Hi,
I’m planning on leaving Taiwan in early Feb 2019. Does anyone know how I should handle the tax on my January salary? Should this be taxed at 18% as I will be in Taiwan for less than 183 days that year? I’m an APRC holder and the schools where I work deduct 6% of my salary each month. I want to leave my employers on good terms and make sure I do the right thing tax-wise.
Anyone got any advice on what I should do?
Thanks
Hey dude sorry for being off topic but weren’t you meant to have left 5 years ago ? That was a long goodbye party. 
A wife, kid, car and comfortable lifestyle all got in the way of that. It’s definitely happening next year though.
Do nothing. If and when you return go to the tax office.
I left before 183 days and, even though I told them I was coming back, my employers had a fit about it and took enough out of my next salary to equal a total of 18%. Nevermind, I got it back much later. If you plan to keep a connection to Taiwan, I would just pay it. You can authorize a friend, even another foreigner, to file for you. If your wife isn’t working and you have a kid, your liability will be much lower. It will be 18%, but it won’t be 18% of much. I’m not sure if the deductions are for a flat sum, or a percentage of your income, but I think it’s a flat sum. I’m not sure if being here less than 183 days affects the deduction, but I’m sure you can call the information for foreigners hotline and find out.
If you ever do come back, you’ll need to file it anyway. And if you do owe, there will be penalties.
Without 183 days, how do you get the deductions?
If your salary is less than 1.5x the Basic Wage in any given month, the non-resident rate is 6% instead of 18%.
Nowhere have I seen the tax office asking foreigners to sort out their tax affairs on leaving Taiwan (especially if you leave early in the year). I may be wrong but I don’t think they expect it (this would also be why they cancelled the exit stamp mechanism). All they expect is if you return you pay them a visit and file for the missed year. I very much doubt there would be a penalty. I’ve filed late with no penalty several times. Hell I filed a whole bunch of years in one go once. All they said is they wanted to 結案 “close my file”.
If anyone has had grief from the office over this let us know.
As an aside surely the right thing to do in this case would be inform your employers you intend to leave in January and therefore have them deduct at 18% for December and January. (December is next year income).
I’ve filed on time but made a mistake in one deduction. The Taiwanese charged me interest on the amount I underpaid.
If your wife files with you as “spouse”, she only needs to be present in Taiwan for thirty days to benefit from the resident tax rate and deductions for child etc. I’d give that a try before giving the tax office a bunch of money.
foreigners are expected to do so.
https://www.ntbt.gov.tw/etwmain/front/ETW118W/CON/1687/6158527073893525973
https://www.ntbt.gov.tw/etwmain/front/ETW118W/CON/1687/8500927520057754821
Who the hell would act as a guarantor for a foreigner’s tax liabilities? That would be madness.
The law seems to say there is an expectation that you’d go in and file before departure. But in practice I doubt many do. Although if you are over 183 days it’s certainly in your interest to since you will be eligible for a refund. Since my company is only deducting 6% from my salary across the year I guess I would too if I was to leave in the first half of next year.
Taiwanese citizens only need be present for 30 days to get the deductions. OP should file taxes under his wife as primary taxpayer (納稅人) with himself as the spouse (配偶)
Do you mean the same buffet of deductions that any tax resident (183+) is eligible for, or something else?
If any citizen can be deemed a tax resident while spending 30 days per year in Taiwan, we should add that to the list of perks of citizenship (aka the PR grievance list).
I mean the deductions that we need to stay 183 days for. Citizens only need to be in the country for 30 days to claim them.
If you leave the country at all during your 183 day period, does that reset the 183 days?
Also, is the progressive tax rate calculated as every $ earned over x amount = taxed in that bracket, or if you earn over x amount your entire income is taxed at that rate?
You just need to be in Taiwan 183 days of the year. Leaving doesn’t reset the clock.
If you fulfil the requirement , your tax rate is the resident rate for the entire amount
What about if you’ve been coming and going before starting a job (I.e. I’ve been here over 183 days this year, but on a visitors visa)
Visa status doesn’t determine tax residency status; it’s just year by year, January to December.