Is it safe to send my ID to an employer/client/agent?

[Andrew]

@anon24369109

No sender does not need ID to make payment. Or for taxes

I haven’t said they do need it, have I?

That doesn’t stop them asking for it, and it doesn’t make asking for it a sign of fraudulent intent.

[crusher]

@Andrew

@anon24369109

No sender does not need ID to make payment. Or for taxes

I haven’t said they do need it, have I?

That doesn’t stop them asking for it, and it doesn’t make asking for it a sign of fraudulent intent.

I will know in a few days. It was good advice to write something in it though.

[Explant]

@Andrew

@Explant

Apologies. I read the OP as agent and online work. Which I just assumed means not an employee. More like contract work etc I. Which a simple transfer is done and the OP would be responsible for his or her own taxes, liabilities, insurance etc. If it’s just a transfer of payment as such, not an employee, it seems incredibly strange to need an ID to me. Meaning: I did a thing or sold a thing, and the other person just needs to pay for it.

Article 7 of the Labor Standards Act says that records should be kept for all employees:

An employer shall prepare and maintain a worker record card indicating the name, sex/gender, birth date, place of ancestral origin, educational background, address, national identification card number, employment starting date, wage, labor insurance starting date, merits and demerits, injury and disease and other significant facts of each worker.

The worker record card referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be kept on file by the employer for at least five years after the date a particular worker ceases to be employed.

I’m not sure whether the LSA applies here actually, but Article 3 does say it applies to “all forms of employee-employer relationships”, and I’m not aware of a separate law for contract/one-off/freelance stuff.

In any case, even if it doesn’t apply, you know how things are in Taiwan — I wouldn’t be surprised if employers just routinely collect this for all “employees”, even one-off ones, just to pass to their accountant or whoever for handling the payment and to cover themselves. Of course, collecting the information above doesn’t necessarily mean collecting a copy of the person’s ID (they could just write down the details), but it’s certainly the easiest way to do that.

Come to think of it, I have in the past done a couple of one-off things here, mostly out of interest, for some nominal payment. One was some neuroscience study at a university and the other was testing some cholesterol sensor at a company. Both times I think they wanted a copy of my ARC to process the payment and for their records. Not a big deal. At least the first one of these automatically ended up on my tax return that year as salary/wages (tax code 50).

IIUC, that’s just how some companies process this kind of stuff. You’re viewing it as a provider/customer type thing, maybe based on your experience with more manual contractor-type work, but I think that’s not consistently how payments for this stuff are handled for online work — what I have in mind is more of a one-off translation job or something, where the person is treated more like an employee and the payment is processed as such under tax code 50 or 9B or whatever.

And I do think companies are responsible, at least in principle, for keeping records of who they employ, even for temporary stuff. Otherwise, what would there be to stop them employing people illegally just by transferring the money to the person’s account, not collecting proof of who they paid, and acting like it’s not their responsibility?

Overall, I think you’re seeing “almost surely fraud” here when it likely isn’t that.

if that were the case for non employees as well, it would be collected during contract signing/prior to start. not “because it’s needed for payment”. that’s all I’m saying. it’s not needed for transfers. if it’s within Taiwan they can transfer the payment from any atmosphere with just the basic bank info without issue. there me be a cap set on accounts. 500k is one such special number.

[Andrew]

@Explant

if that were the case for non employees as well, it would be collected during contract signing/prior to start. not “because it’s needed for payment”. that’s all I’m saying. it’s not needed for transfers.

I understand that sometimes in Taiwan some company staff members say things that aren’t 100% accurate, such as asking for things that aren’t strictly essential or describing things in a way that’s not strictly correct, for example because that’s just the way the company normally does stuff and staff members often don’t really know what they’re doing.

I should make clear that it’s really no skin off my nose if @crusher wants to follow your advice by putting his foot down over this and refusing to provide his ID — maybe the company will relent and just pay him anyway. I think that’s an unnecessary fight to start, but it doesn’t really affect me either way.

I’ve submitted copies of my ID in Taiwan to multiple banks, government agencies, Chunghwa Telecom, EZWay, Shopee, even I think Costco. After submitting it, you’re then left relying on whatever rinky-dink data security procedures they have in place. I just don’t think giving it to an employer is a big deal or worth causing a big fuss over.

[Explant]

More just to be careful. Only Mr. Crusher knows his actual employment status. I’m only speaking out because fraud is truly common here and because bank transfers don’t require this. Other than that, his employment status I think he needs to check or reveal. Sorry if I missed it, but seems vague. Which is fine online. I can with certainty when I do contract work peice work, or just selling stuff to people, not once has an ID been required. If I am employed by a company, sure.

Not arguing either way, just hoping people can be careful and not get fucked. I don’t want the next thread he creates to be about needing Marco’s lawyer