I have always been considering moving to Taiwan and living for a few months on visa runs in case I get laid off from my job in the US. But if I somehow stay in Taiwan more than 6 months, I understand I’ll be a tax resident. So lets say I work in the US from January to March, get laid off, then stay in Taiwan from March to October.
If I never get an ARC, I guess none of this would matter.
But lets say I decide to get a gold card in the future, would the tax office go after my US based income for the time I was living outside of Taiwan? Or do they only care about the income I make while inside the country?
They shouldn’t, if all of the work was conducted outside of the country and before you came here. You’d probably have to explain at some point your income for that year (like if you subsequently filed a tax return, they might ask, and they did with me), but if you were really unemployed while in Taiwan I don’t see an issue.
See also this thread from tonight, and the linked posts therein: