I’m leaving Taiwan in a few weeks, and I’m not clear on the exit procedures. I’m a US citizen, I’ve lived in Taiwan for a year, had an ARC for the past 9 months. I’m thinking I should go to my local tax bureau to make sure my taxes are taken care of before I go, but do I need to do anything else? Are there any other official procedures involved in ending my Taiwan residence? Not sure which offices to call, and I can’t really find any helpful websites. Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Fixing up with the tax office is depandant on a couple of things.
- Do they owe you money?
- Do you owe them money?
- If yes to Q2… then are you ever going to come back to Taiwan again… if not why bother?
- Did you pay 20% tax last year and for a period this year…if yes then should be entitled to money back (20% - 13%) on the tax you paid this year(but you need a gurantor as the tax office bases giving you tax money back on the condition that you will stay here over 183 days in 2002. If you do get a gurantor and you do a runner… then the gurantor has to pay back what you owe the tax office)
This is the way it works from what I can remeber
Hmmm…I was taxed at 20% from Nov. 2001 through June 2002. I shouldn’t owe them any money, and I had assumed that I would qualify for a reimbursement of some of that 20%. But are you saying that if I leave the country (ending my residence), I don’t qualify for the reimbursement? I hope not, because I could really use that money! Anyway, I’ll take my boyfriend (who’s remaining in Taiwan) to the Tax Bureau, so if I need a guarantor or whatever, he can be it.
Thanks for the reply. It’s hard to get replies on these boring non-offensive posts!
The fact is that if you work in Taiwan in any tax year (Jan to Dec) under 183 days then you must pay 20% tax flat…
If you claim to the tax office you are staying longer you will need that gurantor… but then at the end of the tax year if you owe tax back(since you they can check the Exit and Entry records for you easily… the gurantor will have to pay it back
Maybe there is a simpler way around this… ask someone to phone the tax office… or perhaps someone knows better
But it has already been 183 days in 2002. He shouldn’t need a guarantor for such purpose… right?
I went to the Tax Bureau this morning and filed for both 2001 and 2002. Pretty easy–though it took awhile to add up all the days I’ve been in Taiwan, since I’ve departed and returned several times in the year I’ve been here. I believe I did not receive a refund for 2001, because I was here fewer than 183 days, but I will be getting a nice-sized chunk o’money back for 2002. My boyfriend and I just had to fill out a form authorizing him to collect the refund in three months time. Apparently there is a way to get a quick refund (within a week), but the woman said that this would prevent me from being able to do something (work? file for a refund?) in Taiwan for the next five years. I didn’t quite catch what this something was, but I figured I might as well go with the normal three-month plan, since that doesn’t affect anything I might do in the next five years.
So, all in all, it was pretty hassle-free, the women at the tax bureau (on Zhonghua Rd.) were very friendly and helpful and spoke excellent English (and they did all the refund calculations for me), and it wasn’t a problem at all that I was filing my 2001 taxes past the deadline. Yay! All done!
Far as I know you can only apply for one “emergency” tax return every 5 years, so applying for the one week return this time will prevent you from doing so again until after 5 years have passed, presumably that won’t bother you as you are leaving, so go ahead and do it…