I just paid my taxes for the past three years!

[Born2bwire]

And it comes out to a total effective tax rate of 1%. Thanks Hong Kong!

They've apparently been very generous with tax rebates. 2008 was a full rebate on taxes. 2009 was a 75% rebate and I was told that for 2011 that the legislature is discussing another tax rebate.

This was all told to me by the nice helpful Mr. Tax Man because I had to schlep down to Revenue Tower to find out why the IRD was garnishing my wages. Turns out they had a typo in my address and so I missed the tax bills (In Hong Kong, the government calculates your taxes and sends you the bill. It's like a Yakov Smirnov joke.) They give you one month to pay up, and since I didn't get the bill a month after it was post due they started garnishing my wages. At least they're an efficient bunch.

 

[Bignate603]

And it comes out to a total effective tax rate of 1%. Thanks Hong Kong!

They've apparently been very generous with tax rebates. 2008 was a full rebate on taxes. 2009 was a 75% rebate and I was told that for 2011 that the legislature is discussing another tax rebate.

This was all told to me by the nice helpful Mr. Tax Man because I had to schlep down to Revenue Tower to find out why the IRD was garnishing my wages. Turns out they had a typo in my address and so I missed the tax bills (In Hong Kong, the government calculates your taxes and sends you the bill. It's like a Yakov Smirnov joke.) They give you one month to pay up, and since I didn't get the bill a month after it was post due they started garnishing my wages. At least they're an efficient bunch.

Any fine for missing it?

 

[Born2bwire]

Any fine for missing it?

Yes and no. There is a 5% surcharge for missing it but I got it waived because I proved that I never received the documents since they had the incorrect address. My employer supplies my address to the tax department and must have given them the wrong address. What threw me off was the fact that they didn't collect taxes for 2008. So whenever I asked my coworkers about taxes they confirmed that they had not gotten any notices. This was the first year that they collected taxes from me.

 

[Spikesoldier]

Yes and no. There is a 5% surcharge for missing it but I got it waived because I proved that I never received the documents since they had the incorrect address. My employer supplies my address to the tax department and must have given them the wrong address. What threw me off was the fact that they didn't collect taxes for 2008. So whenever I asked my coworkers about taxes they confirmed that they had not gotten any notices. This was the first year that they collected taxes from me.

you said 2008 was 100% rebate

 

[jupiter57]

How does a 12 year old owe taxes anyway?

 

[vi edit]

How does a 12 year old owe taxes anyway?

It's China. A 12 year old has been working probably longer than most 18 year olds here.

(I KID! I KID!)

(see wut I did there?)

 

[Born2bwire]

you said 2008 was 100% rebate

The government assesses the taxes. Basically they send you a form stating what you earned and asking you to report any changes, added income, and/or deductions. They calculate the taxes based on any responses and then send you the bill. Since there was a full refund for me in 2008, there was no bill from my understanding of what I was told by the man in grey. From the tax forms it looks like the decision for the rebate was done before the end of the fiscal year because it's basically a blank in my tax history.

Or who knows. I'm still a bit puzzled why I wasn't sent a bill for the 2009-2010 tax season until the assesment for my 2010-2011 tax season. Guess maybe because I still had been in Hong Kong for less than a year when that season started. It wouldn't matter, when you emigrate from Hong Kong you have to notify the IRD and they assess what you owe for that tax season and bill you for it before you leave. That was why I also paid for my 2011-2012 taxes too (but the amount is below the deductible so I won't pay taxes on that one).

It's China. A 12 year old has been working probably longer than most 18 year olds here.

(I KID! I KID!)

(see wut I did there?)

Just wait until I'm fifteen and get bumped up to the Ipad 2 assembly line. Then we'll see just how happy you'll be when your brand new purchase is missing a resistor or two...