Today my boss handed me an envelope with money in it. The money was for the last 2 months of taxes she deducted. I’ve only been working there for 2 months so, I got ALL my taxes back. I was paying 6% as I have been here over a year.
My boss said that her accountant said (yeah its one of those stories) I will get a statement at the end of the year with the amount of earnings I made with this school. Now, this school is providing me my ARC.
I find it weird to not be paying taxes! She said she will not take it out of my pay anymore. I know that Taiwan is very much GO-with-the-flow kinda place.
I pay my taxes, not deducted from my salary, but once a year. Once a year I get a statement/bill with how much I owe and I pay it.
Could it be, “We are not taking it out of your salary anymore”, but you still need to pay?
That’s what she said! She said I would have to pay the taxes later. How do I figure out how much that will be? What are the tax brackets here? What percent of my earings should I expect to pay? 6% right?
And yes, I will buy a beer.
I should be in the 13% range. How do I avoid this? What’s your secret? If my boss says I make a certain amount and files with the tax office aren’t they going to come after me for the taxes?
I told my boss that she should take 6% when I started, I think the reason she stopped taking the money is because I am actually making more money and that brings me into the higher bracket (13%)!
As has been discussed elsewhere on the forums the secret to minimizing your tax bill is in the deductions.
Your aged and doting parents make fine deductions - just route some money home a few times a year through their accounts. The older they are the better - you’ll need their birth certificates proving this at tax time.
Also any siblings still in college? It hard when you’re paying their way as well on a poor teachers salary…
As I understand it these are marginal tax rates. i.e. you don’t pay 13% on your entire income. The first $74k is tax free. From $74k to $370k you pay 6%. Above $370k you pay 13%. So if you earn $600k you only pay 13% tax on $230k ($600k - $370k). You do the maths, but it works out to less than 10%.
And as Boss Hogg so wisely mentioned “What are you going to declare?”
I don’t understand that. The employer sends a copy of your tax withholdings statement to the tax bureau, so you have to declare that amount. Now, you’re also supposed to declare outside income (eg, from privates), but that’s a bit harder to trace if they don’t file official tax statements.
Brother made a good point about deductions. I didn’t realized it in time to take advantage of it, but money you send home to help out your folks (I think they have to be above a certain age) is tax deductible.
Ok, I should be more clear here! In Taiwan almost every English school, I assume you teach English, lies about how much it is paying it’s teachers. So, I guess what I should say is “How much is your boss saying that you make?” There are many reasons why bosses lie about money and it wouldn’t surprise me if this were the case. However, there is a minimum salary of about $34 000 a month that the tax department is more likely to believe/accept, at least in smaller areas.
Myself, I don’t need to lie about taxes as I have many deductions.
Ok, let’s talk deductions. I have been sending money home to myself. My brother is in University. Can I tie the 2 together? What documents would I need to prove that I was paying for his tuition?
American income tax-exemptions potentially will be soon ending if you work abroad. One big pocket book reason to become a ROC citizen or just “Yankee Come Home”:
So if taxes are automatically deducted from my salary that means I will probably never get any of it back right? Has anyone ever gotten money back from the government?
