HSMP Doubts

Hello all,

I am planning to apply HSMP. I must admit that i have got very minimal knowledge about this process. Can you please help me on below doubts?

1. For the past 10 months, i was in UK. My salary was credited to ICICI
Bank UK account. Bank authorities are saying that they will give
account statement on letter head without stamp and signature. They
are claiming that it is acceptable to Home Office. Is it so?

2. Since i was in UK throughout last year and my employer was paying
tax over there, i did not file my Income Tax returns in India.
So, i do not have Form-16 for last year. Is it okay?

3. I came back to India in Dec 2008. But, i have got UK salary in my UK
account for Jan 2009, Feb 2009 and March 2009. Can i apply these
three months salary under uplift ratio?

Your suggesion will be highly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sania

sania78 wrote:1. For the past 10 months, i was in UK. My salary was credited to ICICI
Bank UK account. Bank authorities are saying that they will give
account statement on letter head without stamp and signature. They
are claiming that it is acceptable to Home Office. Is it so?

you should submit formal monthly bank statements that you receive from the Bank.

sania78 wrote: 2. Since i was in UK throughout last year and my employer was paying
tax over there, i did not file my Income Tax returns in India.
So, i do not have Form-16 for last year. Is it okay?

If you are claiming points for salary earned in UK you do not need Form-16 at all.

sania78 wrote: 3. I came back to India in Dec 2008. But, i have got UK salary in my UK
account for Jan 2009, Feb 2009 and March 2009. Can i apply these
three months salary under uplift ratio?

You cant apply uplift on earnings made in UK

sania78 wrote:1. For the past 10 months, i was in UK. My salary was credited to ICICI
Bank UK account. Bank authorities are saying that they will give
account statement on letter head without stamp and signature. They
are claiming that it is acceptable to Home Office. Is it so?

you should submit formal monthly bank statements that you receive from the Bank.

sania78 wrote: 2. Since i was in UK throughout last year and my employer was paying
tax over there, i did not file my Income Tax returns in India.
So, i do not have Form-16 for last year. Is it okay?

If you are claiming points for salary earned in UK you do not need Form-16 at all.

sania78 wrote: 3. I came back to India in Dec 2008. But, i have got UK salary in my UK
account for Jan 2009, Feb 2009 and March 2009. Can i apply these
three months salary under uplift ratio?

You cant apply uplift on earnings made in UK

Hellp Push_hsmp,

Many thanks for your reply. I am still not clear about question 3. Would you mind replying in detail?

I have come back to India in December. For Jan,Feb,Mar 09 i got salary in UK account? Do you mean i cannot uplift this?

I was assuming that, since i am in India it will be considered as earnings in India(Onlything here is credited in UK). Please clarify.

sania78 wrote:Hellp Push_hsmp,

Many thanks for your reply. I am still not clear about question 3. Would you mind replying in detail?

I have come back to India in December. For Jan,Feb,Mar 09 i got salary in UK account? Do you mean i cannot uplift this?

I was assuming that, since i am in India it will be considered as earnings in India(Onlything here is credited in UK). Please clarify.

Can you please clearly state:

(1) Which VISA category were you on when you were in UK?
(2) Which Company you were employed with?
(3) For the months of Jan-Mar, who was the employer?

Hello Push_Hsmp,
Thanks again for your response.

(1) I was in UK on work permit for almost a year. I came back to India in
Dec 08

(2) I was employed with Logica last year and still i am working for the
same company( I mean from Jan-Mar, Logica is my employer)

The issue here is my company did not move me from UK payroll to India payroll, after i came back to India. They had miscommunication that i was in UK. So they gave me UK salary in UK account.

My doubt is since i am in India during Jan-Mar, whether home office will allow me to uplift these earnings? These earnings are very crucial as they are affecting my points. Please suggest.

Thanks,
Sania

sania78 wrote:Hello Push_Hsmp,
Thanks again for your response.

(1) I was in UK on work permit for almost a year. I came back to India in
Dec 08

(2) I was employed with Logica last year and still i am working for the
same company( I mean from Jan-Mar, Logica is my employer)

The issue here is my company did not move me from UK payroll to India payroll, after i came back to India. They had miscommunication that i was in UK. So they gave me UK salary in UK account.

My doubt is since i am in India during Jan-Mar, whether home office will allow me to uplift these earnings? These earnings are very crucial as they are affecting my points. Please suggest.

Thanks,
Sania

The point is, your company paid you under the belief that you were still employed by them in UK during Jan-March 09. You can apply as if you were employed by Logica (UK) for the entire duration (last three months being a sort of business deputation to India - provided the work permit you were on, covered the period) and claim for the points (without any uplift of-course). You cant be earning in pounds (and paid in UK) and still be using the uplift. How crucial is application of uplift ratio to your earnings for the three month's earnings for claiming the points? You will also need your company to confirm the position you take.

