Quick follow up on that one: I had filed my taxes online already and just went to the tax bureau (Taipei) to bring by the required documents (looking back, maybe I should have just tried mailing them…).
The employee basically insisted that I would need to get my paystub notarized because that’s what the tax filing guidelines state. After some arguing that it probably will not be possible to get a payslip notarized (I will check again with an Estonian notary…), he told me that I could try submitting a work contract along with the paystub but he couldn’t guarantee for anything. I should really try to get that paystub notarized…
Also, I am still not sure what happens if the tax bureau doesn’t believe I actually received overseas income. Would they just not want any tax…?
I did my online filing at the weekend (pretty much the opposite of @meishijia’s waiting outside the tax office for the doors to open on May 1 ). Haven’t paid or submitted the requested documents yet - need to do those this week and next week, respectively, after organizing my invoices a bit.
For the previous few years, I’ve successfully fought back on this requirement to get invoices notarized by a foreign CPA/approved by a foreign tax authority. The tax office e-mailed me about 5 months after I filed for the first time and asked for these documents, and I told them I didn’t have them and couldn’t get them because I’m not resident/have never been resident in any of the countries I earn money in. The lady accepted this explanation.
Like you, I’m not sure what they can actually do if you don’t supply it. From my perspective, I’d already filed my income honestly, provided all the proof I had, and paid, so I wasn’t feeling very inclined to start contacting (and paying for) CPAs in other countries, if that’s even possible at all…and I assumed the tax office wouldn’t want to give me the money back.
That said, I think the worst case scenario is that they assume your income and charge tax accordingly - there is something in the regulations allowing them to do that.
I guess my situation is a bit different from yours though (no paystubs, just invoices). I did try to make the invoices look a bit more “official” by buying a red “PAID” stamp and stamping the date I received the money underneath (not something I normally do - usually just keep track of everything in an Excel spreadsheet).
Nope, you’ll be considered non-resident for tax purposes. But that most likely sucks for you, if you’ve earned income while physically inside Taiwan, since your tax rate for that work will be 18% with no deductions/exemptions.
(Being considered non-resident here isn’t as attractive as it sounds.)
I think you need to clarify your situation tbh. As I said in the other thread, I think you’re going to have a hard time if you haven’t separated personal income and what you consider to be company income.
Overseas income too here. I did the online declaration the first week of May and sent the payslips (scanned, not notarised) via e-mail to the address that I was given by the local Tax Bureau. I haven’t heard from them, not even an acknowledgement reply, since. I will update here too if I hear anything in the following months.
I didn’t know you could submit the documentation by e-mail though. The online filing software says you should mail them in (I took mine in person, because that was easier that going to the post office).
What if I have a GC but I don’t actually work work in Taiwan, but I fly back to my home country months at a time to do consulting work and then fly back again? Would I still need to report rental income or income from consulting work that I am doing physically in my home country? I am only in Taiwan purely to visit my partner, and I am trying to get the GC now because borders are still closed to tourists.
I didn’t know it either. I had to go to the office in person due to issues with the online platform at the very end, so they gave me a bilingual leaflet with an e-mail telling me to send my payslips there. I remember saying: “But your FAQs and the platform itself say that I have to mail it”. They replied: “No, no, no. Only via e-mail”. Well, the usual Taiwanese mess.
For those who live in KH, the e-mail address is: foreigner_service@ntbk.gov.tw. Not sure about the other cities/counties. Inconsistency is the norm here.
My understanding is that if the work was physically performed outside of Taiwan, you wouldn’t be required to pay Taiwanese income tax on it (although you’d presumably be required to pay tax on it in the other country).
I’m not sure about rental income. @LondonSpice had an issue with that recently - maybe you could go through their posts with the search function and “tax” or something.
Yeah, I went there in person too, to hand in all the documents. That’s when the discussion started about the need to notarize them. They gave me an email address which I should send the additional information to.
Not sure if they would have also accepted all the initial documents via email. Maybe I‘ll try next year.
Right now, I have gotten the payslips signed by the accountant doing the accounting for the company. The Taiwanese authorities have promptly requested a copy of their legal license. As Estonia doesn’t seem to require an „accounting license“ per se, I am currently looking for alternative ways to prove the authenticity of the accountant…
Rental income from another country would most likely count as overseas income in Taiwan. And if you’re not doing any work from Taiwan, there should be no taxes due - especially if you don’t have a permanent apartment here.
If your home country has a tax treaty with Taiwan, this would make things even easier - as a rule of thumb, then no taxes are due until you stay 183+ days a year because you would only pay taxes in your home country (with some exceptions). After that it will become more complicated…
). Haven’t paid or submitted the requested documents yet - need to do those this week and next week, respectively, after organizing my invoices a bit.
