So I heard from some people here that if you are a foreigner and have parents over the age of 60 living back home and if you send money home you get some kind of tax break or benefit. Does anyone have some more detailed information about this? Thanks.
Yep. You can get a deduction for supporting your aged parents (even bigger when they hit 70, that was great!). You have to show some evidence that you’ve actually sent them money, though the amount doesn’t have to be very large. I also had to show evidence of the relationship and that my parents were still alive (I think it was a Medicare statement or something of that sort). NB I am not currently in Taiwan, so my information is old, but if things have not changed – that’s how it was.
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I’ve never actually had to show any evidence that I’m sending them money (touch wood - I’m filing taxes tomorrow!); until I saw this post I assumed the criteria was simply have parents over a certain age, and they’re automatically considered dependents (which my whole family finds richly amusing).
The standard paperwork I walk in with: a photocopy of each of their passports (as age evidence); a photocopy of my birth certificate, with their names on it; and some piece of paper that proves they were financially active in the relevant tax year. I’ve used insurance receipts for their vacations, for example. I’ve been doing this for years now.
And yeah, the deductions are significant - parents count as dependents on the tax form, with an 85,000NTD exemption (60 or older? I forget when that kicked in), and 127,500 exemption if 70 or older.
My info is a decade old, but I remember it much like lostinasia is saying. I got a significant deduction (i.e .a couple of hundred thousand NTD). All I remember having to show was copies of my parents’ passports. Probably there must have been something else required to indicate these were my parents.
I’m certain I didn’t have to actually send any money. I wasn’t sending money back home at all most years, so I couldn’t have done.
But the details could depend who ends up handling your case. I always seemed to get really relaxed types.
I was able to claim my 60+ mother as a dependent this year, and received a $10,000 reduction in my taxes thanks to her. The tax office says you need to show proof of relationship (birth certificate with your name / parent name), proof of life (a photo of my mum holding today’s newspaper wouldn’t suffice 
- some sort of bill with the date on it and his or her name), and proof of remittance (i used the receipts from my Taiwan bank).
I had a few problems with the Jhonghe tax office - they wouldn’t accept the bill with her name on it, and said they’d need some some of written affidavit from my Mum, signed by a notary, but I complained by saying that the Xindian tax office accepts bills. I guess it depends on who you get. I managed to get it thru, promising that i’d send through the affidavit later. ma-fan…
There were also some initial issues because my birth certificate lists my mother’s maiden name and not her married surname (which is the same as mine). I really think they try to discourage us from claiming by putting up all of these hurdles.
My parents are both turning 60 years old this year and I want to take advantage of this. I’m assuming that I won’t be able to do it until I file for this year’s taxes next year? Does it matter which bank account you send it to, or can it be just any bank in your home country where your parents reside? I’ve already sent some money home to my own account this year so I’ll just hang on to the remittance receipt.
I just checked my birth certificate and it does list my mother’s maiden name only. How were you able to get around that?
interesting thread… i’ll have to try next year. One question, my mother is re-married so the current name she goes by would have a different surname to me. Anyone else run into this? and how did you get around it?
This entire thread should be in the taxation forum.
[quote=“gavmasterflash”]My parents are both turning 60 years old this year and I want to take advantage of this. I’m assuming that I won’t be able to do it until I file for this year’s taxes next year? Does it matter which bank account you send it to, or can it be just any bank in your home country where your parents reside? I’ve already sent some money home to my own account this year so I’ll just hang on to the remittance receipt.
I just checked my birth certificate and it does list my mother’s maiden name only. How were you able to get around that?[/quote]
Whenever I send money back home, it’s always into my own account, but for the remittance info i put something like “money for family”, etc. so that I can tell the taxman what it’s for.
hey everyone, just want to bring up this old thread again. So what has been your experience with this? I have forgotten about trying this but want to give it a go this year. From what I can tell you need to provide:
- ID for parent(s) such as a passport
- Some proof of life/financial activity such as a bill (what other documents are acceptable in this category?)
- proof of relationship, such as a birth certificate (what do you do if only your mother’s maiden name is listed?)
- some proof of remittance (is this really necessary?)
Also, how does it work with claiming parents? Do you need to claim both, assuming both are alive?, (we know that some dads are hard to track down.) If you claim only one, do you get a smaller benefit as opposed to being able to claim both?
I have, for many years now, used simply a statement (worded by myself) of who my parents are, how old they are (birthdates), and that I have sent funds supporting them during the tax year you’re targeting. My parents sign the form, then my dad gets the statement notarized. That’s all.
(We need to start another thread. What other tax deductions are possible in Taiwan? I heard insurance, but the amount has to be somewhat high. Also charity, but again high amount. Anything else?)
Edit: My parents do all this in the US then they send the notarized form to me.
you can also claim housing, but a certain amount is given automatically. if you have paid more than this amount during the year and have proof you can also get additional exemptions beyond the standard amount.
Is that for rental housing payments or either rental or mortgage?
I get my parents to submit dental receipts to prove they are still alive and they get them notarized. Big tax deduction.
300k on the interest paid on your mortgage and 120k for rent paid.
You can even deduct losses on property investment.
this is only deductible from gains on the disposal of other property, i.e you cannot deduct it from your employment income.
I dont think this would be relevant to many on this forum.
You mean 300k on interest alone? I think that’s what you’re saying but I’m not anywhere near that. Please confirm.
Correct, interest alone. I can send link later when I’m at computer.
It wouldn’t make sense either if you could deduct the repayments themselves, they are not an expanse to you(although they for sure feel like that)
Yes, I agree. I see the logic in that. Thanks. I’m an idiot with money.