Salary Conversion
 

Hi there,

I've received an offer to transfer from our UK offices and work in Toronto for 3years with my current employer. I'd like some advice on salary conversion from GBP to CAD$ if anyone could help please.

(The figures quoted below aren't genuine, for privacy reasons)

When considering what my offer would look like I assumed they would match pay and perform a straight FX conversion of my salary from £ to $, so for instance £65k would be just over CAD$100k. Unfortunately I was wrong, the offer is CAD$85k. When I convert that back to GBP it's considerably less than my current salary (over 10k less).

However, am I right to think in this way, as when I use a Canadian tax calculator (http://www.ees-financial.com/calcula...Calculator.htm) to see what my take home pay would be, the monthly take home converts back into GBP as a bit lower but not as considerable as when doing an $-£ FX conversion against gross pay.

So, either Canada has better tax rates than the UK or I'm doing something wrong when trying compare take home pay from £65k GBP to CAD$85k.

Could anyone assist?

Thanks

Re: Salary Conversion
 

You need a pay parity converter rather than simple FX.

If they are offering you less than double your UK £ salary number in $CDN, then personally Id think long and hard.... especially moving from Hale into the expensive Toronto property market. You would need over $100k for sure for a similar standard of living. Frankly I wouldnt go anywhere near Toronto for less than $100k.

your tax calculator is a bit on the basic side, and doesnt allow for any of the more obvious deductions, married allowance etc etc.
try the taxtips.ca ones, they are very accurate in my experience, once you know how tax here works. I'd say taxes here are perhaps slightly lower than in the UK, others would argue they are pretty much the same. Sales tax is lower though, but living costs are much the same.

Re: Salary Conversion
 

Is the $85k in line with your peers in Canada?

Re: Salary Conversion
 

The company I work for normally uses some formula based on what the local market would pay for that job and the relative standard of living between the assignment and home country.

If your assignment is temporary, then the most important thing to negotiate is that any pay rises you receive are also applied to your home salary and that when you return to the UK you receive that as the income (i.e. they don't recalculate your UK salary, they use the one you had before you left + any pay rises)

Re: Salary Conversion
 

I don't think $85k in Toronto will buy you anything like the material standard of living £65k oop north in the UK will get you.

Re: Salary Conversion
 

Are you single or married with kids and if so will you have a double income?
I agree 85K in Toronto is not ideal but it can be done again depending on your lifestyle and what you expect.
Unless you have a wad of cash dont expect to be buying a house in Toronto on that salary without incurring a rather large mortgage payment.

Re: Salary Conversion
 

I'm with JonboyE.

There's a pretty good difference between 65k in the North of England and $85k in Toronto, in my opinion. So i'd personally need to move for something a lot more than just the money in this case.

Re: Salary Conversion
 

A 1.5 x comparitor has been discussed before in terms of converting salary. But, as with everything, it depends upon what you do, how important you and the move is to the company, and the market rate for what you do in Canada. I realise you are not sharing actuals but using you GBP65k example, I'd assume a reasonably senior management position in the UK. I'd be looking for double that in CAD$ to make the move. The exception would be if the company was going to provide you with accomodation and a vehicle on top of your CAD$85k salary. That'd be more acceptable.

Taxation, by and large, in Canada is similar to UK. As is cost of living. Aside from cheese of course.;)

Re: Salary Conversion
 

OP hasn't been offered $85k though - they made that number up.

Re: Salary Conversion
 

In the first post they correct themselves to say they have been offered $85k don't they ?

Re: Salary Conversion
 

Yes, but they also said this...

Re: Salary Conversion
 

I understand the OP's desire for privacy, but I can only comment on the numbers he gives.

He said that if he was on £65k in the UK he would have expected $100k as an equivalent, but was only offered $85k. All I was saying was that if these were real numbers $85k is not equivalent to £65.

Re: Salary Conversion
 

There's a lot we don't know. I've been on international assignments, and you have to look at the entire package and not just the base salary. For instance, the OP hasn't said if he has to pay for accommodation or not, if his company is going to put him up in some swanky serviced apartment then maybe it's not so bad after all. Will they pay for family visit flights home? Does he get other allowances?

I do agree that if those numbers are illustrative of what he's actually been offered then he's in for a very significant drop in standard of living and should definitely ask for more.

Re: Salary Conversion
 

Thanks to everyone that has taken the time to respond. I love the chatter about how real the numbers are - they're actually not that far from reality but illustrative all the same (just in case the misses checks this post out!).

So the consensus seems to be that the offer is low and I should negotiate, which is what I thought. Although it will be an interesting choice to make if they decide to hold firm. The opportunity is really important to me but I'd hate to be unhappy anywhere because I can't afford to look after my family properly.

Just to provide a few more details for those that were kindly filling in some gaps to make the scenario more real. I'm not married but heading over with my girlfriend and our 18 month old son. We rent in the UK and want to do the same in Toronto, albeit it looks like we'd have to go well outside the city with that salary. The relocation package is reasonably generous but just short term help to help us settle - small cash amount ($8.5k), 3 months accom, shipping etc. but no car or flights home in first year.

Thanks again, I'll keep you posted on whether I've managed to convince them that I'm worth a few dollars more.

Re: Salary Conversion
 

Sorry, forgot to respond to a couple of other posts. It's a three year localaised assignment. Unfortunately I have no idea what my peers are earning, hopefully more, as it might help my negotiations.