Ok, I am totally confused whether my total days in an annual year are (would be) greater than 183 days or not. First of all, I got no idea that do those 183 days mean the official working days or just the days you are physically present in TW?
Let’s talk of 2013, I graduates from my NTU on Jan 28th 2013. I left taiwan for a visa run on 2nd March (Because my arc was expiring) via Hong Kong. I came back on the 3rd. Then, I worked Illegally (hush hush ) on a tourist visa till May3rd (My 2 month visitor visa was over). The reason for my illegal work was due to the fact that my previous employer’s company budget was too low to make a work permit for me, Anyway, It is not important since No one knows that .
I went to Macau on May 31st (another Visa Run), And came back Taiwan on the 5th June. The same month I officially found a job and my official date of work permit in the contract is 10th July. I now have a valid ARC as well.
Now ,my doubt is that if those 183 days are considered the official working days, Then i am in trouble since my official date of joining is 10th July. Which mean I have spend 175 days and would be taxed by 18% for 6 months. However, If the days are just meant to be resident days or physically present, then I have got 362 days. And if I am safe then How do I go across and prove that I have stayed here physically for more than 183 days? Are the passport stamp enough or do I need some other documents? I am really perturbed because my income is not that much (40k monthly) and 18% taxes would be more than heavy so I got to plan it out. Finally, Do I need to pay them by myself or would my company deduct it monthly? Thanks a lot lads.
The 183-day rule refers to days physically present in Taiwan, not days that you worked, so you’re fine.
When you file your taxes in May of the following year, the nice tax folks will ask to see your passport to determine your entry and exit dates (of course, they have the information on their screen in front of them as well). So at your $40K/month income, you should be in a low tax bracket.
AFAIK, your company should be deducting taxes from your pay. Since you’ve been in the country all year, I assume they’ll deduct at the normal rate for your income (i.e. 5% or whatever). At tax filing time, next May, if the amount of tax you owe is less than what your employer has deducted, you’ll get a refund later in the year. If your employer hasn’t been deducting taxes from your pay, then you’ll owe whatever’s due at that time.
It’s best to verify how much they’re deducting from your pay, and make sure you have written records of this.
EDIT–Something to think about if you’ll still be working in Taiwan come next year: For the first six months of EACH year (Jan~Jun), many employers deducted taxes at the “foreigner rate”, then drop to the normal rate for the rest of the year. Again, you’d get a refund of the difference when you file your taxes the following May.
All right, This made sense, I am pretty sure My company didn’t cut my tax (at least for the first month), They only deducted the labour+health insurance, So I guess I need to ask them about this.
Thanks anyway for all the information Steve.
Cheers!!
[quote=“Steve4nLanguage”]The 183-day rule refers to days physically present in Taiwan, not days that you worked, so you’re fine.
When you file your taxes in May of the following year, the nice tax folks will ask to see your passport to determine your entry and exit dates (of course, they have the information on their screen in front of them as well). So at your $40K/month income, you should be in a low tax bracket.
AFAIK, your company should be deducting taxes from your pay. Since you’ve been in the country all year, I assume they’ll deduct at the normal rate for your income (i.e. 5% or whatever). At tax filing time, next May, if the amount of tax you owe is less than what your employer has deducted, you’ll get a refund later in the year. If your employer hasn’t been deducting taxes from your pay, then you’ll owe whatever’s due at that time.
It’s best to verify how much they’re deducting from your pay, and make sure you have written records of this.
EDIT–Something to think about if you’ll still be working in Taiwan come next year: For the first six months of EACH year (Jan~Jun), many employers deducted taxes at the “foreigner rate”, then drop to the normal rate for the rest of the year. Again, you’d get a refund of the difference when you file your taxes the following May.[/quote]
Ok, I’m reviving this thread as I’m in the same boat as the OP (I didn’t work illegally though lol).
I studied masters here for two years and currently working since December last year. My salary range is also the same as the OP’s. I was shocked when I got very little from my first month salary here. That time I didn’t have any idea about tax rules in Taiwan. I asked the company HR and was told about the 18% tax for non-residents. So now I am planning to talk to the HR again about this, that I am actually a resident since I’ve been here for two years already.
However, I would like to clarify what Steve4nLanguage wrote:
Does that mean employers may deliberately deduct your salary for taxes (and refund the following May) even if you’ve been a resident for more than 183 days, and thus 18% tax doesn’t apply anymore? Could this be the reason why I still got 18% deduction despite being here for way more than 183 days before I worked? Or maybe the HR/accountant just isn’t familiar with the law that’s why they deducted 18% of my salary?
[quote=“germinsh”]Ok, I’m reviving this thread as I’m in the same boat as the OP (I didn’t work illegally though lol).
I studied masters here for two years and currently working since December last year. My salary range is also the same as the OP’s. I was shocked when I got very little from my first month salary here. That time I didn’t have any idea about tax rules in Taiwan. I asked the company HR and was told about the 18% tax for non-residents. So now I am planning to talk to the HR again about this, that I am actually a resident since I’ve been here for two years already.
However, I would like to clarify what Steve4nLanguage wrote:
Does that mean employers may deliberately deduct your salary for taxes (and refund the following May) even if you’ve been a resident for more than 183 days, and thus 18% tax doesn’t apply anymore? Could this be the reason why I still got 18% deduction despite being here for way more than 183 days before I worked? Or maybe the HR/accountant just isn’t familiar with the law that’s why they deducted 18% of my salary?[/quote]
Yes, employers will still deduct 18% from your salary from Jan to June. The reason is that you haven’t been in Taiwan for 183 days for the current tax year yet. The time that you lived in Taiwan in previous tax years doesn’t count.
[quote=“Abacus”][quote=“derpydogs”][quote=“Steve4nLanguage”]The 183-day rule refers to days physically present in Taiwan, not days that you worked, so you’re fine.
[/quote]
So if you get a proper ARC mid-July but you’ve been in Taiwan on visa runs since Jan 1, you’re good to go at 5%?[/quote]
[quote=“derpydogs”]
Are you sure? I’m getting mixed messages on this.[/quote]
Your company might still deduct 18% because they are lazy but you will get a refund from the tax office.
In addition to that I was assuming that you didn’t spend any considerable amount of time out of Taiwan on those visa runs. Days that you are outside of the country don’t count towards the 183 days even if you were here on Jan 1st.