Anybody else fed up with waiting for their tax refund?

Business Money
1

If you have ever filed tax in Taiwan, have you ever received a postcard telling you to collect your refund?

  • Yes, always.
  • Some years.
  • No, Never.
0 voters

I am careful with my money. I am the kind of guy who keeps receipts of things he buys (even in Taiwan where the refund policy is mostly an unheard-of novelty). I also file my taxes with the ROC government as soon as possible when the filing window opens each year. This May, I was there on the 3rd. Every year, the government owes me a substantial amount of money. I don’t think it’s ever been less than NT$20,000 (I’ve filed 5 times). This year, it’s NT$22,000, last year it was around NT$60,000.

They say it takes two to three months and then you get a postcard. I have filed 5 times and received a postcard 0 times. Three times were in Taipei, two in Hsinchu. Are these postcards the stuff of legend or is it just me? And in case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t move inbetween filing and collecting when I lived in Taipei, and I use my school’s address in Hsinchu.

I’ve also heard it said that they start processing immediately, so if you jump in early, you get it back sooner. Hence my eagerness to be there as soon as possible when the May filing season begins.

Well, it’s now three and a half months since I filed, so today I went down to the tax office to ask for my check (as I have always done, without a postcard). The two ladies who helped me were very polite and quite helpful. They didn’t even ask for the mythical postcard the clerks usually have the cheek to ask for. They just typed my ARC number into the computer and said the check wasn’t available yet. But it’s been 3.5 months, I replied. Yes, they’e sorry, 沒辦法, it’s the central taxation agency’s fault. I believe them. I said the govt owes me this money, and it doesn’t seem right to me that they hold on to it (and earn interest on it, no doubt) for so long. The two ladies even verbally agreed with me, quite unheard of.

But I still don’t have my money. And there’s no sign of it coming in the near future. I was a bit :fume: . It was time to take action. After scouring the internet, I eventually found what I think is the right people to complain to: the Taxation Agency. Note, not the Taipei National Tax Administration, although if you live in Taipei, complaining to them may help.

I have just written my letter of complaint about the slow service to this e-mail address given as the “suggestions mailbox” on the MOF’s Taxation Agency Website: b0@mail.mof.gov.tw

If a few more of us with legitimate complaints, particularly about the slowness of the system, do the same, we might get somewhere. I suggest using very simple sentences that are easy to understand (the quality of the language on these sites is not so good), and that you make it clear this service should be improved for everyone in Taiwan, not just foreigners (although they should be doing their own complaining, too!).

2

Mods: Any way to fix the atrocious spelling in my thread title? Editing it in my message doesn’t work.

3

If you don’t mind me asking too personal of a question, is your job withholding taxes at a higher rate than your tax bracket? My job witholds only 6% of my wages for taxes, even though I’m in a higher tax bracket than that. What this means is I always owe the government money at tax time, and I never get a refund.

I actually prefer it this way, though, because I’m never in the situation where I have to wait for my refund. I know this doesn’t help much, but maybe you can get your withholding rate lowered, which might help you in the future.

4

it takes 6 months in taoyaun to get your refund, based on “population numbers” (3 months in chung li).

the letter has ocme for me every year, bar none, even when i moved.

guess you haven’t been lucky.

5

I agree. I pay 10%, but my final tax % always works out less than this (although I’m well into the 13% bracket, I have a lot of deductibles - that’s a whole other topic, but it REALLY is worthwhile figuring out what all you can deduct each year). It’s standard govt practice for foreign workers, I believe.

You are certainly in a good position. I would also far rather owe the govt. I bet they don’t tell you you’ve got 3 months to pay when you do your tax and they figure out how much you owe them. Quick to grab, not quick to refund.

It seems the refunds are not up to the local offices, but are OK’d by the central authorities, as I mentioned earlier. The only “slackness” on the part of the local office would be not sending out the pick-up postcards, as they can only do that once they have received your refund check from the head office.

6

I too try to get every deductible that I can. It’s foolish not to, especially as you get into higher brackets.

I think it’s going to be hard to get the government to change, so see if you can get your employer to change. If they could withhold only 6% of your income, you’d be in great shape, just like me. See if they’d be willing to do that.

You might be right about the 10% being standard practice, though. I’m not sure if that’s true. My company might just be ignorant of that rule. I’m not complaining, though.

Good luck,
Scott

7

My refund was also delayed this year too. I usually get mine in May, but this year it arrived in August only after I called the guy every weeks for 2 months straight. You can ask them what your check no. is, they have that on their computers. With that number you can ask them to check what no. checks they have distrubuted already, to see how close it is until they receive your check. The guy at the tax office told me that they receive about 200 checks a week. When I asked in July, they told me that my check number was 768, and they had only process upto the 400s, so I knew I had several weeks more to wait. Call them to ask what your check no. is, and what no. they are presently at, this will give you an idea of when to expect your refund. BTW, keep this in mind next year. If you file before March 1st, they will do an early refund, which means you’ll get your refund in 2 months. I missed the early bird cut off this year.

8

But I filed in February (due to renewing my ARC at that time), and I haven’t heard hide nor hair of either a postcard or my check!

What’s the deal?

9

Where did you file? If you are in Chung-Ho call and ask for Mr. Lai and ask for your check number.