MOVING FROM INDIA TO HK, QUESTIONS REGARDING LIVING COST AND EXPECTED SALARY?

Hi All,
I am a 30 Year old, IT Consultant with 7 years of experience in Supply Chain IT software product consulting. I have applied for a job in HK and cleared all technical rounds, now it’s time for salary negotiation and my company has asked me to give my side of expectation first instead of making an offer from their side.

Now to give idea about my background:

I will be moving to HK with my family of 2 (wife and me) for first year and then as I would like my parents (dependent on me) to move with me from say 2nd year onwards. I have some doubts about the living expenses.

With 7 year of product consulting expertise, I am being offered this job; I am exciting to get this opportunity as this gives me a chance to have international exposure. Challenges attached to this job will be lot of travelling so family had to stay back, thus will need a decent house in a good neighborhood.

I am a well paid employee right now in India and combining it with my wife’s added support thanks to her job, I am able to save almost 40% of our monthly income (after indian tax-30% here :( :( ). I have checked the comparable analysis on various online forums like http://www.numbeo.com/ and http://www.expatistan.com/ and it looks like living cost in HK is 300% higher than what I pay in India (Bangalore).

Now as I earn almost 23000HK/month(after tax) in India and save almost 9000HK/month after my expenditure (which is not a cost- saving lifestyle in India, I enjoy my lifestyle and keep a standard living including weekend fun and a nice rented apartment).

After going through these websites, I got to know that comparable income figure in HK for me should be around 90K-100K HK/Month(after tax) which I put in 12 months a year salary format after checking my tax and all from the HK government website (http://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/ese/st_comp_2015_16_budget/stcfrm.htm) and the final figure as CTC comes up to 1.4M to 1.5M HKD (which in my opinion is ridiculously high :) :)).

After checking various salary estimation websites like (Payscale, Glassdoor) and reading through various salary survey for HK, I got to know that BY NO MEANS I will get above mentioned figure for this job of mine. The figure goes in wide range from 700,000-1M HKD/year depending on various sources.

Now the questions from my side are:

1) How much salary I should quote so that it looks reasonable and i don't freak out my employer? My salary component will have 10% Target bonus (based on individual and company performance), keeping that mind and 17% tax structure of HK, how much I should ask so that I can maintain my current lifestyle with this challenging and exciting job?

2) I see in various responses, that in HK your package(CTC here) is divided into 13 months instead of 12 months, Can somebody confirm that, as till now I have calculated everything assuming 12 months’ salary structure.

3) Do we need to pay double tax in first year of employment in HK?

4) How salary structure is in general, I see allowance as 240,000 for married persons, except that, is house allowance, travel allowance also a component of salary or not?

5) My office will be in “Taikoo Shing, Island East, Hong Kong” and as I have no clue about HK but heard that their public transport is great and I will stick to public transport only for daily commute, can you please suggest some areas for rented flats within 30 min-1 hr distance. I will need a 2-3 BHK apartment as planning to move with my parents next year. How much budget I should keep for that? Will 25000 HKD/ month is good enough in those areas? If not please suggest a budget as well?

6) In Case of rent deposit, what is a bargain, I saw people having different answers for that, varying from 1.5 month-3 months of advance rent as deposit. How much is agent fee in general and how do they have agreement, is it always 1 yearly or we can have for every 6 months as well?

7) In rented flats, what all things they provide, I saw various houses and many of them have Refrigerator, washing machine, air conditioners (I heard due to hot weather it’s mandatory to have one) and microwave? Are these photos just to fool future tenants or does all these things really come with rented apartments. As I will be getting relocation, thus would like to avoid carrying the items which we get in these rented apartments otherwise will add them as well in my list of relocation.

I believe I have done some extensive research but an opinion of the people in this forum will definitely help me in deciding to go for this opportunity or not.

Hi
Maybe you can quote for 40000 and settle at about 35000. Generally a decent apartment would cost you as 15000 to 20000 rent p.m. 2500 for groceries. Internet, gas and electricity another 2000. Travel and phone another 800 HKD. The rest is yours. Of course make arrangements for tax.
Thank you. Hope it helps
SHOBHA