is this salary good?

[lasingpros]

Dear All,
I'm currently working in Europe and getting 70000€/yr. I'm getting a job offer in singapore which is 90000S$/yr. I heared taxes in singapore are quite low so will the offer be equal to what I get in europe?.Also will I be able to get get tax reliefs for wife and child as I get in europe.
If I get 7500S$/month what will be the saving capacity for a person with a wife and a small baby of four months?.
How much will b the living expenses, baby related expenses.I posted this topic in another forum but i think this is the right place to post, Please advice.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Dear All,
I'm currently working in Europe and getting 70000€/yr. I'm getting a job offer in singapore which is 90000S$/yr. I heared taxes in singapore are quite low so will the offer be equal to what I get in europe?.Also will I be able to get get tax reliefs for wife and child as I get in europe.
If I get 7500S$/month what will be the saving capacity for a person with a wife and a small baby of four months?.
How much will b the living expenses, baby related expenses.I posted this topic in another forum but i think this is the right place to post, Please advice.

These links should answer all your tax questions:

Individual Income Tax for Salaried Employee

Tax Rates for Resident Individuals

Your other questions will be dependent on your life style and preferences so at this point we have insufficient data. Could be from $0/mo to somewhere in the neighbourhood of $3.5 to $4/K mo. but this would depend on a lot of factors like:

Do you require Aircon in the home?
Do you plan to use Public Transport, Taxies, or rent/buy/lease a vehicle? (which would then incur a whole host of other expenses from fuel, parking, road taxes, ERP charges, etc.)
Do you require nursery school or Domestic Help?
Do you drink alcohol? Party a lot?
Like to travel a lot?
Are you a Vegetarian?
Must you eat imported good from home?

Lots of things for an expat to consider.......

[AmyMar]

Prices have gone up considerably this one year. Taxis on average are up 30%, a 10 minute ride may cost S$12 vs S$8 previously.

Food costs & dining out are definitely more expensive too, up 10% to 30%.

If your housing is provided for? Average rental for 1000sqft apartment costs S$4-5K/month for non-prime districts.

[sundaymorningstaple]

While prices have gone up. Buses & MRT fares have only gone up slightly and are darned cheap even now. Food costs have gone up granted, but again are they going to buy at Jason's/Cold Storage or NTUC/ShengSiong. Apartment Rentals can be had for less than $2000/mo if willing to live in HDB units (nothing wrong with them at all - I own one willingly). The HDB units are getting more and more popular with expats all the time.

[NCD22]

Looked at the earlier posts and links posted by sundaymorningstaple and was curious as to the effective tax rate for EXPATS in Singapore as the websites appear to be for Singapore citizens and not expatriate workstaff.

I am working on a contract right now and would be making a nice salary and te employer has told me that expats pay little or no tax here (similar to HK). Roughly USD120-140k (depending on bonus).

I currently live in China and the expat tax rate here is upwards of 35%!!! for some incomes so...Just want to cover my bases and negotiate-in ways to reduce the tax rate as I do here...

Is that true that there is little or no tax for expats or am I being fed a line?

[sundaymorningstaple]

If you bothered to read the links I provided, you would have learned that the resident tax rates are the same for Expats as they are for Locals (The rates are Resident & Non-resident not Expat & Local).

If you are here more than 60 days but less than 183 days you are taxed at a flat rate of 15% of your gross income without deduction.

If you are here more than 183 days you qualify for resident tax rates just like a Singaporean. Your effective tax rate then will be probably much less than an effective rate of around 13.5%.

IF you are basing you income on the figures you provided then your effective tax rate is on US140K (~SGD200K) would be in the neighbourhood of 11% or around SGD22,300.

[NCD22]

Cheers. I did bother to read it a bit, but missed the "Foreigners Working in Singapore" link and there was no distinction between "resident and non-resident' on there either so I was a bit confused...

Last question and I'll let it drop...How good is the GIRO program and is it advisable to use it to take out a measured amount each month, or to do the end-of-year lump sum payment?

[sundaymorningstaple]

GIRO works a treat. I guess it would be more a thing of how much can "I" make with the 22K during the course of a year in interest or other investments versus or will I spend it and then have to borrow to pay it? Or give it to them and they invest it in China Aviation shares via Tamasek Holdings and they reap the profits.

[NCD22]

Excellent point sir! Will have to take that into account...

Chrz!

