Calculating the 183 days exactly

I arrived June 6th for an interview and departed June 8th.

Arrived to live June 23rd but didn’t start work until Jul 01.

Have got 2 trips out of the country:
one business dep 11 Aug Ret 13 Aug
one personal dep 18 Aug Ret 24 Aug

Now for the questions:

  1. How do they calculate a valid day IN Taiwan? i.e. if you leave on a given day, is that counted as IN or OUT? (as what about arrival days?)
  2. The guides talk about more than 183 or less than 183. What about EXACTLY 183?
  3. If I am out of the country on Business for my Taiwanese Company, do those days still get taken off my total?

I have done some searches and could’nt find those specific answers so Thanks for your help.

You need to call the tax office, or even better pop in and ask them. If I remember, they enter all the dates on the computer and a program figures it out. If you went in and asked them to do this for you, you’d know.

On the other hand. Why do you need to know. You’ll find out when you go do do your tax return.

Brian

Not quite true. They actually already have all the dates in their system - so they already know how many days you’ve been resident before you fill in the form (and just double check your input). I found it a bit irritating last year to spend about 20 mins deciphering faded exit/entry stamps in my passport, and then seeing it appear on screen 1 second after the official typed in my ARC number …

I believe that calculating the number of nights spent in Taiwan will give you the right answer (i.e. if you arrive on the 6th and leave on the 7th, that’s 1 day spent in the country).

[quote=“truant”]Now for the questions:

  1. How do they calculate a valid day IN Taiwan? i.e. if you leave on a given day, is that counted as IN or OUT? (as what about arrival days?)
  2. The guides talk about more than 183 or less than 183. What about EXACTLY 183?
  3. If I am out of the country on Business for my Taiwanese Company, do those days still get taken off my total?[/quote]
  4. In Taiwan, if you are physically present for any part of a day, that day counts as being in Taiwan.
  5. For tax purposes, the cut-off point for “resident” status is 183 days or more in one calendar year. Hence, if you have exactly 183 days then you indeed meet the qualification for “resident” status.
  6. Yes. Taiwanese law is not very advanced in this aspect . . . . . . .

Thanks for everyone’s replies so far.

You can see the confusion already:

If I use nights to calculate as suggested by David,
then arriving one day and leaving the next would count as one day.
Where as, if I calculate as suggested by Hartzell,
based on any part of a day is counted as a day in Taiwan
then it would be two (please let that be right!?)

The reason I need to know is I am hovering around the 183 day mark
which by my calcs makes about 6% difference in my tax bill,
so if I need to, I may be able to trim my travel dates to be here
enough days to pocket the 6%.

To calculate:
For a thirty day month, count the days where you are outside of Taiwan FOR A FULL 24-HR DAY. Then deduct those from 30.

That will give you the correct total for the month.

For a thirty-one day month, count the days where you are outside of Taiwan FOR A FULL 24-HR DAY. Then deduct those from 31.

That will give you the correct total for the month.

(For a twenty-eight day month, I will let you figure out the method by yourself.)

Thanks very much Richard.

Do you happen to know where I can find this ruling officially? I have browsed the ntak.gov.tw/ntak-eng/service/guide.asp site everyone points at, but I can’t see any mention of what determines a day in or out of Taiwan.
I’ve got HR people at work fairly sure I’m wrong, and I’d really like to see it for myself to clear it up.

Cheers again.

Why are the HR people at work sure you are wrong? To my knowledge this is always the way “days in Taiwan” have been counted. If you go to the Bureau of Entry and Exit, and get a printout of your days in Taiwan, what does it show?? Of course it shows the days you went out and the days you came in.

Questions:
On any of those days, were you physically present in the Taiwan area? The answer is yes.

On any day when you were outside of Taiwan for a full 24 hours, were you physically present in the Taiwan area? The answer is no.

Of course, with my mere 29 years in residence in Taiwan, I may have missed something . . . . . . .

