Because I am using the goodwill right now on me after an incident earlier today.
Visa-free entry is not just for tourists. It is also for business travelers (and, by extension, remote workers).
From what I understand, you may travel to Taiwan visa-free on business trips to conduct business as long as you are not actually obtaining employment with a company in Taiwan, and as long as you don’t exceed your allowed number of days per trip (90 days for Americans). This is true in most countries.
By extension, this means you may travel to Taiwan visa-free and work remotely legally for 90 days per trip.
Doing “visa runs” itself is legal in Taiwan (unlike the US). You may stay in Taiwan for the maximum number of days per trip (unlike the US), and you may come back to Taiwan as many times per year as you wish, without an annual maximum quota (unlike the US).
However, I believe you may become liable for taxes if you exceed a certain number of days of business travel to Taiwan per year, even if you aren’t a resident. I’m not sure exactly how it works, but I believe this will trigger a legal requirement for your company to register in Taiwan as a tax entity. This is why most international companies won’t allow their employees to take overseas business trips to the same destination for more than a certain number of days per year. I might be completely wrong about this, and I’m sure someone will correct me if I am.
The PWC website might help.
Some points of interest:
Individual income tax (IIT) is levied on Taiwan-sourced income of both resident and non-resident individuals, unless exempt under the provisions of the Income Tax Act and other laws.
A non-resident alien residing in Taiwan for more than 90 days but less than 183 days in a calendar year is subject to tax at a flat rate of 18% on Taiwan taxable salary income, regardless of where the remuneration is paid.
that is about the same with my understandings, though I’m sure if you provide works specified under subparagraph 1 to 6 of paragraph 1 of article 46 of ESA for taiwanese without a permit, it is a violation even if you are not obtaining employment with a company in Taiwan.
i don’t think your company need to do anything, as far as they do no business in taiwan and just their employer stays here.
you just need to report your income for your work done in taiwan, with your paystab or something, at a tax office, then they say how much you should pay.
I’m not sure if you don’t nead a permit for remote work, but it seems @marco is very sure about it. so I’m expecting he provides a source for it. i guess he surely has a concrete source to make such an affirmed claim.
I’m not sure either, but I thought it was something along the lines of:
(i) If companies have employees based here, at some point Taiwanese law requires them to have a legal entity (which I think is somewhat distinct from the tax liability of the individual, although the two are obviously related in practical terms).
(ii) International companies in countries more concerned about such things tend to become skittish about exposing themselves to this.
There must have been a fair few people here on gold cards working remotely for single employers though. As long as they paid income taxes in Taiwan, I wouldn’t expect Taiwanese authorities to pursue it much further than that.
I’ve never heard from my accounting firm that Taiwanese law requires establishing a local entity. I did so only because it is much easier to hire and rent office space with one. However, I spent a couple years using a PEO with no problems.
Actually I think only if a foreign company has more than a certain number of Taiwanese employees in Taiwan.
I don’t understand the regulations very well, but my understanding is that having employees working from home in another country can trigger permanent establishment for the company, which has tax implications. It may depend on the role and specific business activities. Higher level roles and sales activities may be at higher risk.
That is a very broad extension. Business travellers travel short-term from a home base for business. Remote workers are neither short-term, nor do they have the home base elsewhere.
Taxation has nothing to do with your immigration status once you meet the 183 days a year in Taiwan.
There is no legal distinction between the two, insofar as immigration policy goes. If you’re here in Taiwan on business, then you’re here in Taiwan on business. As long as you don’t overstay.
i asked to MOL, and found i maybe was wrong. i guessed Marco wouldn’t state just his opinion with no supporting sourse as if it is a legal provision or government interpretation, but it seems so at least in this case.
they said if you work for a foreign company which does no business with taiwan, and your work never affect to local employment, and you are not supervised by anyone in taiwan, and you provide no service to taiwan, and do not get paid from taiwasese people or company, you can do the “work” without a work permit.
So this is the same as what they said in the email I posted above then, right?
I’m still not sure immigration would be fine with it, even if the MOL doesn’t consider it their problem.
i think so.
It makes sense not to require a work visa for business trips. Can you imagine your company applying for work visas for you for every single country you need to go on 1-2 day business trips to?
NIA says if MOL has no problem on your remote work, they also have no problem.
?
Have you asked them about this as well?
yes.
Honestly, I don’t really get what you’re doing here. Unless the NIA and/or MOL are going to release an official statement saying that it’s fine for people to work remotely while doing visa runs, which I doubt they’re going to do, I’m not sure why you’re alerting them to these gray areas that don’t seem to affect you.
If someone gets in trouble for this, it’s not like they’ll be able to use the defense that someone on Forumosa said that someone at immigration said it’s okay.
They didn’t make an official statement saying it’s illegal, and there is also nothing in the law books saying it’s illegal. Nobody is going to get in any trouble for doing something that is not explicitly prohibited by law.
Some of the legal concerns are discussed upthread, and I don’t think two people on Forumosa saying it’s okay is going to help much either.