vat has in fact nothing to do with if the goods are imported or not, vat is collected on all goods(and services) sold within Taiwan, irrespective of if they are imported or not.
import duties are not a tax, they are per definition duties.
My experiences of living here for just under a year.
Good points
Lots of available cheap, tasty street food.
Second chance cinemas rule
Pretty clean streets overall
The culture. There are a lot of cool and unique things in Taiwan they donât tell you about on the Internet. Meet people and explore and youâll learn something new everyday.
The island itself has some really nice spots for days out if youâre willing to get outta the cities.
Winter climate is real nice. Think I was cold for just one week in a whole year!
Good location in Asia makes it easy and cheap to fly to better neighboring asian countries.
If you make a friend here they really will treat you good. Donât think Iâve ever had to pay for a dinner yet. Sure, they might just be using me for free English, but when youâre dining at some of the best and most expensive restaurants in town for free itâs not a problem.
If youâre a white dude in shape and even average looking you wonât struggle to get girls here. Hit the dating apps and youâll be drowning in women. FWB, one night stands, long term relationships or even marriage. Itâs not difficult to get girls.
Think in my first week here on tinder I had 70 matches and girls were sending nudes without my asking for them and inviting me to hotel rooms⌠no BS. I think the girls are pretty curious about trying a foreign guy. Same as Japan and koreaâŚmany girls just wanna experience it for themselves and brag to their friends theyâve got a foreign accessory. Donât marry those girls OP
Bad points:
Pollution. The air is god awful here all over. People who love taiwan leave because of this. You get used to it but after a while it can seriously make you ill.
The women. Yes, of course there are good looking girls here but itâs maybe only 10 to 15%:of girls. And be careful. ⌠make up use is very heavy and deceiving here with women. Check her out the next morning without the masquerade on and you will hardly recognize her. If youâve lived in Japan, Vietnam, Philippines or South Korea as I have then youâll be disappointed with the women here. They just canât compete. Those women are gorgeous and many. Iâm still waiting to see a good ass here. Not everyone will agree but thatâs fine.
The fashion and clothes stores suck. Big time. If youâre a healthy muscular male good luck finding shirts that fit or jeans that give enough space to breath down there. Men are very effeminate here and dress so. Asian fashion isnt great for men. The women look good though. Itâs legit impossible sometimes to tell whatâs a girl or boy here. There are a lot of androgynous types here.
The cities are all the same and lack personality. With the exception of Kaohsiung which I like. More laid back vibe to it.
Crowded public transport. Get used to having no seat and being body to body with strangers. Thatâs not unique to Taiwan of course but if itâs your first time in asia it might surprise you.
Staring. Like I said, Iâve lived in Japan, Korea etc and am used to stares but here itâs taken to another level. They have no shame at staring at you without blinking for prolonged periods of time. Theyâll also talk about you as if youâre not there. Itâs like being an exhibit in a zoo. Wait until you cross in front of all the scooters during a green light⌠all of them will stare at you. Everytime. Itâs kinda funny after a while but also awkward.
Racism. Yes, racism and xenophobia definitely exist here. Itâs just not as direct and more sneaky. Iâd rather not get into detail on this point as I donât want to paint everyone with the same brush here. Plenty of good people here Iâd rather focus on.
Interracial relationships seem to trigger the racism and jealousy in men here. Something really burns them up to see a white attractive guy with an attractive asian girlfriend. If sheâs ugly theyâll ignore you but if sheâs a looker like my girl is then be prepared for whispers, lame barbed comments and finger pointing plus staring of unprecedented magnitude. Iâm honestly embarrased by them. If they see my girlfriend on her own a load of sleazeballs will drool staring at her and try to chat her up. They run away and throw scornful bitter looks when I arrive and they see weâre together. Itâs the 21st century and interacial shouldnât be a big deal in Taiwan but theyâve still not got the memo.
Overall, welcome to Taiwan if you decide to come. Itâs a good choice for a place to live for a year. Have a great time man.
A car driving test is way harder than a scooter driving test. A lot more expensive too.
We decided to live in Taipei and not drive. There are a lot of intangibles, both good and bad. Funny things can make a difference, like your tolerance for bugs. For me a small but persistently annoying there here is mosquitoes. Spouse hates the cockroaches. Every institution with which I work has stressed me out (bosses have a lot more power here). The language takes years for good conversational ability. The English teachers here often feel âtrappedâ after a while. We had to leave at least one apartment because the landlord wanted it back, which is rare where I come from but a hassle also mentioned by others. Raising children can be complicated. As others said, a lot depends on where you live, what youâre doing, etc. I really do love Taiwan, but there are some downsides.
