The Taipei Tax Bureau had a session today about filing taxes when on a Gold Card (although most of the points should apply regardless of visa type).
Some of their key points regarding this topic (from my memory):
- Taiwan-sourced income includes all salary paid from overseas employers when a) the work was performed in Taiwan or b) the tax payer stays in Taiwan for over 90 days per tax year
- The location of the company or customer does not matter - only the location of the tax-payer matters
- The visa type does not matter
- The bank account / currency / … does not matter
- This includes any remote job and “work-from-home” arrangements
- Taxes are due on the gross salary - deductions - if any - (social security, contributions to pretax retirement funds, …) are usually not recognized in Taiwan
- One exception: If the taxpayer stays in Taiwan less than 300 days, they might request having the tax pro-rated, i.e. tax only needs to be paid based on the percentage of days in Taiwan vs. abroad
- Regarding documentation: Payslips etc. might be acceptable but it’s up to the tax bureau to request other types of documentation
- Income from self-employment is also considered Taiwan-sourced income. From a tax perspective, no company registration required. The tax office will decide on a case-by-case basis which documentation is required (bank statements, contracts, invoices or even email communication)
- If there is no tax treaty, taxes paid in the other country might not be factored in leading to double-taxation (Hong-Kong was mentioned as an example)
On the other hand, overseas income (for AMT calculation):
- Dividends received from non-Taiwanese companies (must be an incorporated, legal entities, e.g. limited liability company in some jurisdictions - otherwise: See self-employment —> Taiwan-sources income)
- Interest, rental income, … from outside Taiwan
- Profits from stock, real-estate, … transactions
- Does not apply to Non-Residents, i.e. people staying in Taiwan for less than 183 days per tax year
According to the person present at the event, paying oneself no salary but only dividends from abroad would not occur any tax liability beyond the AMT in Taiwan, i.e. this would be acceptable “overseas income”.
Regarding the exchange rate, see: Exchange Rate when receiving income in a foreign currency? - #2 by qwert_zuiop