Like Tree31Likes

Finally leaving Hong Kong - MPF and Tax how long realistically?

Reply
Page 2 of 7 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 ... LastLast
  1. #11

    So i will do my official declaration next week and thus state i will pernamently leave HK, and then start the MPF withdraw process with 3 different companies.. because two off them were such a pain in the neck to get their MPF account merged to my Hang seng acocunt i had to give up due time constrains.

    I really hope for the best and no delays or rejections based on signatures not being perfect or address or anything else.

    Because there seem to be 2 companies at least that are very difficult to work with both are insurance companies that have been rejecting everything so far to merge my accounts.... sun life and manulife both have been a bad experience so far for me.

    I will contact each company and bring the declaration letters and all information to each of them individually to hopefully speed up the process and reimidatiate any potential issues on the spot... Crossed fingers.

    Its around 300k hkd which to me is alot of money for being a simple worker with the same average salary of a local office worker.


  2. #12

    Ok another update for anyone interested.

    My employer submitted IR56B to the inland revenue dept. So now it will be in the hands of them to calculate outstanding tax/returns. once they completed this process, which i believe takes around 2 weeks, they will tell my employer to release my last salary.

    Its kind of shit TBH... because we effectively will have to live in HK without 1.5 month without income..
    Thurseday i will oath to leave Hong Kong and submit my MPF withdraw request with the 3 companies i have.

    So each of them will take around 1 month to do this if everything goes well (they are insurance companies so i doubt it..... they will do anything to keep the money probably) <-- i am glad i dont have this in europe, because this is really scummy stuff they do with your pension in HK, i really dont like the fact you give your pension to these companies, i wish it was government managed instead, just give us a fixed % and the rest of the profits they can invest in public services etc like eldery care.

    I really dislike the HK MPF/Pension system, it only comes up now i am leaving and realize how bad this system is in my opinion.

    So hopefully i have some money soon to last me this 2 month gap between my last working day today and my departure of HK.

    I wish i just could pickup a side job and get some cash in hand in this period so at least i can feed my wife and 2 kids without having to worry about the last pennies we have here.

    But learned lots about finances and how i going to change that going forward...

    Last edited by coffeeman; 30-04-2019 at 01:36 PM.
    theaardvark likes this.

  3. #13

    Ok another edit, i was a bit wrong.... so my employer submits IR56B form to the Inland revenue, then based on my this month salary they generate IR56G form which i personally need to bring with a copy of IR56B to the inland revenue office so they can calculate how much i need still pay in terms of tax or get it back.

    There is a 3 day workday lead time for this... then once i know the amount tax outstanding/or i get returned i need to pay it IF there is anything outstanding.. if not then i get a letter that i need to present to my employer to release my last salary...

    You need to go by yourself to inland revenue dept in wan chai with both IR56G and B forms and they will calculate on the spot how much you still owe or get returned for tax. once that is settled they write you the paper that you need to give to your employer to get your last salary, for which you guessed it, you need to go to your employer yourself with this piece of paper.

    So all in all quite a bit of hassle to get this sorted to be honest... and i estimate this entire process till i receive the salary on my account will take around 10 business days../2 weeks. its a outdated and manual labor process as well totally not streamlined out out of touch with modern technology.

    Then in regards of MPF
    then at the same time i will also do my oath i will leave HK and request my MPF withdraw.... so hopefully no further delays..

    But without the oath done first that you will leave HK permanently you will not be able to start the MPF withdraw, they even might withhold it till the tax clearance has been completed first (IDK yet, but would not suprise me)

    I fear that the government will mediate very little in between the process off me and those companies holding hostage my pension, and i basically can`t expect any support on them to get my money if issues arises, and the only way to get it is by sorting it out on my own..

    I hope its not the case and all goes smooth, but i think the HK goverment would pull their hands off it as soon as it becomes a bit too difficult.

    Just a FYI for anyone reading this now or a year or so from now, it might be usefull to you.

    Last edited by coffeeman; 30-04-2019 at 02:19 PM.
    ankur_hk, shri and linh92 like this.

  4. #14

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    12,323

    Thanks for the updates. Best of luck.


  5. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by HK_Katherine:
    Thanks for the updates. Best of luck.
    Thank you! its a bit off a annoyance so far, 2 MPF companies kept rejecting the merger request for various reasons. at least twice each of them.

    So i will visit them both this thurseday, update my signature, check my current address and inform them i am going to claim the MPF money.

    As i am afraid submitting the MPF claim forms via the goverment only leads to the same rejections based on a merid of things they feel is not in check, and that form is pretty lenghty so i really hope its going to be free off issues...

    Honestly i was expecting all this stuff would be handled by IRD/ Goverment themselves, its a bit of a shock. But then again i dont have prior experiences with this anywhere in the world beside HK.

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    14,414

    Blimey yours is a hassle indeed.

