body for non payment.

now i dont mind paying....in fact now it seems like a good idea..

but i am a bit worried that they are going to want to go thro all my tax returns for the last 6 or so years and give me some huge wopping fine with intrest..

which could send me into a downward financial spiral.

does anyone know if that is the case ..or will they simply pick up from this year like nothing ever happend.

i just dont want to even acknowledge this threatening letter ..until i know where i stand on this.

thanks guys in advance for any info that you might give!!

[freeier]

are you an employer ? or are you simply a one-man-show company employing yourself ?

[zazz]

yes a one man show although i have been in a partnership of late.....but we dont employ anyone...

[Lammarite]

Forget MPF- get yourself your own pension from somewhere like Skandia which you manage yourself and can take with you when you move. if you have this you do not need to enroll in an MDF scheme and save yourself the headache.
You are also avoiding putting even more money in HSBC's pockets so they can reduce the number of branches and increase waiting times in the branches you can find.

[KnowItAll]

I don't think you can avoid the MPF with an alternative scheme, specially historical payments.

Don't get me started about the paperwork they create for us, as a small business.

[PDLM]

I too would be surprised if you are allowed to get away with retrospectively setting up a scheme somewhere else. And it is clear that there are no exemptions allowed if you are a HK Permanent Resident. I was allowed to get away with an overseas company scheme and then a Skandia savings vehicle until I became PR.

[zazz]

out of curiosity..unless each dept talks too each other then i suppose i could just start now and assume that they wouldnt go thro the process of contacting the tax dept....ie not historical payments need be made.

there must be some flexibility....otherwise as they rope in non payers and the longer they leave it they will create a lot of huge outstanding ammounts that people couldnt pay back.

this would just have just the opposite effect instead of bringing people into the scheme.

[Lammarite]

I have had an alternative pension scheme for 5 years, since I arrived in Hong Kong, and it has been Ok'd by the Inland Revenue every time.
Carry on throwing money at your MPF if you like- makes no odds to me.

[zazz]

but are u a permanent resident?

[PDLM]

These pages are relevant:
This one lists persons who are exempt from MPF: http://www.mpfa.org.hk/english/abt_m...ms_cov_ep.html Expats with pension schemes elsewhere are covered by the fifth point ("Persons from overseas who ... are covered by overseas retirement schemes").

But this document describes the application of the MPF Ordinance: http://www.mpfa.org.hk/english/leg_r...files/IV15.pdf

It states that the only people who can be exempted are those who reside in HK on an Employment Visa AND stay for less than 13 months or are members of a similar overseas scheme.

The document says explicitly that anyone residing in HK on any other basis MUST pay MPF. That includes all Permanent Residents and, interestingly for some here perhaps, all Dependant Visa holders who are working (regardless of whether they have an overseas pension scheme).