I was referring to converting my drivers licence, which in my case had to be certified at tw consulate in Hong Kong(I had hk licence). They cannot do it on the spot either, but you need to come back in 1/2 days to pick it up, so I ended up going to HK twice for this.
It all also required 3 visits to the hospital, one on Friday when they tell me that the helt certification section is closed and I should come back on Monday. On Monday I was informed in the same hospital they do not have this service, and I should go to the one close to Howard plaza instead. 
No quiet place in Taiwan.
Everything is made for small people. Beds, chairs, table heights, food servings, beer glassesâŚ
Well, maybe I should just lose weight
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Been here with my American wife for about 8 months now. Absolutely love it, but as everyone says, Taiwan has its downsides.
Pro:
Absolutely beautiful island. My wife and I live in Nantou and love driving around, looking at shops, going bicycle riding, walking around, looking at the amazing nature and man-made things here.
Con:
The air is constantly an issue. If we drive into Nantou City, Caotun or Taichung, our sinuses are wrecked. Even going for short walks some days are detrimental. We were told to âlook at the mountains in the morning. If you can see them, the air will be nice for the day. If you canât, the air will be bad.â Iâve seen the mountains maybe a cumulative week since we got here.
Pro:
Delicious food, absolutely everywhere. You canât throw a rock here and not find somewhere with tea, coffee or food.
Con:
Our food costs are higher than our rent and utilities combined. If you canât cook (we donât have a workable kitchen) then expect to spend a hefty sum on food, especially if youâre feeding more than one mouth.
Pro:
The people we have met here are incredibly kind, caring and open. I grew up in Chicago and never had the social relationships Iâve made here, outside of my childhood friends. Free food, drinks, help with virtually every issue and lots of great advice.
Con:
As soon as you get onto the roads here, every drop of kindness, generosity, and that survival voice inside your head that tells you to be safe, all disappear. Iâve only been here a few months, but Iâve already been hit by a truck, my wife has already been scammed over a bicycle crash, Iâve been run off the road on countless occasions, and canât get across town without seeing at least 5-10 people blow through red lights or drive on sidewalks to avoid signals and traffic. Not to mention the copious amounts of staring from everyone, at all times, when we are out on foot or bicycle. No problem with curiosity, but when we can feel your eyeballs rubbing on us, or see people point and stare, it makes a lot of our excursions feel very unpleasant.
Pro:
Rent is amazingly cheap here. We live in a divided house (4 bedroom, 4 bathroom, top floor patio with a full living room on the ground floor, and a parking space) with two roommates, and our total rent is $25,000 ($850 USD) a month for a house built 5 years ago, and we only pay $9,000 ($307 USD) for our portion. Our old apartment was a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, with no parking, in a converted house, and we paid $19,000 ($650 USD) a month, for half the space we have now.
Con:
Finding a decent home is the hard part. Our first 3 places we looked at were unsavory, unkempt and a ton of the buildings in our area are fairly old. Anything that survived the 921 Earthquake, is still actively being used, but definitely not maintained well.
Pro:
As a certified teacher from the U.S., I have no problem finding work. Got a job lined up before we came, already have a new one with better pay lined up for next school year.
Con:
Wages are stagnant, and the only jobs you can get here are teaching. My wife does not like teaching, and cannot find any gainful employment outside of that. Unless you know mandarin fluently, youâre an English teacher. If you do know mandarin, and arenât a teacher or a high skill technical worker, expect a pittance for income.
Pro:
As a teacher, Iâm able to make enough for my wife and I to live comfortably, without needing a second income. Previously, I worked as a full time teacher and a pharmacy manager just to afford our costs, putting me over 100 hours a week of direct work, grading and planning.
Con:
That money only stretches so far. With student loans at $45,000 USD ($1,320,000 NTD) and my monthly payments around $550 USD ($16,100 NTD), Iâm sending close to 30% of my monthly income overseas. With my wife also wanting to fly overseas to be back in the U.S during the summer, a flight for both of us is about a month and a half cumulative income, which is very hard to save up.
Overall:
We love it here, and we plan on staying long term, but my God are there a lot of hurdles to jump along the way. With my tax return hopefully coming to me in full, with my wife hoping to start a mini-bakery service, and me getting a higher paying, much more prestigious job at an international school, things are looking up every day.
To whomever reads this, enjoy the pros, but keep in mind the cons.
Good luck!
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just as a reminder, if you are on an ARC, she needs a work permit to do that. If you are a taiwanese citizen, no problem, of course.
