graken1970

Hi - Im new to this forum, Im a Prince2, MSP & PMP qualified Project Manager with 10 years experience in IT and Networking. I have been offered the package below to relocate and work in Doha. The company is a worldwide technical services company.

I would appreciate some independent advise on the Package being offered as detailed below. I will be coming out on my own but would be looking to save some monies whilst living there. Im a reasonable social person but only an occasional drinker.

Salary: 36,000QR per month tax free – (All Inclusive – Accommodation, car allowance etc)

Performance Bonus 25% – based on 12 months performance and activity

Settling in allowance - 4500QR

Flight allowance - 1 Annual Flight home to local airport

30 days Paid leave

Health Insurance

Any advice would be extremely appreciated.

OriginalSunshine

Is flight business or economy? if economy, can you get cash instead?

salary looks good for a single guy, but I would negotiate at a bare minimum extra that the housing is organised and paid for directly by the company. last thing you want to do is pony up a year's worth of rent as soon as you arrive.

graken1970

Flight is Economy and paid for by company - The 36,000QR includes accommodation and transport allowance, so I would have to get myself a 1 bedroom/studio apartment out of this..Im still waiting on contract to not sure what the breakdown is in terms of 1.Salary 2.Accommodation 3.Transport etc.. Any ideas what is a good base Salary for an experienced qualified PM.

mission

reasonable accommodation, let alone decent/good accommodation in Doha is pretty hard to come by and is expensive - so i would factor that in.

For a single guy QAR 36k is not bad - you should be able to save a decent amount, depending on what kind of social lifestyle you decide to have....ie the more you go out the more you'll end up spending etc.

mission

isn't it a given that the company would be aware that they have would have to pay the accommodation up front and then just deduct it from the employee's salary on a monthly basis. It's what my company has always done.

Johnnyboy11

Package seems OK.

Watch the leave, they will be callendar days.

Check how you will be paid the statutory end of service Gratuity Bonus (3 weeks basic pay excl. allowances per year). They have to give you this, but might claim to be paying this up-front.

Entry level car will cost QR2500/m to hire (incl. fuel) and a 1 bed apartment say QR5500/m. Get your certificates attested before coming out here (UK Police Clearance and Degree Cert.) otherwise it'll cost you £700 to send them back.

I'd factor in UK income tax and NI too, unless you plan to be here until 6th April 2014 at the earliest.

Remember the health insurance will likely be the local Hamad Hospital, not private. Also factor in costs of your own pension and life insurance.

Otherwise costs are comparable with the UK.

I'd go for it, based on your qualifications and experience.

[J]

graken1970

I assume by your UK Tax comments that you have to be out of the UK for a complete tax year to avoid paying Income and Ni.....i though it was just 168 days of the tax year..

Johnnyboy11

Correct. You need become UK Non-Resident first, and there are two routes, the easiest of which for you is to leave the UK to work full-time under an employment contract for a full tax year and not spend more than 90 days on average visiting the UK. If you do this, then you can also split this tax year so after leaving the UK, you'd pay no tax or NI.

However, be warned, if you return to the UK before completeing a full tax year, then every last penny you earn, including your allowances, are subject to UK Income Tax and NI. Easier said than done, particularly given the volatile labour market in the ME.

Check HMRC6 for the details. Not an easy read, but start at Chapter 8.5.

[J]

OriginalSunshine

No. That's why a lot of honest people ended up in debt through sheer naivety in the UAE for example. Many companies pay/paid an all in salary and left it up to the employee to sort out. So some folks came out & found that in their first month they had to fork out for a car, and a year's rent, and a deposit for the house, and furniture. They took out a loan. Halfway through a year they end up getting made redundant, loan is still ongoing, landlord won't give 6 months rebate, 30 days to pay up & leave country. Oh, and when you;re made redundant in some cases the bank freezes your bank account so you can't pay anyway.

So, that's why most folks here say getting the company to pay and organise your accommodation is critical. Cos when finances go wrong here, they go really wrong, and last thing you want to do is end your dream in a cell for non payment of debts.

gottheTshirt

In Qatar the first year's rent is normally paid by 12 monthly post dated cheques. Only one months security deposit needs to be paid upfront.

The advice about tax is good advice. I recently had an all in contract where the employer paid a lump sum salary, including an allowance to pay local tax, air fares and an allowance for local office expenses etc. HMRC tried to tax me on the gross amount. Having spent 20 years overseas in employment I did not have a problem, but others would.

graken1970

Thanks for all the excellent advice....away to check up on the tax implications......

graken1970

Ive received proposed contract through and looking for advice....doesnt appear as appealing as its now based on 6 days...ie additional 52 days a year and holidays dont appear as appealing bearing in mind you will have to take 6 days leave for every week off...

[*]Basic Salary - 20000QR[*]Housing allowance - 8000QR[*]Transport Allowance - 2100QR[*]General Allowance - 5900QR
[*]Annual Performance Bonus: 0-3 months[*]1 Annual Leave Flight.[*]Medical Insurance.[*]End of Service Benefits.[*]Working hours Sat - Thurs 8am -5pm (48 hours)

I currently earn £50K here in the UK for 5 days so doesnt look as appealing as it first looked.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Johnnyboy11

Hi, you say that you earn £50kpa in the UK, but remember to factor in the other benefits that you may currently have e.g. employer pension contribution, health insurance, sickness cover, annual leave, statutory holidays, employment rights. You can be sure that in Doha all of the aforementioned will either be non existent or minimal.

UK factors on the down side are high Income Tax, National Insurance, VAT, fuel cost, long commutes to work and high crime rate, all of which are non existent here.

48 hour working is the norm out here and is the maximum allowable under the Labour Law. 6 day working is also commonplace, especially in the Construction Industry.

Tough call, I'd say.

[J]