Lee Hsin-Yin at Focus Taiwan weighs in on how the Gold Card system is working:
Guy
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Youāre allowed to apply for 2x 6 month ARC extensions?
Well, since the card is really designed to bring folks INTO Taiwan, not keep them there if they already have a job, it makes sense that it might be better to hold onto your ARC instead.
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 youāve 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 youāve 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 āor has obtained an Employment Gold Card under the provisions of the previous Articleā. Iāve copied and pasted the relevant text of Article 9 below (https://www.bli.gov.tw/en/0013225.html):
āStarting 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 personās 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.ā
The National Tax Bureau and the National Development Council are aware there is a problem between what the NTBās Regulation says and what the law under Article 9 says. I know they are aware as Iāve 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 itās up to those who want to pursue this to do so.
I hope this helps!
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Anyone know if there is somewhere online to follow the progress of this?
I tried digging around on the LY website, but the page for the bill didnāt seem to have any schedule or anything.
Hey guys,
What is the process for getting a NHI (National Health Insurance) card once you get the Employment Gold Card ?
Can I apply by myself before having a work contract ?
Thanks
I think @autorelease may have been referring to progress in passing the New Economic Immigration Act. In which case, Iām not sure how to track it apart from in the news ā¦ but maybe thereās a website that lists the legislature schedule?
ed:
The legislative procedure is documented here:
So far we only know that the bill has been sent to the legislature in November last year. Googling for ę°ē¶ęæē§»ę°ę³čę” reveals that some kind of assessment report was released at the end March, which said positive things about the bill. My guess is that this was requested by the legislature (ē«ę³é¢å Øēč³čØē¶² -ę°ē¶ęæē§»ę°ę³čę” ) and that the bill will now go back in for a reading.
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For those who can read Chinese:
https://lis.ly.gov.tw/lylgmeetc/lgmeetkm?$$APIINTMEET!!XX%28KI%3D%E6%B3%95%E6%A1%88%20OR%20KI%3D%E9%A0%90%E6%B1%BA%E7%AE%97%20OR%20KI%3D%E6%96%BD%E6%94%BF%E8%B3%AA%E8%A9%A2%20OR%20KI%3D%E5%9C%8B%E6%98%AF%E8%AB%96%E5%A3%87%20OR%20KI%3D%E8%87%A8%E6%99%82%E6%8F%90%E6%A1%88%20OR%20KI%3D%E9%BB%A8%E5%9C%98%E5%8D%94%E5%95%86%20OR%20KI%3D%E5%85%B6%E4%BB%96%29%20AND%20%28%E6%96%B0%E7%B6%93%E6%BF%9F%E7%A7%BB%E6%B0%91%E6%B3%95%29
You may have to copy and paste the link into your browser, not sure why itās not āclickableā.
Not much detail though it appears it is still in committeeā¦
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If you use facebook, you could pose this question on the Forward Taiwan page. Those guys seem to know a great deal about these sorts of legal developments. If you find anything out, please let us know.
Guy
Am I reading this correctly that itās been proposed for discussion 5 times and 5 times sent to committee? Is that a normal number of times for that to happen?
Iām not sure if this is normal but to put things in perspective, this is what happened to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals that cleared last year:
https://lis.ly.gov.tw/lylgmeetc/lgmeetkm?@@1192316353
We were told to expect that the Economic Immigration bill would be a problematic one to pass legislature thoughā¦
Maybe someone with a better understanding of the legislative process can share if this is unusual.
Thatās correct, was just trying to find a way to follow progress.
Anyway, this thread has been super helpful, many thanks to everyone providing useful information :).
@fifieldt - do you think there is any chance you can get your contacts to look at this? (Contact Taiwan or others?). Itās clear from the law in Article 9 (in both English and Chinese) that all you need to be eligible for the tax incentive is to have obtained an Employment Gold Card (which negates the first time requirements) and then fulfill the other requirements under Article 9.
Hi,
Has anyone had specific experience with the application process. Iād like to hear from are people who can share their specific experience on meeting the professional experience criteria, such as finance or law:
https://foreigntalentact.ndc.gov.tw/en/Content_List.aspx?n=66193EBEB13765E7
Are you or anyone able to share your specific experiences?
Many thanks, Mark.
I submitted a copy of my CPA license and recent payslips.
Hi there
Iām attending the All Hands event at the Red Room tonight. If any followers of this topic are also going please ping me.
I received my EGC in December as mentions earlier in this topic. It happened rather quicker than expected so Iām still based in Singapore and will move full time to Taipei in July with my wife and 7yr old daughter.
For tonightās event Iām particularly interested in how the so-called location independent guys have set up here in Taiwan so that they can work legally.
Cheers
Mike
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CPA License was fine I take it? Which country/governing body is yours issued from?
Perhaps in the future I might do the same way, Mines a CPA License from Australia.
Same hereā¦
Ah small world.
Since you supplied both payslips and your license, did you apply under the 160k salary category or the expertise category? or are both required?