No tax on foreign income under 1 million?

[meishijia]

There has been much discussion on this forum over the last few months about whether tax should be paid on foreign income, in my case from investments. The general consensus has been that you don’t if it is under 1 million dollars, but nobody was able to supply any clear official info from the government.

So I did some research and found this:

https://www.ntbt.gov.tw/English/multiplehtml/d8f39518bcac4e249102687ee8d8f25d

I also found similar info in Chinese:

https://www.ntbt.gov.tw/singlehtml/0baa381b53034993a08862dfde2243b9?cntId=58f23c9380ef4d4e8f54a9ec4b5e7755

So it looks like as long as it is under 1 million NTD you don’t need to pay tax on the income.

In addition to these pages there is also lots of good info on this page, but I’m still making my way through it.

https://www.dot.gov.tw/singlehtml/ch27?cntId=dot_201708090012_27

My main question right now is do I still need to tell the tax office about these earnings or can I just stay quiet. If anyone knows and has a link, let me know.

[Andrew]

@meishijia

So it looks like as long as it is under 1 million NTD you don’t need to pay tax on the income.

I think it’s 1 million for reporting (“shall be included in the amount of basic income”) and 6.7 million for paying tax on it. The 6.7 million seems to include local income as well, but below that it doesn’t seem to be taxable. There’s some more discussion of these terms here (I can’t be bothered reading them fully again because they’re pretty tedious ):

https://investtaiwan.nat.gov.tw/showPage?lang=eng&search=56

[Andrew]

You might want to play around with the government tax software in 12 days. If I remember correctly, one of the tabs on there calculates the amount of basic income once you’ve inputted everything, then shows whether you need to pay tax on it or not.

[meishijia]

I asked an account from Chen Yao Asia Pacific CPA Firm and they said if the overseas income is less than 1 million then you don’t need to report it on your Taiwan tax return.

[kefuzz]

this is correct, above 1mil it needs to be declared but dont necessarily need to pay tax on it

[Shiu]

[quote=“meishijia, post:4, topic:218944”]

I have a unique case. I hold Business visa from Jan-Aug , from Sep i have work visa. But i need to show minimum salary requirement to obtain my APRC next year. Is it advisable to show foreign income source with ‘;work visa’ in Taiwan? Does declaring 500,000NTD foreign income can be helpful to obtain the Taiwan tax certificate meeting minimum salary requirement for APRC?

[meishijia]

@Shiu

I have a unique case. I hold Business visa from Jan-Aug , from Sep i have work visa. But i need to show minimum salary requirement to obtain my APRC next year. Is it advisable to show foreign income source with ‘;work visa’ in Taiwan? Does declaring 500,000NTD foreign income can be helpful to obtain the Taiwan tax certificate meeting minimum salary requirement for APRC?

Sorry I wouldn’t know. If nobody here can answer the you then I’d suggest directly calling NIA. Maybe @Marco knows the answer tho?

[Chris59]

If someone is a tax resident in Taiwan but sells his german company for around 15 million NTD, that probably will count as foreign income as well?

[HongKonger]

@meishijia

There has been much discussion on this forum over the last few months about whether tax should be paid on foreign income

Keep in mind that “foreign income” means any income you earned while traveling overseas. It doesn’t mean income from an overseas employer or client if you work remotely from Taiwan.

[izzy]

i think you are wrong on this one. foreign sourced income means money coming to you from overseas, regardless if you are there or not.
if you are a taiwan tax resident you need to pay taxes on it.

[HongKonger]

@izzy

if you are a taiwan tax resident you need to pay taxes on it.

Yes, you need to pay taxes on it because you are physically working in Taiwan, and therefore the income is NOT foreign sourced (even if paid by an overseas employer).

Foreign sourced income means the income you earned while temporarily traveling overseas, and overseas investments/rental income, etc. That is the income the OP is talking about, which he is claiming you don’t have to report if under 1 million or whatever.

[izzy]

@HongKonger

overseas investments/rental income, etc. That is the income the OP is talking about, which he is claiming you don’t have to report if under 1 million or whatever

this is the important part, and indeed it is exempt under 1 million a year.

[HongKonger]

@izzy

this is the important part, and indeed it is exempt under 1 million a year.

In the case of the OP, yes his foreign sourced income happens to be investments, but you don’t need to report ANY kind of foreign sourced income if under 1 million.

[qwert_zuiop]

@Chris59

If someone is a tax resident in Taiwan but sells his german company for around 15 million NTD, that probably will count as foreign income as well?

I think that will get complicated because Germany might try to tax you. Especially given their “exit tax” for business owners. There is a double-taxation agreement between Taiwan and Germany - but at that point, you might need professional help.

[Chris59]

Yeah I’m gonna have to pay that exit tax (Wezugsbesteuerung) anyway.

But after living in Taiwan for 183 days I should only be a tax resident there.

Just not sure about the taxation when the company is actually sold. But I guess then I have money to ask a professional again I dont mind to pay the same tax amount I would have to pay in Germany, just not sure how high it would be in Taiwan.