Living in Nantou, garden of Taiwan, lucky you.
If Taiwans air was cleaner the views would certainly be spectacular in places like Puli.
Depending on how long you are sticking around and your wifeâs background your wife can still do plenty of things.
Learning Chinese
Part-time tutoring or buxiban work
Tour guide operation (there are a lot of foreign tourists coming to Taiwan nowâŚI would look at doing this if had to give up my current career )
Get into tea and bamboo stuff
Be a missionary (last one a bit of a joke but I bumped into a few rather extreme church members out thereâŚBut interesting none the less )
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- chinese takes a long time to learn
- pollution
- stray dogs
- claw machine pollution
- scooters parked everywhere
- scooters in general. nasty things.
- ugly ass streets with no urban planning, dirty rusty signs and ugly advertisements allowed to cover almost the entire face of some buildings
- selfish and very dangerous driving
- lack of western food, at least according to my tastes.
- crap sandwiches
- summer is too hot and there is very little relief from it. you will sweat buckets and be uncomfortable. every day.
- it rains a lot in the north.
- winters are crap, but short (not so bad in the south).
- people have pretty selfish behaviour such as not moving out of your way in the street, congregating in a group infront of an mrt exit or shop entrance. filling the street space infront of their apartment / shop full of bits and bobs and trash. being loud at night. all kinds of selfish behaviour that occur due to the culture.
- people can sometimes be pretty annoying about foreigners, holding several negative beliefs ect and slandering foreigners on the news.
- the work situation for locals is dire. and career options are few for a foreigner.
- small shitbox apartments in taipei. kitchens are rare and small when they do exist. its not easy to find a good place in taipei.
- very few public rubbish bins and a terrible trash collection service. although a lot people like it. doesnât work for me though. at all.
- roaches are hell spawn. mosquitoâs are quite annoying too.
other than that its pretty great. much better than life back home for me.
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As a fairly new transplant to Taipei myself, I will add my partâŚ
Like others have said, driving is not for the faint of heart. Parking can be difficult, especially in the city center. The garages are sometimes incredibly steep and narrow, too, making getting in and out with anything mid-sized or larger challenging. It is nerve racking.
Having lived in a few other places outside of the US, I really miss the convenience of shopping for necessities, clothes, electronics, etc. I miss being able to simply order something at a good price and easily return it if I am not satisfied. It may sound petty, but this is my opinion/experience.
I have not experienced the roaches or mosquitos really badly yet, maybe that will come in the summer.
I donât mind the heat having grown up in a climate not unlike this one, but others who come from milder places find the heat and humidity of summer a bit much.
Good luck to you in your decision/move. I am sure that many others will agree that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, especially if you enjoy a bit of an adventure. 
From your description it doesnât sound great.
Biggest drawback for me at the mo is not having a house and garden . That would be nice ! Maybe achievable if I commuted from Yilan.
The other stuff like water and air pollution and shit driving is also annoying.
Low incomes is a really big problem for most.
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sure but i listed pretty much everything i could think of. and didnât include any of the good points, thats a different topic. not all of them are major either, theres only a handful of major bad points i would say.
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This pretty much nails it. Iâve legit never had a good sandwich in Asia. Period. Tiny little slices of bread with about 10% meat filling and a ton of lettuce. Thats a great sandwich according to local people. Brings a tear to my eye.
Mind you, Japan is worse. The abominations there define belief. Kiwi and strawberry whipped cream sandwich in 7/11 makes me want to gag. How about a yakisoba sandwich? Which looks about as appetising as dog food.
Also, being a European Iâm really disappointed by the sausages here. Theyâre thin and full of water. The pork content must be about 10%. The rest is just water and wood chippings
This topic has been discussed to death. This whole site is basically dedicated to the downsides to moving to Taiwan.
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Their awesome sushi, ramen, and yakitori more than make up for crap sandwiches. Also, donât buy sandwiches from 7/11, people. Not here, not in Japan, not in the US⌠just donât do it.
Iâll add the âforeigner taxâ. One example is rental cars. I am looking at renting a car and there is a place that will charge me the full amount of say 2600ntd/day whereas apparently only a Taiwanese citizen gets a discounted rate of approx 1820ntd weekday or 2080ntd weekend/holiday rate.
I pretty much make my own sandwiches. Just splurged on two kinds of imported mustard.
Good mayonnaise and bread can be difficult to find.
I have a local bakery that makes acceptable sliced bread fit for sandwiches. But I really miss varieties like sourdoughâŚ
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