Advice on tax/visa

Hi all,

I’m a Brit wanting to based in Taipei (on 30 day tourist visas at the moment). Currently working for an HK registered company with money paid into my UK bank account so I haven’t been paying tax to Taiwan yet.

I heard that if you are in Taiwan for more than 30 days a year you need to start paying some kind of tax. Where can I find the current tax levels?

At the moment my 30 day tourist visa entry isn’t really a problem as I travel a lot for work, but it’s still always a slight stress having my next leaving ticket booked (I simply shift a pre-booked flexi ticket a few weeks after my entry date).

I therefore want to get a longer term multi-entry visa that permits me to stay pretty much as long as I want each time as well as to work (although I would not be making any sales in Taiwan - I would put myself as a graphic/web designer working from home). I also want to become a good tax paying citizen but not pay too much :slight_smile:

I know I’m also losing out a bit by having all my salary converted to pounds in my UK bank account (although for sure I have been helped by the drop in pound value).

Secondly to this, I want to give my Taiwanese GF a minimal wage from this company so that she can pay some kind of tax too etc. so she is another factor/asset that needs to be considered. E.g. if her tax rate allowances are larger than mine, I completely trust paying her more money than myself etc. or if I need a local parter for registration, she would be it etc.

My thoughts are the best situation is for me going forward is this:

  • Register an HK company with corporate bank account into which my salary goes (my employer is willing to hire my company as a consultant rather than pay my salary so it’s not a problem that side).
  • Open a personal HK bank account (or should/could it be Taiwan?) into which I’m paid a minimum wage that equals minimum tax.
  • Pay my GF a minimum wage into her existing personal TW bank account.
  • Apply for a Taiwan visa as staff for a foreign company based working at home (i.e. no registered office and no Taiwan based sales) < Is this possible or do I still need to register some kind of rep office?

Any advice on the above would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Alex

For salary paid outside of Taiwan for work performed inside of Taiwan there are three situations:

Stay less than 90 days in one calendar year: Income paid outside of Taiwan is not taxable.
Stay 90-182 days in one calendar year: Income paid outside of Taiwan for work performed in Taiwan is taxable at 20%.
Stay 183 days or more in one calendar year: Income paid outside of Taiwan for work performed in Taiwan is taxable at normal resident tax rates.

You should consult an accountant to discuss which kind of company is appropriate in your case, but it is possible to get resident visa as company owner.

Thanks for the tips - I’d actually be here way over 183 days so it would be number 3 - what are normal resident tax rates and what do people think is the lowest minimum salary I could realistically get away with without raising suspicion?

Can anyone recommend any good, but cheap accountants (I’m not ACTUALLY paid that much to begin with :laughing: )

Thanks,

Alex

Dude, you cannot get a visa to stay in any country without some kind of registered office and work permit/investment approval. I dunno where you got that idea from. The options for foreigners to set up legally in Taiwan with increasing order of difficulty are: foreign rep. office > proprietary local company > foreign branch office.

If you want your missus to be a legal employee remember you have to pay her lao jian bao (labour + health insurance) - if you’re paying her pension as well it’s errr… I forget, about $5-6k/month total if she is making around $30k/month.

The lowest tax band is 6% for income under $370,000 per annum. Personal deductions are $74k + $75k for a salaried employee. There are more deductions you can take depending on mortgages, rent etc. So you can pay yourself up to $519,000 per annum and pay 6% ($31,140 tax). I am not going any further into other deductions, I’m not your damn accountant :wink:

Thanks for the figures Llary those are really helpful - do you have any recommendations for who my damn accountant should be? :smiley:

Looks like I’ll set up my HK Ltd. company next month then figure out a foreign rep office.

Looks like “self-employment” is an expensive venture to say the least :slight_smile: but hopefully it will buy piece of mind.

Out of interest, can anyone recommend (if they exist) any combined agencies that would do this whole HK/TW set-up for me? I already know of an HK agency, but as far as I’m aware they don’t have a TW branch and don’t really know where to go from there - so I may be better off with a full service agency.

Cheers,

Alex

A lot of people on here use Ann Hu as their accountant. Search function should get what you need. She has Mainland China experience so she also may be able to help with the HK part.