Income Tax

LJ

When making your financial calculations do not count any “final bonus” or withheld amount. The school will try its utmost not to pay that. If you are not in Taiwan by July 1 you will have 20% income tax withheld and you will not get it back. If you arrive before then you will still have it withheld, but you will get 14% of it back. That is roughly the situation. The tax office and immigration deliberately don’t talk to each other. If you pay taxes the tax office doesn’t care about your immigration status. If you have paid your taxes like a good boy, it cuts no ice with immigration.

If you can get by on less than NT$1000 a day excluding rent, you are doing well. I know it is possible. I used to know some very thin and sober people who managed it.

You have to be in the country for 183 days or more (cumulatively, not necessarily all at one shot) during the year to qualify for local tax rates. Otherwise, taxes are withheld at 20% and you won’t get any of it back–no deductions or exemptions allowed.

As for the tax office and immigration not communicating, what this means is that you can pay taxes on unauthorized work and the tax administration won’t report your illegal activities to the immigration authorities. Let’s say you work 24 hours a week for Hess and decide you want to do another 15 hours at the kindergarten down the road. Your work permit only allows you to work for Hess, so any outside work is illegal. The kindergarten will also want to withold and report your taxes, even though your working for them illegally. Because the tax office and immigration don’t communicate, immigration won’t use your tax records to track you down for working illegally.