Tax Ordeal - Participated in one-day event at private school

Legal Legal - Work
1

Last year I did a favor for a friend by helping them with a one-day “English” event at a private school. For the past 3 years I have had a serious personal policy against doing any work outside of the premises of my ARC sponsor, but my friend has been in Taiwan well over a decade and I’ve known her for seven years. I decided not to be a killjoy and help out.

At the end of the event, the private school staff asked us to sign some paperwork for their “budget record”. They were also quite pushy about wanting to use my ARC ID. I told them I didn’t have it on me. They practically pleaded for some form of ID, so I asked my friend to translate “will this be reported for taxes?” and they said no. Finally, I flashed my local driver’s license.

This was at the end of last year. However, for months now occasionally it bugs me that they wanted my signature and a record of my local ID for a simple one-day gig. Finally, I had a local friend call the private school to talk to their accountant about what exactly they needed that info for. She confirmed to him that it was indeed for tax purposes, and according to her, she already filed a tax report on that event as early as January with all my information.

I was speechless. Did they not know they can be fined and I could be deported for being there without a work permit? But also confused. Do schools file taxes on a monthly basis? And if she filed it back in January, am I safe since nobody from the tax office has contacted me?

Either way, my friend broke it down for the accountant that technically they wouldn’t legally be allowed to use me even as a volunteer without a work permit of some sort. The accountant seemed to panic and had no idea what to do about this. She said it’s too late, since she already submitted the report. But then, also said she would be able to make an “amendment” to take my name out, although she wondered out loud if that would be even more suspicious to the tax office.

Overall, I am very confused by this situation. On the one hand, I like the idea of them amending it and taking me out of the equation altogether. On the other hand, I don’t want to call any more attention to it, and I’m not even sure if it’s not already too late since she claimed it was already submitted. (I have no clue if being submitted or filed is the same thing, or if it’s all been finalized or not, or if I’ve already gone under the radar)

Basically, does anyone have any input on what you would do in this situation? I’m just curious if it’ll pop up when I go to the tax office to file my normal taxes this year, or if the hornet’s nest has already been poked either way. I don’t mind getting paddled around a bit for stupidly doing this gig in the first place, but genuine input and advice is obviously preferable.

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I think you’re way over-reacting. The tax office edit: could not be relied upon to assert an opinion about this matter for purposes other than taxation. It just gets added to your income. I’m a freelancer and I pay taxes. Of course the tax office knows I don’t have an ARC but that’s not their business and they don’t communicate with immigration, ever. I’ve even had the tax office ask me about companies I’ve worked for off the books and I’ve denied it and then they’ve said, “oh but we have a refund check for you”.

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[quote=“the_bear, post:2, topic:158809, full:true”] I’ve even had the tax office ask me about companies I’ve worked for off the books and I’ve denied it and then they’ve said, “oh but we have a refund check for you”.
[/quote]

If it’s off the books, then how does the tax office know?

4

Sorry good point. It was a company paying me cash in hand that also deducted tax. Except I wasn’t aware they were deducting at the time.

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Based on my experience, the tax office does communicate with Immigration, but from the other direction. Meaning, they check immgration records to make sure you are paying taxes. Probably nothing to worry about here, but there is some level of communication.

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6

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Dionysius got the sword up above the head of Damocles. :doh:

7

So far, your responses are encouraging. The primary source of my anxiety was the high-profile case of a UK band called Transition that was deported in 2012 for working off the books when a local church wrote their names in their tax records and it popped up a few months later when the band applied for new work permits.

8

There have been cases though where people have applied for APRC down the road and have tax records of non-permitted work become a difficulty for them.

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That’s where it becomes an issue for me since I plan to apply in 2 years. I’m leaning towards having them go ahead and “amend” their filing to remove me altogether, but I’m not sure if that will totally erase my participation or if it might even throw up more red flags.

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We certainly wouldn’t counsel you to cause a government official to make a false entry in an official document. :police_car:

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I’m not sure if that’s what it entails. From what I gather, the school would be making -in this case, retracting - the entry, not any government official. That was according to the accountant though, because I made sure to ask what the amendment process is. But keep in mind it’s the same person who told me they were just using me as a volunteer and weren’t going to file anything in the first place, so honesty I’m not certain what an amendment entails.

12

I believe 2 bottles of Chivas Regal and a spa voucher for the missus is the going rate.

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They just amended it to include a permission slip from my boss. I’ll update if anything happens in the future.

14

#prayforzhende

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Thanks, I need it. Are the companies that put you down for their tax rebate in Taipei? I’m planning to move there this summer and curious if that office scrutinizes things more.

16

Or a $1500 fine, or up to three years in the zoo. :idunno:

Criminal Code Art. 214

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If you work for a buxiban, your boss is permitted to rent you out for educational purposes, but not to other education providers (buxibans, schools, or kindergartens). The rationale is that education providers obtain permission to do their thing according to certain rules like having no more than x students per class and so on, and if they provide inaccurate information to the authorities then all hell will break loose.

(I assume it’s the same if your employer is one of the other types of education providers, but the official statement from the government a few years back was regarding buxibans that rented out – or rather leased out – their teachers.)

If push comes to shove, you can explain that you were dispatched to attend a one day activity, not to act as an ordinary classroom teacher, and although it’s true that a friend of yours was involved, the fact that your boss dispatched you means you were following orders (right?).

This is not legal advice, of course. :innocent:

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18

Deleted.

I should have stayed out of this one. I didn’t read carefully. My apologies to all.

19

I don’t know if this is any good help, but I might say don’t worry too much. I have done regular presentations / speeches for businesses while I was a buxiban teacher, before I had my APRC. It showed up on my tax as income. The kind lady at the tax office said I should declare in a section [I forgot the number] which was not ‘salary’, but ‘speech, or consultation’ or something like that. I never got any repercussions.

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Me too…Moonlighted as an MBA instructor at two Unis when I was working for Taiwan`s government.

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