So I’ve been told recently that you can get a refund… of the full taxes? Dunno, I think I don’t fully understand what I was told, but… anyway.
I’ve been also told that I can amend my last 7 years taxes declarations…
So I’m considering to ask for a refund of the rent of the last years… as many years as possible. Problem is that my name is not on the contract, but my ex gf’s. Also I’m not sure if my landlord actually declared this, but I could ask her.
Does anybody know for sure whether I can claim those taxes back or not?
If it’s not under your name, good luck. Otherwise it’s fine.
Some people here will tell you that if you want the refund you have to pay your landlord’s taxes first. This extremely perverse logic is found in long-term expats with Sanchong Syndrome (tolerating mediocrity), or its cousin condition, TILES (Taiwan-induced low effort syndrome).
You need to work through the various options on the taxes form first, for a lot of people using the rent option doesn’t work out the best. Understand that first.
You won’t get a refund on your full taxes, you get an allowance due to rent payments that you can deduct from your gross income before calculating taxes due.
The rental contract not being in your name makes it difficult if not impossible to claim, you’ll also need evidence of paying rent each month for the periods you want to revise. Note that if you don’t have a prior agreement with your landlord to claim rent deductions on your taxes you’ll likely need to find a new place to live quite soon.
Hmmmmm I guess I better ask my landlord. Weird that they can have legal (?) contracts and still not declare taxes… I find it really, really weird and stupid, unlikely to happen in other countries.
Why is it weird? Also, it happens in the US and Europe a lot as well. As an example, do a quick google search on airbnb evade taxes and you will find tons of articles of how people rent out their places while they go on vacation, but do not declare the income.
Agree, tax evasion in general in the west is far less tolerated than here. But, having said that, it happens a lot as well(both big and small), so it is not unheard of and I do not find it particularly “weird” as the original poster described it.
It is weird. And you can not compare paper contracts, which have been used forever and that are legally binding, with things like the EULA of airbnb which is a totally new thing that governments are still dealing with and regulating, because you know, it’s different from the traditional business models and not covered by the “old” regulations. Indeed, my understanding is that many governments are already forcing these uber-like companies to pay taxes according to new regulations and these companies are adding taxes to each one of the “collaborations” among the service providers (uber fake employees) and the consumers.
So no, you are totally wrong, it IS a scandal, and it’s nothing to do with new business models coming after new technologies that are actually being regulated for a greater control.
You should just apologize and thank me for the insights.
Not really sure what you are trying to say. The person renting out a property on airbnb is a landlord and is under obligation to declare this income, irrespective of airbnb’s(or ubers) business model.
Airbnb’s taxable income would be their commission for matching the tenant and the landlord, and the landlords taxable income would be whatever he made renting out the property.
I think that it’s very simple: it IS weird that there’s a LEGAL CONTRACT among landlord and tenant and the landlord doesn’t declare this income.
Then you said that it’s not weird, that it happens all over the planet, that it’s super common because, you know, Airbnb.
Then I explain you how this business model is NEW and how governments are adapting to the new situation, and this means that NOW government do make Airbnb pay taxes, and Airbnb (and similar uber-like business) do apply taxes to each one of the transactions. Still governments (and companies) are figuring out how to adapt to the new situation.
So, in some way, Airbnb is collecting the taxes from the landlords and paying for them to the governments. However, in some countries landlords in Airbnb are being asked (or will be asked) to declare their activity in that platform.
So yeah, you can not say that it is normal that in Taiwan tenants sign off contracts with landlords and the later don’t declare the income, and to have another NEW, and ABNORMAL situation with business like Airbnb is no excuse, especially when IT IS BEING REGULATED NOW.
You are welcome
Some random links about Airbnb and taxes and regulations:
Actually, oral contracts have been around forever. It’s written contracts that are relatively new. And modern online contracts in general are turning out to have issues (e.g. courts finally acknowledging that no-one reads the damn things, so the fine print isn’t necessarily enforceable).
As for the Taiwanese government, it’s a case of one hand not caring what the other is up to because it’s not in its job description, a.k.a. the “Chinese wall” effect. (Some people find that term offensive. )
The future will probably see more information sharing between government units. In the meantime, your landlord is your landlord, until one of you decides otherwise.
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