Question: Hong Kong self-employment and taxes

Hi all,


I would like to find out something about self-employment and paying taxes in Hong Kong, but I am quite new to all that, so please be patient with me.


Anyway, some background information first: I was (until just now) self-employed in my home country (Austria), but I got a fiancee in HK now, thus want to move there. I have one option (which is still open, and not sure about it) which is that I might get employed by some company, but will see about that, if it works out and if it will happen.


The other option for me is to set up a company in Hong Kong, some of my clients from my home country I can still keep as I can work remotely for them (I am in IT). So my plan is to set up a company in HK and charge them via this company.


Now I wonder what the best option for me would be to set up a company. I was considering setting up a private limited company for example through companysec.com (using their "Basic Package" option). But as I dont have a visa yet for HK (other than my tourist visa) I can't be employed by that company. I could at best pay myself as a contractor. As I can normally work from home, I can theoretically work anywhere in the world.. thus should also be ok to work from HK (living with my fiancee), esp as I am still insured in Austria.


However I don't want to pay income tax in Austria anymore (up to 50%) and prefer to pay in HK, which is cheaper for me (and can really need the savings after all my struggles through this financial crisis). But if I am not a work-permit holder, how will it work for paying taxes in HK? I have no problem with the fact that I have to pay taxes, and I want to avoid the trouble I could get into by not paying taxes anywhere. That's why I want to find out how to do this. So my company would charge my client, and then I (as a person) would charge my company for the work time, the company would keep a bit to cover expenses I might have (like flying out to client, buying PC etc), thus the company would not have a lot of income and thus pay little to no taxes.


I dont know if I expressed myself clear enough... please ask me if I dont make sense...


Thanks and kind regards,

Bjoern

Hi Bjoern,


My husband is in the exact same situation.


We came to Hong Kong and I have a working visa. Because I have a working visa, my husband can have a dependent visa. Under a dependent visa he is not limited in areas where he can work (with a working visa your company needs to prove that they can't get a local to do the same job). He has set up his business here. He has a business license and pays taxes on his income here. Setting up the business license was rather easy. He found himself an accountant who has sorted out all of that for him. As far as your other tax questions...again I would ask an accountant. I believe my husband's accountant will do all of the tax work for him as well.


The one thing is that he is on a dependent visa. If I stop working...we would have no visas. Because he is the only employee, he doesn't offer any job opportunities to the local economy, he has a shoestring budget and doesn't have a massive amount of money behind him and because of these and other reasons, we've been advised that we wouldn't be able to get him a business visa.


If you want to try and get a business visa, I'd get assistance from one of the companies that specialize in visas. We've had friends go through the whole process only to be denied. They are much more complicated to get then a working or dependent visa.


Your other option is the dependent visa. But I'm pretty sure you need to be married to get a dependent visa.


I'm not sure what Australia's policy with taxes international. We are Canadian and have declared ourselves non-residents for tax purposes. But it is a pain but well worth it. It just takes some planning.


Hope this helps

Hi there,


thanks for your reply. The key point for me is to get a visa, thus I will try the "Quality Migrant Admission Scheme" first, I suppose.


If I get married to my fiancee (a HK resident) I can get a dependent visa? I thought it would be more complicated than that...


However, until I am able to get some kind of visa (work visa, QMAS, dependent visa, etc), they key question for me is what I can best do meanwhile. I understand that it seems to be no problem at all to set up a company in Hong Kong, even for foreigners like me. But until I have a work permit I can't legally work there. Thus if I am officially still in my home country (at least partly, and partly on tourist visa in HK), how will it work with taxes?

Like I said, with the financial crisis and all, I would really prefer to pay taxes in HK, rather than Austria (as it will be considerably less to pay), but how would it work, so it is legally ok?


Do you know what I mean?


thanks,

Bjoern

Dear Bjoern,


I send you a private message, please have it check in your inbox and hope could be usefull and answer all your doubt.. Take care.. Good luck

Thanks for your reply and your message!


Anyone else with similar experiences?

Oh dear Austria...not Australia....how embarrassing. Sorry Bjoern.


If you get married you can be on a dependent visa.

Hi,


thanks for your replies.


I checked out that Emigra website, pretty cool, lots of information, will dig in deeper there.


About dependent visa: That is actually pretty cool, as we want to get married anyway. But I was wondering if it is really that easy, or if the HK government might think we are trying to scam them with a fake marriage. Thus my doubts.

Also originally I thought those dependent visas you get when for example you are a woman whose husband is a foreigner and gets a work visa, and because you are married to him and naturally want to come with him you get that dependent visa. I thought for marrying a local HK resident it might be more complicated.

If it is really that easy it might actually solve a lot of problems for us.


Again thanks everyone for your help and comments,

more input, tips etc are always appreciated,

kind regards,

Bjoern


P.S. Don't worry, in this case I think it doesn't matter so much where I am from, Austria or Australia, but rather where I want to go to, Hong Kong :)

[but it reminds me of the T-Shirt my brother likes to wear: "No kangaroos in Austria" :-) ]

You are wise to have doubts because just getting married doesn't mean you will automatically get a dependant visa. You still have to satisfy the Immigration Department that the marriage is genuine, and not just for visa purposes. They will ask you to produce all sorts of things to verify the genuineness of the relationship.

Ok, I see, so does anyone here have any experiences about how that works with the dependant visa after getting married, like what kind of questions you are asked etc?


Of course we don't want to just marry for a visa, we want to marry for the right reasons, so that it lasts, thus I am trying to find out about getting the visa through work. I don't think we would have a problem proving that our relationship is genuine, but would be curious to know more about the procedure...


Thanks

Bjoern

Bjoern, I am not trying to put you off, and if your relationship is genuine, you have nothing at all to worry about. I merely mentioned it because many people wrongly assume that once they get married their dependant visa is automatic, and it simply is not. The usual procedure is for both of you to go to the Immigration Department for an interview, but you'll be interviewed separately and asked questions about where you met, what colour is the sofa in your flat, all sorts of questions like this. You may be be asked to produce photographs showing the two of you, copies of household leases. Or, they might just approve it automatically. It's discretionary on the Immigration Department's part.

Thanks for your reply.


Ok I see, that somehow reminds me of the old film "Green Card" (if you happen to know about it).


Yes, I love taking photographs so I can bring them truckloads of those :-D Only problem I have is if they ask me about her creams and beauty products (like in that film) I just simply cant remember those.


But to be serious again, yes, our love is genuine, and our intentions are true, thus I think we should be able to pass the test fairly easily. However we don't want to rush into it, but take the time we need for preparations etc. After all it is a very important day for both of us and shouldn't be taken lightly... (and therefore still trying to figure out another way of visa first, if we can)


Thanks,

Bjoern

Hi


We arrived in oct from the UK,my girlfriend had a job here, I didn't.We got married the following august and I was given a dependant work visa straight away. It was very quick and easy. I have found immigration here to be efficient and helpful- they don't seem to be trying to trip you up as they do in some countries. My wife is also english which may have helped. Of course, this is only my experience but as you have a genuine relationship I think you can be confident.

Good luck

That sounds encouraging, thanks for the info!

im confused of u, u have a tourist visa right, u would like to stay in hk to set up your business right however u need to apply for your licence to start your business but they will require you to have your legal visa to stay so first get your proper visa first set up your business then u can think about your fiancee...If u get your proper visa and operate your own business hopefully if if immigration will allow you to do all this..so its unsure..do it step by step..