I’m pretty sure that’s from me (or at least via me — the recipient sent it to me privately).
There was another thread discussing this too, within the last year I think, but I can’t find it from my phone. I think there was another response from NIA or something too.
My recollection is that both kind of said “we don’t mind about that if it’s an overseas employer” and pretty much washed their hands of it being their problem.
I wouldn’t rule out though it being a problem for another reason not addressed there though, i.e., working after entering as a tourist. It was good to have the responses, but it still seemed closer to gray than black or white to me.
They also say though “incomes derived from overseas earned through providing services in Taiwan”, as confirmed by the tax office letter saying this is ROC-sourced income in their view.
I wasn’t able to find the quoted “Ministry of Labor’s Labor Development Administration Letter No. 1070507378 dated November 27, 2017” – does anyone have a link?
Exactly. People often don’t understand the definition of “sourced in Taiwan.” It is a very gray area but basically if you have it paid into a NZ bank and the employer is in NZ you won’t have any problems.
However, if you have them paying into a Taiwan bank account then you may have to argue your case a little. - Either way the Taiwan tax office is easy on this it seems.
Yeh got it on some thread before. I thought it was you but was unsure.
I therefore wouldn’t worry about it. I also asked TECO about it regarding my wife working for clients while on her visitor visa. Basically they said they focus on protecting Taiwan jobs so therefore not worried about a foreigner working remotely for a foreign company or working for foreign clients without a work permit while in Taiwan but told me to check with WDA.
That’s kind of an interesting interpretation/explanation lol. It’s kind of like suggesting a hypothetical Taiwanese entity, one that only has expenses so can’t make a profit so can’t owe tax.
Not entirely… If he counts it as NZ sourced he would be taxed in NZ at non-resident rates. My suggestion would be to just maintain a domicile in NZ and pay local NZ rates.
The reason being that his employer likely won’t want to do the paperwork to base him in Taiwan.
This would be much easier and more legally straightforward.
According to the letter above, the tax office understands it as where the person physically did the work, irrespective of where they were paid or where the employer is based. Those last two things just make it harder to catch.
There are legal ways to minimize taxes. It’s not tax dodging. It’s declaring and in many cases exempt. Some countries also have double taxation agreements.
It’s not about what they like it’s about taxes and tax jurisdiction. Op already stated they are fine with him working in Taiwan as long as company is not liable for offshore withholding taxes
Absolutely. But it won’t matter as he is staying less than 183 days in the year and having it paid to a NZ account. It won’t just be “harder” but rather “impossible” and the tax office isn’t focused on catching those people.
