I’m sending out my feelers to gauge need in Taipei. Do you do your own US tax return, does your company offer the service, do you have a fellow expat preparer, or do you use a preparer in the US?
What about your Taiwan tax return? I’ve read that these are largely self-prepared. Tell me about your experience.
Thanks in advance.
[quote=“Bree”]I’m sending out my feelers to gauge need in Taipei. Do you do your own US tax return, does your company offer the service, do you have a fellow expat preparer, or do you use a preparer in the US?
What about your Taiwan tax return? I’ve read that these are largely self-prepared. Tell me about your experience.
Thanks in advance.[/quote]
Have you ever filed Taiwan taxes? Do you even live here? Are you just looking for customers?
I kept my question vague because I wanted people to know that I wasn’t fishing for customers. If I knew how to do a poll, that would suffice. I haven’t been to Taiwan in 17 years. I do speak Mandarin and am considering splitting my practice between Texas and there . Next year, my 16yo son will be an exchange student in Japan (again! I’m proud of him) and it would be nice to be closer to him also. I will be spending 6 weeks in Taipei this summer looking at coworking spaces and housing options with my 14yo daughter, and if I can remember which mountain had those damn good pickled plums…
In short, its an exercise in feasibility. I’m currently not in a position to be fishing. When and if I am, I promise not to use the forum.
In Taiwan you take in your withholding statements to the government preparer (special foreigner office) and they do your tax return in 2 minutes as you watch. It is almost as simple as Ted Cruz’s ‘do your taxes on a postcard’ proposal. Don’t take that as an endorsement of Cruz on my part but Taiwan has a simple tax code (although I am sure that there are ways to abuse it).
I do my own US tax returns but I would guess that a large majority of US expats here aren’t even aware that they need to file and don’t file. There are now penalties for not doing so although I haven’t heard of anyone being penalized. I am talking about the English teacher crowd because that is the circle that I run in.
I don’t think it is a problem to post a service as long as you are up front about it and participate in other areas of the forum. Your post was strange because it was one of your first posts, it showed that you haven’t filed taxes in Taiwan and looked like you were fishing.
Please accept my rude welcome to the forum.
That’s not a promise you have to make. It is a fine line between “useful information of benefit to members of our forum” and “annoying commercial promotion” however. Don’t worry, we’ll let you know if you cross it 
Welcome to the forums!
If you are able to do US tax preparation for expats in compliance with the requirements for FATCA and have understanding and experience in how to correctly declare investments in Taiwan in things like funds (what needs to be declared as a PFIC and so on), I think that you should be able to find business here. Especially if you charge less than the big-name accounting firms.
You should definitely let people on here know when you are ready to accept business. It could be a very useful service to many overseas taxpayers.
Thanks for the encouraging input. I will update when I know more about my relocation.
You can PM me, I can give you costs for one of the big name firms for both the US and Taiwan side. They are ridiculous. How will you get a work/resident permit here?
Licensed tax expert specialize in individuals or companies. U.S. Expats working overseas. She’s in Taiwan.
She can help with Federal and State income taxes if you receive US Salary and your company sends you overseas for extended periods. Also on amended returns of past taxes you’ve done (IRS allows up to 3 yrs prior I believe)
Feel free to email her
edodson@siriuspackets.com