I have been offered work at a cram school, they pay 600NT an hour but require you to turn up 30 minutes before class with pay. Which is O.K. The other thing they mentioned was that they will also deduct some money from my pay for the ARC and Health Insurance. I said that I already have an ARC & Open Work permit and can get private insurance if wanted through my wife. So asked do I still need to get my pay deducted, he said yes because he needs to process the ARC? papers with the ministry of education when he sets up the contract. I’m pretty sure this is not tax, as I asked him could I claim back the money, he said “no”. Am I being scamed?
Your boss probably justy doesn’t have a clue about the Open Work Permit. Give him a copy of it, and explain that he doesn’t have to get you an ARC. All that should be deducted from your pay is tax and health insurance (this is compulsory). You will get a tax slip for this, so you can tell whether or not he’s cheating you.
Brian
See this really is a big problem. There aren’t enough people out there who know enough about the OWP. Employers I mean. Nearly every OWP holder I know has come across this same problem with their employer. What can be done?
Is it now standard practice to have the employee pay ARC fees to the employer? I haven’t been there in a while, but the only ARC fees I ever paid were at the police station when I got/renewed my ARC.
I think the employer should pay the fees. Legally it’s the employer’s responsibility to apply ofr the work permit so they should pay for this. I don’t know if there are any laws prohibiting them apssing the costs onto the employee, but it’s definitely unfair. I don’t know any employers who do this. As for the health check, the employee has to provide certain things like photos and the health check, so I think it’s not unreasonable for the employee to pay for this, although a nicer employer would pay this cost as well.
Brian
I’m not sure these deductions are comulsory. True all residents must participate in the National Health Care System, but you can opt out of your employer’s and get put on your Taiwanese wife’s policy. This is what I did.
If you have an open work permit, you should be able to be responsible for your own taxes as an independant worker. Why enrich your employer’s bank account? Withhold your own money and pay your taxes at tax time. I plan to do that next year.
As for fees. In your position, you should not need to pay any fees. There should be other threads in this forum that discuss the right for a person with an open work permit to work in any school or legal place of business that is willing to pay you.
For those people who need an ARC through their jobs. It would be nice if the employer paid for it, but I don’t think they have to. It’s up to what you agree. My first company in Taiwan did. My second small company tried not to… I just insisted nicely and they did.
For health insurance… the worker and the employer have to pay a set certain percentage which I forgot.
<Disclaimer: This information is true to the best of my knowlege. If there are any errors… please correct me. I’m only a student>
Open Work Permit: Where can I get the Info on it?
Michael
[quote=“Vorkosigan”]Open Work Permit: Where can I get the Info on it?
Michael[/quote]
search the archives . OWP
Thanks, Taiwan_student for the good news regarding, tax and the option of withholding it and paying it yourself upon tax time. I’ll inform my employer of this, as I’m still on my trial period. What are the rates or scale of the tax that is deducted from your annual income?
If you’re here more than 183 days in a calendar year, you’re taxed at the local rate (what is it now, 6%, increasing with increasing income?). Seems like I usually ended up paying very little after tax deductions. If you’re here <183 days, the rate is 20%. Even if you plan on staing more than 183 days, they’ll probably want to deduct 20% at least until you’ve been here that long. The schools I worked at payed my taxes on top of my base income, but that policy varies from school to school.