rental reimbursement

I am moving to Hong Kong on this Thursday and was hoping someone could advise how rental reimbursement schemes work.

My company has said I can claim back up to 50 per cent of my salary as rental reimbursement which they say has positive tax implications. They are not going to contribute anything in addition to my salary at all.

Does this mean I can gross up the amount I want to spend on rent - I was looking at about hkd 10000 a month initially?

Thank you.

Basically it means you don't pay tax (16%) on that 10k but to make it work you have to make sure the company 'effectively controls' everything. Read this and do some searches as this topic is well covered in this and other expat forums. http://www.horwath.com.hk/-HW.asp?-nothing&-Token.RID1=21&-response=Publications2.asp

It is NOT true that if your employer pays your rent, that portion of your income is taxed at 10%. Let's use round numbers for simplicity's sake. The portion that is under rental reimbursement is not taxable under your personal tax but your "taxable income" is increased by 10%. Here's an example: Assume you make $130k a year, $30k of which is spent on rent and your company will qualify that $30k as rental reimbursement, you only pay personal income tax on $100k + 10% or $110k. It really doesn't matter how big your rental reimbursement is. If it's less than 10% of your salary (plus any bonuses), then obviously it's not to your advantage. However, even if your salary plus bonus is $100k and your rental reimbursement is $40k, you still only pay tax on $100k + 10%, or $110k. I don't think this is dodgy at all...many MNCs do this.