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  • 1 Post By kk949

How does housing allowance work

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  1. #1

    How does housing allowance work

    Moving to a new trainee/entry type role here.

    On 30k base a month with possibility of a bonus. Going to sign a tenancy for 13k.

    I heard there is some system where you would get the employer to say they pay me a 17k salary with 13k housing allowance, and then get a receipt from the landlord to save tax. Is this true and how much would I save?


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    Hong Kong
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    Some employers do this for employees, some don't. Some just can't be faffed with pretending to exercise control. Best ask your employer - some also only do it for high level employees, or expat employees and not everyone! As The Brit explains, it's actually not that onerous, and we do it for everyone at low effort, but not everyone does.


  3. #3
    Original Post Deleted
    Wow that makes a huge difference!

    Can you send me the link to the relevant forms? I want to make it as easy as possible for my employer to do this. 20k is a lot to gain - almost an extra month's salary!

  4. #4

    Join Date
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    There are no special forms. The company deals with this through the standard forms filled in for each employee every year on their income. There are a couple of rows that need to be filled in regarding housing. The other half is the requirement to "exercise control" which is not a form, its a company policy which the company needs to draft, adhere to, and more importantly, be able to justify should the taxman come to audit.


  5. #5

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Sep 2014
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    London
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    Just make sure you negotiate the right level of housing allowance. Any unused housing allowance will be taxed at 10%


    Sent from my iPad using GeoClicks


  7. #7

    Join Date
    Sep 2014
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    London
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    Thanks DeletedUser. I stand corrected.


    Sent from my iPad using GeoClicks

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