Hi fifieldt
Thanks for all your constructive help in understanding the Employment Gold Card. It has helped me greatly in obtaining one which I got last year.
I have actually spent a lot of time researching the tax incentive under Article 9 of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals.
Long story short, there is an inconsistency between the Act and the Regulation issued by the National Tax Bureau on this topic. The Regulation (which you’ve helpfully provided a link to above) regulates the tax incentive available under the Act. Article 1 of the Regulation also explicitly says it has legal force because of the Act.
Article 3 has those three ticks you’ve mentioned above - but there is another way you can be eligible under Article 9 of the Act. Basically, under Article 9, if you have an Employment Gold Card, you qualify for the tax incentive under law.
The important part of Article 9 is “or has obtained an Employment Gold Card under the provisions of the previous Article”. I’ve copied and pasted the relevant text of Article 9 below (https://www.bli.gov.tw/en/0013225.html):
“Starting from the year in which this Act comes into effect, where a foreign special professional engages in professional work and meets specified conditions, does not have household registration within the State and has for the first time been approved to reside in the State for the purpose of work, or has obtained an Employment Gold Card under the provisions of the previous Article, and during the period of validity of the Employment Gold Card is employed to conduct professional work, then within three years starting from the tax year in which said person for the first time meets the conditions of residing in the State for a full 183 days of the year and having salary income of more than three million NT dollars, the part of said person’s salary income above three million NT dollars in each such tax year in which said person resides in the State for fully 183 days shall be halved in amount in the computation of total income for the assessment of individual income tax liability in that year, and the provisions of Article 12 Paragraph 1 Subparagraph 1 of the Income Basic Tax Act shall not apply.”
The National Tax Bureau and the National Development Council are aware there is a problem between what the NTB’s Regulation says and what the law under Article 9 says. I know they are aware as I’ve interacted with relevant parties on this topic. I doubt very much if anyone is looking to clarify or fix this - because there is no incentive to do so and because it involves different government departments.
Essentially, the only way to test this is to claim for the tax incentive if you have an Employment Gold Card when you do your tax return. I expect that the National Tax Bureau will challenge this and then, for those who can be bothered, you will enter a dispute with the National Tax Bureau. For some, this tax incentive will be a material amount of money. So I guess it’s up to those who want to pursue this to do so.
I hope this helps!