landlord won't give a rent receipt

I rent through a real estate agent in Taipei. This is my first year in this place and I’ve asked for my receipt of payment. The real estate agent said I should have told the landlord that I would ask for this when I rented the property. With all the crap about Uber not paying taxes, this really gets under my skin that a large percentage of the population is not paying their fair share. Even worse, it’s socially acceptable to be a tax cheat.
I pay 36K per month to rent this old place in Daan. i like the location, but it does seem to have it’s issues.

Anyone go though this before?

Appears to be the norm rather than the exception. I suppose technically you could force them, but that may come back to bite you in the ass.

36k for an old place with issues sounds expensive though.

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Do you pay cash or bank transfer? With a transfer you should be able to get a record from your bank, if cash and you take out cash around rent time then the ATM records may be accepted, obviously in either case a matching contract is required.

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[quote=“strngr, post:2, topic:158179, full:true”]
Appears to be the norm rather than the exception. I suppose technically you could force them, but that may come back to bite you in the ass.[/quote]
Yeah, if you insist on claiming the rent as a deduction, the landlord will be more than happy to jack your rent significantly.

Insanely expensive. Unless you got, like, 4 bedrooms and car parking and a dude who comes and flushes the bog when you’re done.

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For 36 K your going to need/expect umpa lumps dances and a giraffe.

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It’s DaAn so it depends I guess.

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I think the landlord will raise my rent if i push it. It is a good place - 3 bedroom 2 bath and an large patio perfect for BBQ without bothering neighbors as it is a top floor. I was just shocked that they would go through a real estate company to lease it out but then still not pay the taxes. And the real estate guy telling me that I should have told them in the beginning that I wanted the tax receipt. As if I need to tell people to obey the law and pay their taxes? It’s this same accepted corruption that is the reason why the “brothers” can collect fees from vendors at the nightmarkets, and why scalpers can sell tickets at the front doors of venues. The little guys are paying the taxes here while the fat cats don’t pay their fair share. Sorry about my rant…Now, I’ll just brush this one off as life in the big city.

When you say “through”, do you mean the agent collected the fee when you signed and then disappeared, or do you mean the agent collects the rent?

The agent collects the rent, and manages the property. He works for Century 21.

What does the contract say about the agent’s role?

actually, i don’t know who the property owner is. The contract has the real estate company’s name.

If the company is the landlord, it’s hard to imagine a valid excuse not to issue receipts, as if they didn’t have records of their own transactions. (Not that an individual landlord doesn’t also need to do so on request, just that it should be s.o.p. for a company. It should be s.o.p. for everyone, actually.)

If they give you any trouble, ask Tsui Mama.

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Do you mean “receipt of payment” or “tax receipt”?

IMO this is simply standard practice here. Generally, no one expects a receipt of any kind for a residential apartment. This usually only comes into play when the apartment is being used for a business. In that case it is hashed out in advance and the rent agreed upon to account for the actual costs. I would agree with the real estate agent that you would have had to say so in advance if it was necessary. Just the rules of the game here.

I’m not going to do anything about the landlord’s tax evasion because I want to continue living there, but what he is doing is an illegal practice that is selectively enforced in Taiwan. I am not the person who tells people to pay their taxes or obey any other laws. Tax evasion on rental income is widespread in Taiwan. Below is what taxpayers can deduct. I cannot this year because my current landlord will not give me the receipt because he does not pay tax on his rental income.
http://iff.immigration.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=1249347&ctNode=34387&mp=iff_en
f. Rental expense: Rental paid for houses in the R.O.C., purely for the taxpayer, his/her spouse and lineal dependents residence, rather than those used by business for profit are deductible. The maximum deduction for rental expense is NT$120,000 for each annual tax return. There is no deduction for individuals who have filed “Mortgage interest paid on a loan for an owner-occupied residence”.

4 posts were split to a new topic: From landlord won’t give a rent receipt

Thanks everyone for your comments and feedback! Have a great weekend!

I’ve never been able to make the housing deduction actually work. The standard deduction for me usually is more than my itemized deductions.

Oh f*** this guy.

I think proof of electronic transfers are fine for the tax office provided the amount matches up with the contract. You should go for the deduction anyway. If he gives you any trouble that’s for the agent to fix. You pay them, after all.

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Well, you did not pay the tax amount in the first place.
I am sure your monthly rent would have been significant higher if you had asked for it in the beginning.
Not much lost here.

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Yes, functionally speaking that’s exactly how it works here.