I arrived in Taiwan back in December and have been working at a school for almost three months now. In December, I paid no taxes because I worked for less than two weeks and I guess my school was lazy to report it.
January, I paid 20% tax but nothing was deducted for health insurance or labor insurance because my ARC and health card were still being processed. I’ve just now received my pay for February, and I was surprised to see something deducted for both health and labor insurance.
I knew I’d have to pay health, but this is the first I’ve heard about labor insurance. I did a bit of research here and on Tealit, but I was unable to find out the normal rate on this.
My employer deducted NT$344 for Health and NT$344 for Labor Insurance. Does this sound about right?
Thanks.
I’ve never had to pay labor insurance. As far as I’m aware no foreigner on an ARC, especially a teacher, should have to pay labor insurance.
However, I may be wrong, and as such the OP should try to contact someone at the Bureau of Labor insurance.
bli.gov.tw/en/sub.asp?a=0000052
[quote=“TheGingerMan”]…As far as I’m aware no foreigner on an ARC, especially a teacher, should have to pay labor insurance…contact someone at the Bureau of Labor insurance.
bli.gov.tw/en/sub.asp?a=0000052[/quote]
According to the “coverage” page at the link above, you should not be forced to pay it. Make a call.
Thanks for the replies and the link. That link was very useful, and I will certainly give them a call tomorrow. From what I gathered on the website, it seems like labor insurance is not compulsory. But I am enrolled in it, the page states that the worker generally pays 20% of the fee.
Am I correct? Or do others have labor insurance completely provided by their employer? I’ve received no documentation to show that I in fact have labor insurance, so I’m a bit suspicious.
Thanks again.
You pay a portion and your employer pays the rest. It’s not mandatory and I would suggest you forego it unless you are planning to retire here, upon which you can collect benefits. If you want to confirm that you are enrolled in the labor insurance plan, have someone give a call to the “lao bao” office in your area and ask.
Good luck!
I asked my boss about it, and he said there were two different kinds of labor insurance. One is for retirement, and the other is for injury/sickness compensation. He said retirement was not necessary, but the second for injury/sickness was necessary.
Does this sound right?
iff.immigration.gov.tw/enfront/l … d=4&id=317
I suppose whether or not you pay into retirement insurance depends on your age and how long you plan to stay in TW. Obviously an employer might discourage a very young foreign worker as it’s not so likely you will stay a lifetime, and it would save the employer.