Hello everyone,
I’ve already done some searching on this forum and have found a lot of useful information. I know several people have already asked questions about import/export, but I couldn’t find anyone who was trying to do exactly what I would like to do. So… I thought it would be best to start a new topic, detail what I’d like to do, and see if anyone can offer me any help or at least point me in the right direction. If this situation has been discussed before and I missed it in my search, please forgive me.
Basically a partner and I, both foreigners living in Kaohsiung, are planning to start a business of selling imported products online. I’ll try to give as much detail as I can without actually saying what the product is, lest I face the wrath of my business partner. We will be buying items from companies in China, importing them into Taiwan, and selling them online through a website I am developing as well as eBay. As such, our target customers are overseas (mostly the US and Australia) and it is extremely unlikely we will have any local customers. The size and quantity of the items are such that on import they will fit into boxes, not crates or shipping containers. It would be something like 500 pieces per shipment. When we sell the items, it most likely will be in very small quantities that will fit into even smaller boxes or padded envelopes I could fit into my scooter’s underseat compartment and will be mailed through the local post office. The total dollar value of the imported goods might be from $US1,000 to $US 4000. We’re not talking 100’s or even 10’s of thousands here. One thing I’d first like to stress is that we don’t want to do anything illegal.
I am trying to figure out what steps need to be taken in order to get this operation up and running. Here is what I have gathered so far from reading posts on this forum: We will need to obtain an import license to bring the products into Taiwan. I believe that in order to do that, we need to be registered as a business here in Taiwan, but is this true even if none of our customers will be local? How much would it cost to register the business and obtain an import license? From what I read on this forum it seems that our imports will be subject to a 5% tax based on the price of the items we import plus the shipping cost we will pay to get them here. I guess we will also have to report our earnings to the Taiwanese government and pay income taxes. Am I right so far?
My business partner knows some people who have an import/export company. Is it possible to skip the whole import license and local business registration process and just have his friends help us import the products? We (through his friends) would still be subject to the import tax, but what about the income tax issue? If the goods are listed as being imported through his friends company, does this create any kind of problem for them when they’re not actually the ones selling them, yet the TW government thinks they are in possession of the items? If not, does it create a problem for us when customs is constantly seeing these items leaving the country with our name on the return address label, yet they don’t know how we got them? Or could we simply just ship out the items with his friend’s company listed as the sender, and when income tax time comes around, we give them the money that they are taxed because of our items. We’re certainly NOT trying to evade paying taxes (at risk of being deported if caught) or do anything illegal. So with that said, is it better to NOT go through his friend’s company? I’m a worrier (which you might have already gathered from all the questions above) and I tend to overthink things according to my business partner. Am I way off base here? Is this a lot simpler than it seems?
I would sincerely appreciate it if anyone with experience in importing products to sell online could share their wisdom with me regarding the above questions. If you need to know anything else in order to answer, please let me know.
Thank you very much!