Working in Hong Kong Doing 50ish Hours a Week for a 3 Month Internship. How/Where Will I Be Taxed?

dannyeei on 01/09/2016 - 09:09

Not sure if this is the right place to post this (if it's not then please move it mods) but over the summer I've got a 3 month internship at a company in Hong Kong and I'm not too sure about a few things:

  1. Where will I get taxed and likely at what rate?
  2. Will I get taxed when bringing the money back into Australia (from Hong Kong)? If this is the case is there a way around it by investing overseas for example?
  3. Could anyone recommend a good place to stay in Hong Kong (I'm working in Central) and my main preference is cheap but private. I don't mind sharing an apartment with someone but I would like a private bedroom. What sort of price would this be?

Don't feel you need to answer all questions, answering any one of these would be a huge help!
Thank you in advance!

Education & Work

Comments

  • xyron on 01/09/2016 - 09:23
    +1

    I worked for a firm in 2012 who sent me to HK for 3 months - they paid for a studio apartment for me in mid-levels, which cost as much per month as my salary was at the time (about $60,000 per year). living in HK is expensive - you'll be way down one end of the island before you can find something affordable unfortunately (id recommend going down towards kennedy town, the MRT extends that far now so it wont be too hard to get into and out of central on a daily basis).

    good luck - i miss HK dearly.

    • dannyeei on 01/09/2016 - 09:32

      Awesome advice! I'll check it out!

  • dasher86 on 01/09/2016 - 09:26
    +3

    As far as my knowledge goes there is no double tax agreement between Hong Kong ( as a independent economic region of The Republic of China) and Australia.
    Therefore you will be taxed in Hong Kong and then taxed again in Australia.
    There truly no way around it as it still needs to be declared as income as long as you are a Australian resident for taxation purposes.

    But you're best to see a Tax Accountant rather than me the armchair professional.

  • retiredfeline on 01/09/2016 - 09:26
    +2

    Have a look at the ATO site for their documents on tax residency status. Most likely in your circumstances you are considered an Australian resident for tax purposes so all of your income, wherever it's earned, will be taxed at Australian rates. Trying to "hide" it would be tax evasion.

  • netbies on 01/09/2016 - 12:20
    +1

    If you work in Hong Kong and have salary paid in Hong Kong, you will be taxed salary tax in Hong Kong. However, HK tax system is not like here - PAYG. You will be sent a tax statement at end of the fiscal year on how much tax you will need to pay. And every person that works will have a tax free threshold.

    If you are paid as a company, you will be taxed as profit tax which will be different from salary tax.

    If you get paid in Australia instead of HK, you will be taxed here instead of HK.

    Some information you may have interest to read.

    http://www.gov.hk/en/nonresidents/workinghk/employment/#/en/…

    http://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/pdf/pam42e.pdf

    And this is tax rate
    http://www.gov.hk/en/residents/taxes/taxfiling/taxrates/sala…

    • dannyeei on 01/09/2016 - 16:46

      Thank you so much for your help! This has made things a lot clearer for me

    • dasher86 on 01/09/2016 - 21:04

      If he gets taxed in HK because he is paid in the HK he will also be taxed in Australia. So taxed twice.

      • netbies on 01/09/2016 - 21:57

        Hypothetically yes. However, in reality, for only 3 months work in HK and all the tax allowances and exemptions you can have in here, basically, you will not need to pay anything here even you report your earning overseas. Remember, if you report your earnings overseas in Australia, OZ rules still apply, i.e. any expense incurred in the activities of generating income is tax deductable. You can possibly work this out with some help from someone with accounting and taxation knowledge.

        I am not a taxation or accounting expert. Dont take my words for granted though.

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