If a local Taiwan business owns or rents an office, is it OK or not OK for the owner to live and work from the same office rent-free (and have their residential address set there)?
I know that the tax law says if a business uses the premises for business use, they must pay reasonable rent and some portion of the home/office must be registered for business use.
But does this apply the other way around? I see many bosses living on the 2nd floor of their restauraunt/shops… perhaps they have their hukou set elsewhere? Foreigners also do not have hukou. If they simply write a rental contract for $0 rent in exchange for work - is that fine, or does the business need to charge reasonable rent from the business owner for living on premise?
I know business owners that do it especially if they’re in a multiple use building has people living in apartments or owning Flats in the same building where there is Office Space.
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Probably they set their hukou to their family address but live in their company bought home? There’s no way to really enforce it if they don’t keep their hukou address there unless the tax bureau comes for a spot check.
For foreigners we don’t have hukou but only the address on the ARC which isn’t registered via home registration. The ARC address is technically supposed to be your residential address.
In my situation our property is owned in my wife’s name. Also the property is listed for commercial use. We have a house and a separate guest house and above that my office. So my company license is registered at the same address as household registration. I am the head of household on the HHR. My company does not pay rent to my wife though.
When I had my business in Taipei I rented a 2 bedroom apartment that was also in a commercial building. My self and my BIL lived there. So he got his net salary but had free lodging as well as free food and utilities. I lived there as well.
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