    When I was leaving HK I just went to tax office and told them I was leaving and I wanted to settle my taxes.

    They calculated it and I got a small refund.

    Did the Oath and submitted paperwork to AIA and a while later got the cheque.

    Cashed in and done.

    no plans on ever working in HK again. Just let my account deal with the commercial property side.


  7. #17

    WOW just WOW, i dont know what to think of HK Employed staff of goverment and MPF organs.

    But there is soo much miss information for foreigners, its a laughable at best.

    My wife and me called at the same time for the oath information etc.
    I went against my wife with the information i got.

    20 floor IRD office to do my taxes. So i went there nothing there, intercom told me go to 30th floor. I went there, no we dont do that here go to immigration tower 2 floor. Ok i go there, once there told me no go back to 1st floor IRD building and ask there....

    Then i got the 24th floor the same my wife told me, she got the right information from the get go because she is chinese and spoke in cantonese when enquiring information, i am 100% this is the reason why i spend almost 2 hours getting at the 24th floor to do my taxes.

    IR56B submitted, but also needed the IR56F form and the IR56G form from the employer. which i did not have ready yet. My employer emailed me about it a hour ago so hopefully i get both those 2 forms fixed... in the meanwhile filled out 2 pair of tax forms again.... one for 2018-2019 and one for 2019 in april because my company only submitted the IR56B form till end of march........

    Then i wanted to get my oath done, i was informed by the MPF hotline to go to their office in sheung wan, so i go there, they checked my MPF accounts total amount, it was correct and gave me the forms to do the oath and told me to go to harbour office next door to do the oath... i go there no one knows what the form is as they only handle passports.... so they told me go back to wan chai immigration dept and ask there at 2 floor.

    I did that and you guess what... they say thats MPF we dont do that...

    So in the end i have to bring my chinese wife that speaks cantonese to get it done propperly... tomorrow i hopefully get the oath signed.. then the next step is to bring the signed and chopped oath forms together with another form to each MPF company and start the claim of MPF money...

    They also told me at the MPF office they do squad for you in terms of difficult MPF companys and they can potentially reject it... So far for any help from the goverment on a MPF that is mandatory by them... Now i have to struggle myself with these insurance companies and banks having my money....

    This above process took me 4.5 hours total of none stop traveling back and forth and seeking for buildigns because of such bad information being provided... omg it sucks.

    ankur_hk likes this.

  8. #18

    So another update.
    last Friday I did 3x the official oath that I will be leaving Hong Kong this process took less than 15 minutes to complete a starsh contrast to waiting 7 year to get the “permanent Hong Kong resident status”

    It really put things in perspective that you will never be a full HK resident without the passport.

    then on Monday I visited all 3 MPF companies I have a account with prepare to travel! None of those offices with MPF specialists are all over HK they are only at a few places. So the process for submitting the official oath with other forms was pretty easy they all assisted me correcting all information such as signatures etc.

    then my employer only submitted the 56G and 56F forms to me on Tuesday which was a week after my last work day, which I directly submitted to my assigned IRD officers for my tax, till this moment 8 business days later I still don’t have my salary as my final tax is not completed yet.

    i am very surprised if anyone could have this all arranged in a single day. I do believe I only can get my salary somewhere mid next week. So around 2 weeks to get my tax done and getting my final salary.

    then separately each MPF company needs 1 month to give me my pension money. Also my company did not inform hang seng bank yet about my employment status which they need in order to give me my MPF money.

    unluckely I am with a consultancy company which is really slow at doing things so I need keep chasing them to do their stuff so for sure when you leave HK reserve at least 1 month buffer before you move to ensure you get your money etc if you pernamenty leaving HK.


  9. #19

    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Posts
    239

    I left last month. Mine was a different case altogether since my employer had hopes of a possible extension of contract where I worked. However as it would be, at the eleventh hour it was confirmed I wouldn’t be renewed. I announced I would leave and need paper work done ASAP. My employer generated the IRxx forms and emailed it to me and a visit to revenue tower and I was sorted out. I went to enquiry centre and was guided where to go. I was put thru to fill in return forms and I had my tax officer with me in 15 minutes flat. She said an estimate tax bill will be ready by evening and I had to come the next day and it was so. I settled a full bill since the budget recommendations were not implemented yet. I expect a tax refund by September (I was told).

    MPF - I had just one account so left the paperwork with my employer and they filed the withdrawal request this week. The oath to leave Hong Kong can be made at any Home Affairs Department office. I did mine at SSP government building at 6.45 pm and I was done by 7pm. Overall I’m impressed with the way things went.


  10. #20

    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    薄扶林
    Posts
    47,971

    @ajohnso2 - Your experience is similar to someone I know who left for the UK last year. Pretty much settled in 1 day. They had one MPF account.


Reply
Page 2 of 7 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 ... LastLast