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Is Rental Reimbursement Scheme actual housing allowance?

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  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by willylee:
    Hi Katherine,

    Thank you for your reply. This is going to sound crazy but I'm allocating only HK$6,000 for rent. I'm a mega saver and I'm looking for this time in my career to learn and save as much for the future. After my search, Kennedy town seems out of the question.

    In Singapore, buses are good too and I use a combination of bus and trains. From what I see on Google Maps, I can either

    1) take a 30 min bus ride, 970 and 973, to Pok Fu Lam, and walk 12 min to Cyberport.
    Or
    2) 7 min train from Jordan to Central, from Pottinger Street 16 min bus ride to Cyberport Bus Terminal and then walk 3 min to Cyberport.

    Comments on either? Given my lifestyle now, 2 seems to be suited for me.
    Your best option might be a flat share then. Also if you are only using $6,000 of a $12,000 housing allowance then the other $6,000 is going to be taxable as part of your salary.

  2. #12

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    there are a couple of employee tenant buses to cyberport.

    https://www.cyberport.hk/files/getti...Service_en.pdf

    HK_Katherine likes this.

  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Trebor:
    Your best option might be a flat share then. Also if you are only using $6,000 of a $12,000 housing allowance then the other $6,000 is going to be taxable as part of your salary.
    Quite, you have to show receipts and stamped leases (or you used to).

  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by willylee:
    allocating only HK$6,000 for rent. .
    That will only get you a room in an apartment share or a very small studio in a cheaper neighbourhood.
    Check out Wing Kong holdings, they have many rooms at 5k-6k. Good as a starter since you can rent a month at a time and move when you get a better place.

  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Claire ex-ax:
    Quite, you have to show receipts and stamped leases (or you used to).
    Yea which means a flat share might be out of the equation.

  6. #16

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    Why would your company cap the rental reimbursement scheme at $12k? I mean if you personally preferred to do 25 + 15 instead of 28 + 12, its no skin of their nose. These RRS schemes are usually to help lower the tax for the employee, at no cost to the employer, and doesn't make any sense for the employer to cap. Vice versa, if you prefer 34 + 6, you can do that too and take home more money each month but then have less tax benefit.


  7. #17

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    I wouldn't use Google Maps for Hong Kong. The hketrasport site is better. (or citymapper app as suggested).

    http://hketransport.gov.hk/?l=1


  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by bdw:
    Why would your company cap the rental reimbursement scheme at $12k? I mean if you personally preferred to do 25 + 15 instead of 28 + 12, its no skin of their nose. These RRS schemes are usually to help lower the tax for the employee, at no cost to the employer, and doesn't make any sense for the employer to cap. Vice versa, if you prefer 34 + 6, you can do that too and take home more money each month but then have less tax benefit.
    There's a limit to how much of the monthly income IRD will allow to be used under an RRS (we currently have a maximum of 40% so technically there is still some stretch in OP's package). Mind you this doesn't matter as OP has declared he only wants to use about 50% of the RRS amount)

    As per Claire's comment yes, you do need to produce a stamped tenancy agreement and original rental receipts to the employer as the IRD Assessor has the right to ask for these to prove that the RRS is being used according to their terms.
    bdw likes this.