I am considering a move to Taiwan and am trying to figure out roughly what I would pay in self employment taxes on 2,607,957 NT per year. I’m having trouble finding this info online and I’m not yet at the stage where I’d want to hire an accountant. Just trying to see if my plan is feasible first. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!
I did find the following info but I’m not sure if it’s correct. I’m only getting NT 13,711 when I total it up. I’m assuming I should multiply this by 12 for the months in the year???
Social insurance (National Pension Program): 5.1% of the monthly insured amount of NT$18,282 for people who arent low income or disabled
Social insurance (Labor Insurance Program): 5.7% (gradually rising to 7.2% from 2019 to 2027) of gross monthly income. Max income 45,800/ month.
Medical benefits: 4.69% of the insured’s monthly reported earnings multiplied by one plus the number of dependents, up to three. Max income 182000/ month.
Cash benefits: 0.066% to 0.594% of gross monthly income, depending on the industry’s assessed risk.
Note that if you have high expenses, you might be able to deduct them instead of using the standard deduction.
Are your clients outside of Taiwan?
If yes, then NHI will treat you as unemployed and you will have to pay roughly NT$ 900 per month for the coverage.
Also, pension insurance and labor insurance won’t apply in this case.
If your clients are within Taiwan, you should look into starting a “real” business here - I cannot comment on the social insurance aspect of that, but there are some members here who run a local business who can probably tell more about this.
Thanks for your reply. I’m a US citizen so I have to pay taxes on my foreign earned income, but I can get a credit for non-self-employment taxes that I’d pay in Taiwan . So what portion of that 296k is self employment tax for social programs as opposed to what we’d call the federal and state taxes in the US?
I would be a manufacturing business selling direct to end-users, nearly all of which I anticipate being in the US. How would this change the amount I pay in taxes? Sorry, I’d attempt to calculate it myself but I can only speak mandarin, not read or write.
What do you mean by “real” business? I was under the impression that I would have to fork over 500,000 to set up a company anyway so that it could hire me as the manager so I’m able to get a residence permit. Am I wrong then for trying to figure out self employment tax liability in the first place?
When you said “self-employed”, I thought you meant being a freelancer / working remotely without a registered business (on a Gold Card or marriage ARC for example). So my response is probably not relevant for your situation - sorry.
Are your clients outside of Taiwan?
If yes, then NHI will treat you as unemployed and you will have to pay roughly NT$ 900 per month for the coverage.
Also, pension insurance and labor insurance won’t apply in this case.
I was trying to find any confirmation for this online, but did not find any. Could you please clarify why person with overseas income from clients from outside Taiwan considered unemployed by NHI?
That’s the way NHI has handled things for multiple members of this forum (the topic keeps getting mentioned in various threads). Not sure if there’s an official law / regulation online, though. So it could always change in the future.