[Superglide]

Dear All,
I'm currently working in Europe and getting 70000€/yr. I'm getting a job offer in singapore which is 90000S$/yr. I heared taxes in singapore are quite low so will the offer be equal to what I get in europe?.Also will I be able to get get tax reliefs for wife and child as I get in europe.
If I get 7500S$/month what will be the saving capacity for a person with a wife and a small baby of four months?.
How much will b the living expenses, baby related expenses.I posted this topic in another forum but i think this is the right place to post, Please advice.

I am not saying it is, but it does make me think of this:



In other words, be careful.

I am sure you have not only been considering the financial part of the offer to move to Singapore. Married, a new born of 4 months old, a responsibility for a family, not only for now, but for the rest of your life.

A career move is not just the move to the next job, with salary as the main criteria.

Questions that come to mind: What is the scope of the Singapore job, how does it fit in your longterm career path, what responsibility in the new job, how does the company in Singapore look (financially, the organisation, the hierarchy, the people etc.).

In short, there are so many (much more) important details to look at, before making the decision to come over and start in Singapore.

I cannot judge from the few details you provided, but a 70K Euro job sounds much better to me, than a meagre 90K S$ job (sounds like the management is trying to sell you a cheap deal).

Yes, because of the low taxes in Singapore, a mere 10%, compared to the average 40% in Northern Europe, it looks better, but is it really better?

Have you assessed the costs of living with a new born in Singapore? The housing? How does the wife think of the move?

There is so much more to think of, than just the thought of a tropical island (which it is only in temperature) and low taxes.

[ksl]

70000 Euro is around 148.000 Sing$ Why on earth would you want to sell yourself for 90000 Sing$, ..........okay tax maybe cheaper, however cost of living is going up all the time, here and more quickly than most other places.

Plus it's inconvenient for you to do all the moving and adaptaion to a new working environment...with a good chance you will suffer, some sort of discomfort too!

Think about it, they are selling you off cheap! Tell them you want, what's called your income + overseas allowance..to compensate you, for all the inconvienance!

There are also the reasons, why they are sending you...to consider, are they wanting you out of the way? is the production rate in Singapore down, and they need you to boost income, there are many things, behind the curtain, if tyou get my drift...Although it is also an opportunity to escape Europe for a while!

[newtoisland]

I agree with ksl, I don't think S$90k is a good offer.Except for lower tax rates, living expenses are getting higher and higher in Singapore.

Is there any room for renegotiationg your offer in SIngapore?
however, at the end of the day, you and your family should decide whether you all want to go through the hassle and inconvenience for the opportunity of you working in Asia and for the family to experience a different culture/environment.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Inconvenience? What inconvenience? This is a hardship posting? Come on guys, who's leg are you trying to pull. I would have expected better from you all. Even with the increase of cost of living, if, with the perks and tax breaks he breaks even but say is here for a 2 year posting, OP's corporate value increases in multiples over his cohorts still in Europe. A lateral move that will give value added experience may well be worth more than any perceived equalization cola. The standard of living is probably better here than at home. At the end of the day, the OP has to make a value judgment regarding his future plans and what this posting can offer in terms of giving him a leg up after his return.

[ksl]

SMS says:Inconvenience? What inconvenience? This is a hardship posting?

Exactly, hardship is an inconvenience, for me anyway, and probably for him too!

I think the motives for the posting have to weighed up, maybe it's his department boss, that wants him out of the way, so that he doesn't get promoted above him, or some other sinister reason, like he's better off out of the way, there's a million and one reasons, to accept and a million and one, not to accept the offer, only himself will have an idea, of which he must look at.....

Although I am looking at it from my own punishment postings, in my time ha!

OP's corporate value increases in multiples over his cohorts still in Europe

Well I would say yes, providing he's coming from any other Country, than UK, it's my opinion that the hierarchy in UK have a different, method of delaying promotion, and maybe seen as a backward step, depending on what industry of course, but the one being subject to posting will have a good feel for what is happening, within his/her department, especially civil service jobs and possibly banking too! I've always found far too many back stabbers in the UK, wanting to score marks by what we call, bending over backwards, to put it politely, its all part and parcel of getting on in life!

Although I doubt it would happen in other Countries, maybe France it would, anywhere, were aristocratic hierarchy is operational, I would be very suspicious, although once you have had a taste, you will know,

Although it doesn't go against you, it could delay, your promotion, and that is also a hardship and a inconvenience too! I suppose it depends where one is, in the line of fire!

OP has to make a value judgment regarding his future plans and what this posting can offer in terms of giving him a leg up after his return.

Yes I agree, I guess I went the long way around, to get the same answer!

[Superglide]

What I meant to say is: I cannot believe a 70K euro job (substantial income in Europe with in most cases some degree of responsibility) is to be compared to a 90K S$ job in Singapore.

To me that smells fishy.