Hi all,
First post here so please bear with me.
I've recently been offered a job in Hong Kong and I've accepted it, however I have one concern about where I'm going to have to pay tax.
I'm British and live in London currently, but once my visa comes through (application gone in this week) I'll be coming to HK, probably around the start of May. Now I've heard that tax is roughly 15% in HK which is a lot better than the 40% tax bracket I am in in the UK.
My issue is that the job I have been offered is actually a contract job for approximately 7 months, after that there will probably be more work for me and I intend to stay in HK permanently if there is, but it's not set in stone at the moment. I have got the job through a recruitment agent who are actually putting me on their payrole and paying me a monthly salary, so in effect I will be a permanent employee of their's which they say is standard practice. I've been reading up on the uk inland revenue website that I would have to be non-resident in the UK to avoid paying tax there, with me in effect taking a permanent job in HK I hope I shouldn't have too many problems proving this. However, as I don't leave until may I'm worried that I will be here for part of the uk tax year and get hit up for tax by them, of course if I'm going to have to pay 40% in the UK and also 15% in HK then it's seriously going to dent my wallet.
I guess I just wanted to know if any other Brits here have gone out to HK and then been hit for tax by the UK government because they couldn't prove they were non-resident, in my case will my 7 month contract make a difference even though I will be a permanent employee of my agency and I intend to stay in HK afterwards at least for the rest of the year?
Sorry for waffling a bit, but I've started to think about this today and I can't seem to find much useful info (ie. something a normal person can read that hasn't trained to be an accountant or tax lawyer) on the net. I know I need to go and see a professional, just wondering about what other people have done
Thanks
JC