Dodgy visa sponsorship?

My "employer" sponsors my visa and has done for the past three years. My family are here on dependent visas.


I am paid on a freelance basis. If they have work for me, I do it and they pay me; if not, then I don't work and don't get paid. This sounds dodgy even to me but it's worked out reasonably well do far, ie they're pretty busy and I've earned over HK$120,000 for every month I've been here.


The question I have, though, is about tax. The form they issued for me to send to the IRD says "Notification of remuneration paid to persons other than employees", and the income is listed under "Subcontracting Fees". Does anyone know if it's legal for them to sponsor a visa for a subcontractor? Aren't employers only allowed to sponsor employees? I note that in our current arrangement they aren't paying MPF (obviously, because I'm not an "employee" - even though I technically am because I'm not allowed to work for anyone else because of being sponsored by this particular company). Am I supposed to be paying MPF myself? Should I bring this up with my "employer" and advise them that I should be an employee and they should be paying MPF contributions for me?


I'm really confused. Any advice?

It does sound like a dodgy deal, if your employer did sponsored you then you should be under their payroll and therefore need to contribute your MPF. However, because you are technically "self-employed", you will need to contribute MPF under the "Self-Empolyed" rule, which up to $15,000 HKD can be tax write off anyway. If you need help with this PM me we can discuss further, I handle cooperate and self-employed MPF account.