Buxiban trying to screw over teacher on taxes; what can he do?

Hi all,

My partner works at a buxiban, and they are trying to con him out of his tax refund. He has worked for them from March last year; they took 18% out of his pay each month. He was given the tax slip/certificate thing this year, and that said he had only been paid $300,000-odd or so. The figure did not match his actual pay, nor did the number in the “tax paid” column. When he brought this up with the school, they said this was because they were fiddling their taxes but that he shouldn’t worry–he would get the refund from them.

Yesterday they announced that they had filed his taxes for him and presented him with an official looking refund check for $1000, approximately $66,000 less than he should be getting.

This school is a pretty badly run place. Incompetence cannot be ruled out, but I think they are trying to screw him out of the money.

I suggested that he threaten to go to the tax office as a means of getting them to pay up; does this sound like a good plan?
Also, I thought every worker had to file their own taxes, but his school said that they did it for him; is that legit? Or should he be filing?

Many thanks!

It seems the school is cheating. If he has monthly pay stubs recording withholdings, he can go to the tax office and ask.

Unless he signed a power of attorney agreement to allow them to act on his behalf at the tax office, then no, it’s not possible…legally speaking.

He should review everything he signed under his contract to make sure this wasn’t slipped in.

He should go to the tax office and explain his situation. Surely he has monthly bank transfers and a contract, right? They should be able to piece things together from that.

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Yes, I imagine they would. But wouldn’t this put the school in hot water? He is still working there, so I imagine that his going to the tax office would cause the tax people to go and hassle the school. I imagine they might then fire him for doing that.

Then he has a claim against them for improper termination.

People need to play by the rules here. It’s THEIR rules after all.

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plus, if the school is fiddling taxes, then presumably they didn’t pass on the amount they said they would to the government, in which case, the government isn’t going to refund what they never received…

I would quit working there. August is a good time to find a new job.

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That’s why he needs to show the tax man his contract and bank transfers. They can use their BIG BRAINS and work backwards to figure out what everyone owes.

Plus, if they are screwing him on taxes is he enrolled in Jin Bao?

Time to find another skool.

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what’s jin bao?

Your health insurance. You should have a card like this that says NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE on the front with your pretty picture and DOB in ROC year format on it (when I first got it I thought they made a mistake… I’m not as old as the average forumosa poster!)

He is indeed enrolled in the health service.

Another tax-related question: if you are leaving Taiwan this September, can you sort out your taxes for 2018 before you leave or do you have to do it next May? How would they even send you a refund in that scenario?

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Maybe the school reported the minimum amount as his salary to the tax office and NHI.

If you leave early, you should visit the tax office to report your tax before that.

Many thanks all! They can have 2 days notice but after that a visit to the tax office is in order, I agree.

Go to the tax office and tell them everything.

They can not fire them for doing that. He could fight that very easily. I think.

WHO can have two days notice? A cheating school? That gets NO NOTICE from anyone.

Take the “tax return”, copies of pay stubs and/or bank deposit records, and go to the tax office after checking his contract to see whether it includes a right of agency to file taxes on his behalf. I’m willing to bet it doesn’t.

What locality are you in? That may make a difference depending on the “relationships” the school has.

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*Jianbao, Derpy. :slight_smile:

Also laobao while we’re at it (labor insurance – usually but not always mandatory), and jiubao (employment insurance, not applicable to most foreigners).

Ironlady is correct: if you’re performing an Art. 14 termination (Labor Standards Act), you should give zero advance notice. But put it in writing to be safe, and a legal deposit letter at the post office to be extra safe.

What is a legal deposit letter?

I took the “two days notice” to mean the school has two days to pay the money it owes or things get escalated.

Seems like a sensible strategy to me.