Hello Push_Hsmp,

Your suggestion made my case a lot clear . Thanks. If i take Jan-Mar 09 as part of UK earnings, i will not get enough points to qualify.

This is what now i am planning to do

(1) Ask my India payroll team to pay me the indian salary for Jan-Mar 09.

(2) Ask a letterI(on company letter head) from them, stating that they have paid me UK salary, by mistake, for Jan-Mar 09

(3) I will then uplift these indian earnings.

Now tricky point is, when i show my last 12 earnings using UK account statement, i need to explain Home Office not to consider these earnings9(Jan - Mar 09), but consider the outstanding amount that my indian payroll is going to pay for this period.

Any idea on how convincingly i can explain to them??

Thanks,
Sania

sania78 wrote:Hello Push_Hsmp,

Your suggestion made my case a lot clear . Thanks. If i take Jan-Mar 09 as part of UK earnings, i will not get enough points to qualify.

This is what now i am planning to do

(1) Ask my India payroll team to pay me the indian salary for Jan-Mar 09.

If you ask them to pay you now, it will show up as a consolidated transfer in this month. The best way to handle this is to get a letter from you Indian employer which clearly states the gross salary, deductions, net salary, mode of payment and date of payment. This should corroborate the entries in your bank account.

sania78 wrote:(2) Ask a letterI(on company letter head) from them, stating that they have paid me UK salary, by mistake, for Jan-Mar 09

I don't think you need this. It will complicate the things

sania78 wrote: Now tricky point is, when i show my last 12 earnings using UK account statement, i need to explain Home Office not to consider these earnings9(Jan - Mar 09), but consider the outstanding amount that my indian payroll is going to pay for this period.

For earnings you don't have to provide statements of your UK account for the period Jan-March[/quote]

Although, I don't know if your company will agree to make above changes i.e. canceling the UK salary and repaying the India Salary as they would have already paid HMRC Tax and NI contributions for the three months.

Hello Push_Hsmp,

I am not 100% clear on your first answer. Please clarify. If I get a consilidated statement from my employer for the whole year, still home office may get a doubt that why i was paid the amount in UK account. Is n't it?

Also, since i am planning to apply next month or so, which bank statment i need to submit? Considering the fact that for almost last 5 months, i am in india, do i need to maintain the funds in India Account or UK account. Please clarify.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

Regards,
Sania

sania78 wrote:Hello Push_Hsmp,

I am not 100% clear on your first answer. Please clarify. If I get a consilidated statement from my employer for the whole year, still home office may get a doubt that why i was paid the amount in UK account. Is n't it?

Also, since i am planning to apply next month or so, which bank statment i need to submit? Considering the fact that for almost last 5 months, i am in india, do i need to maintain the funds in India Account or UK account. Please clarify.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

Regards,
Sania

You indicated that you will get your Indian employer to pay you Indian salary for Jan to March. Getting pre-dated salary slips is fine but you can not get the bank statements back-dated. As net amounts of the salary slips need to tally with amount credited in the bank, I suggested that you get a letter from your employer that salary for the said three months (showing the gross/deductions/net etc.) was paid as a lumpsum amount in say April. I hope this makes it clear.

My understanding of what you are trying to do is:

For 9 months you will show pay slips/letter from the UK employer + UK bank statements
For Jan -March you are arranging to get letter from Indian employer and provide Bank statements of the amount where the 3 month's salary has been credited.

Also, since i am planning to apply next month or so, which bank statment i need to submit? Considering the fact that for almost last 5 months, i am in india, do i need to maintain the funds in India Account or UK account. Please clarify.

You can use any account as long as the required minimum funds have been maintained for three months.

Hello Push_Hsmp,

This makes it very clear. I will try and speak with my payroll team as you suggested and will update tomorrow. Many thanks for your suggestions.

Regards,
Sania

Hello Push_Hsmp,
My company payroll department told me that since they have already paid tax in UK, they cannot reverse that. Please suggest me the best alternative.

Thanks,
Sania

sania78 wrote:Hello Push_Hsmp,
My company payroll department told me that since they have already paid tax in UK, they cannot reverse that. Please suggest me the best alternative.

Thanks,
Sania

Thats what I suspected. Unfortunately in this case you can not use the uplift. The reason is - for all practical purposes you were an employee for the UK company and got paid in UK. I might suggest a plausible solution if you could confirm that you are now employed by Indian subsidiary of the UK company and not the UK company directly.

Hello Push_hsmp,
Many thanks for your reply.

I can confirm that now my payroll team moved me to India payroll. Also, i have got my india salary on may 1st. So, please suggest me the alternative.

Thanks,
Sania