I have an ARC for my teaching job. On the side I’d like to do some freelance writing work. But the publisher for this freelance job wants to tax me 20%. My questions are:
Can’t do it.
Brian
You mean, can’t do it “legally”, but you can do it. I’ve been doing it for years.
You have an ARC. You get a job from Company B. Company B withholds 20% because either a) they are idiots who do not know the law [assuming you made your 183 days last year] or b) I don’t know what, but it doesn’t matter…anyway, at the end of the tax year, you get a “koujiao pindan” [statement of withholding tax] from Company B, as well as from your ARC employer. You make sure that Company B has entered that particular sum of money paid to you as Category [I think it is…don’t quote me on the number] 6B – anyway it’s called “gao fei”, monies received for writing/translation work, which has the added benefit that the first NT$180,000+ annually is tax-free – you go report your taxes as usual, staple the forms together, write in all the numbers, and they’re quite happy to return any tax that was over-withheld. I’ve had years when I had to file three tax forms because I had income from so many individual sources (all in the gaofei category except my “regular” employer) and no one ever said a word as it was obvious I was paying taxes on the money, which is the point.
Plus, I’ve been told by people who ought to know that freelance work is not considered “work” by the government if it is not performed on the premises with a supervisor and if the employer does not provide you with benefits. Writing sounds like piecework, maybe it would work. Anyway it seems that immigration/MOFA/CLA/tax authorities are not yet connected electronically (long live this situation! 
)
The point is not to make waves. Don’t ask, don’t tell, all that sort of thing. But you’d be better off declaring the tax. If you can handle letting them take out 20% up front, it might make life easier in general.
(This isn’t a certain publishing house located, well, how shall I put it, a very long ways towards the direction in which the sun comes up?? 
)
Thanks Ironlady. You’ve given me the courage to probably go ahead and try this. You mentioned it should be labeled ‘gao fei’, is that gaofei as in
Heh heh…no one´s gonna get me for libel this lifetime…
Yes, that´s the right category.
Of course if you have 5 years documented continuous legal work you can get a nifty Article 51 permit, but…the freelancing stuff shouldn´t be a problem.
Hope the Triple People treat you better than the Empire of the Distant Rising Sun Direction did me…and others…
[quote=“johnhenry”]I have an ARC for my teaching job. On the side I’d like to do some freelance writing work. But the publisher for this freelance job wants to tax me 20%. My questions are:
nO BUT IF THE POLICE DO NOT RAID THE SECOND PLACE AND CATCH YOU IT WILL BE ALRIGHT… BUT YOU WILL BE WORKING FROM HOME SO NO PROBLEM
[quote=“johnhenry”]
2) If it is legal to do this, will I be able to get a return on that taxed 20% from the secondary job?
Any help is greatly appreciated![/quote]
I FILED TAX RECEIPTS FROM TWO DIFFERENT PLACES… COMPANY AND SCHOOL… WHEN I ASKED ABOUT THIS… THE GIRL IN THE TAX OFFICE SMILED AND SAID ITS OK ( THE TAX OFFICE ONLY WANT YOU TO PAY TAX ON YOUR INCOME… WHETHER YOU HAVE AN ARC OR NOT IS IRRELAVANT…)
THEY DO NTO CROSS CHECK THIS WITH ANY MISITRY OF xxxxx
NOR DOES THE MINSITRY OF xxx CROSS CHECK WITH THE TAX OFFICE
SO FROM THE TAX OFFICE’S POINT OF VIEW … AS LONG AS YOU PAY TAX ON ANY ON INCOME IT IS LEGAL
Hi Ironlady,
Some time ago you wrote:
“I’ve been told by people who ought to know that freelance work is not considered “work” by the government if it is not performed on the premises with a supervisor and if the employer does not provide you with benefits.”
Sounds great to me, but it also seems too good to be true. Do you still stand by this statement? Also, just who are these “people who ought to know”? Any clarification you can offer would be appreciated.
It should be noted that it is now possible to get a 2nd work permit on your ARC as long as you are not a ‘blue collar’ worker. As far as the letter of the law, each work permit is only valid for work for a single employer at a single location. Whether you can get away with it is another matter…
I’ve got a question about this.
I work for a company full-time.
I want to work somewhere else part-time but my boss said that I would have to change my contract to a part-time contract if I did that. She vaguely said something about having to pay certain benefits for full-time employees. (Not sure what difference this would make as I don’t work there in the mornings anyways)
Anyone done this?
Have Full-time job, add part-time job on to ARC or would it be getting a second ARC?
I am confused :s
[quote=“TNT”]I FILED TAX RECEIPTS FROM TWO DIFFERENT PLACES… COMPANY AND SCHOOL… WHEN I ASKED ABOUT THIS… THE GIRL IN THE TAX OFFICE SMILED AND SAID ITS OK ( THE TAX OFFICE ONLY WANT YOU TO PAY TAX ON YOUR INCOME… WHETHER YOU HAVE AN ARC OR NOT IS IRRELAVANT…)
THEY DO NTO CROSS CHECK THIS WITH ANY MISITRY OF xxxxx
NOR DOES THE MINSITRY OF xxx CROSS CHECK WITH THE TAX OFFICE[/quote]
The Labor Affairs Council in charge of renewing my work permit DID in fact check with the tax office in my case (or rather, required me to produce certification of taxes paid, and when the income on that was significantly more than that stipulated in the contract for my job, required me to then produce copies of the withholding statements for all that income). They never used to do that. Take heed, everyone.