Alas . . . . . You should have the HR people call the National Tax Administration.

Richard,

I got the HR people to check again for me and they said that the clerk at the Tax Bureau said this:

Each arrival day is counted as a day in Taiwan, and each departure day is counted as a day out of Taiwan. This is added to the obvious logic of complete days in or out of the country.

E.g. Arrival on a Monday, Depart on following Friday would be 4 days in Taiwan(Which coincides with the “count the nights in Taiwan” rule of thumb mentioned above.

Wish I could find this in writing though, as I can’t really quote “the cleark at the bureau said…” if I later find I have been misinformed.

But, that doesn’t mean it’s right. Truant, in Taiwan you’ll get different answers from different officials. Soemone like Hartzell who is working from personal experience of what actually happens, is more likely to be right than a tax official. The only way to know for sure is to actually try it. I suggest you take a walk down to the tax office (start fo Zhonghua Rd if you are in Taipei), during hours they are unlikely to be busy, and just ask them to calculate it for you.

Brian

Absolutely. I value Mr Hartzell’s advice more but unfortunately I can’t quote him when I do my tax return.

[quote]in Taiwan you’ll get different answers from different officials[/quote] and that’s what is becoming abundantly clear, and the main reason I want to find this ruling in writing, english preferred(but anything is better than nothing.)

I suspect for most people it’s pretty clear whether they are < or> than 183 days. Depending on how I calculate it, I am under, bang on or over 183 days, but I still have the chance to do something about it if required.

I have been through this myself. I suggest that you wander down to the Tax Office and ask them in person.

I know that Hartzell has tried for years to have the Bureau of Entry and Exit issue an official printout which has the FULL TOTAL of days in Taiwan for the year . . . . . but as of yet they do not offer that service.

Hence, everyone continues to be confused and to argue.

[quote]I suggest that you wander down to the Tax Office and ask them in person.
[/quote]

OK, but I keep hearing about this different counter, different day, different answer situation here, so I even if I go down in person, how will that be any more correct than the advice I got over the phone.

If I can’t find the ruling in writing does anyone have an old tax return which (i’m guessing here) may include a list of your entry/exit dates and grand total of days in Taiwan for the year, to take a look at?..or an old tax return guide with this info?

I suggest that you just calculate the days according to how I have instructed above. Then file the return.

If the Tax Office doesn’t agree with your interpretation, they will get back to you. There is no penalty involved.

maybe not for mis-calculating the days, but the extra 6% tax I will have to pay if I fall <183 days is a killer.

For those interested, here’s an update. Doesn’t seem to be much chance of getting any official info on this but I got this advice from my HR colleague after much investigation:

  1. He called the Tax bureau.
  2. He called Immigration/Entry & Exits
  3. He called a colleague of his that specialises in tax issue for foreigners.

All THREE concur with ruling of [quote]Each arrival day is counted as a day in Taiwan, and each departure day is counted as a day out of Taiwan. This is added to the obvious logic of complete days in or out of the country. [/quote]

So I’m shaving my business trip a day to squeeze in.

With respect, thank you for your advice Hartzell, but I’m not going to take the risk of losing serious $$$ in tax refunds assuming that any part of a day in Taiwan counts as a full day here, when the 3 above disagree (unless I find something official that says that assumption is correct)

Any chance to get this guys contact information? I’d like to get some info as well… :laughing:

I am leaving for South America and I am 13 days short of the required 183 days for my 2005 taxes.

If I overstay 13 days and pay the overstay fine, do those 13 days count towards my 183 day residency status for tax purposes?

This interpretation can cause some problems. There’s been 2 or 3 times where I entered and left Taiwan on the same day. So if we go by a strict reading of the above, it counts and it doesn’t count both at the same time!

The tax law only counts physical presence for whether or not the 183 requirement has been achieved. In your case it may be easier and safer to hop over to Hong Kong for a day and come back on a landing visa to complete the 13 days you need.