So, tax season is coming up, and this will be my first time submitting a return since getting into the stock market, and I would like to know if anyone knows how to report overseas profit from investing. Can I just show them a printout from my investment account showing all transactions and they’ll work out how much I owe, or do I need to fill out all the information in a format they will be happy with? If so, I guess that is going to involve an accountant.
Whilst I’m here I may as well ask, what if I sold the intellectual property rights to some software I created, obviously I need to pay taxes on that money, but do they just trust me to tell them the truth on how much I made, or do I need to get bank printouts showing bank transfers to me?
Yes I know I could ring them and ask, but I couldn’t get through today and just want to see if anyone knows before I try again.
That’s what I was thinking as well, but I wasn’t sure. Is that definite? (I believe it’s NT$1 million before you need to declare and NT$6.7 million before you need to pay taxes, unless that’s changed recently.)
I gave you some references above - AMT is discussed in at least three of those…
(I took the time to find them again and post them because they’re among the best sources I’ve come across if you want to understand some of the more complicated aspects of taxation in Taiwan. If you just want to get it sorted, maybe an accountant would be better.)
Is it saying that you don’t need to report AMT if your regular annual salary is under 6.7 million, or you aren’t a resident? If so, then what is considered AMT? Actually, still confused to what AMT is.
I read the definitions in the links above but they seem rather unrelated to this topic.
This part may be of interest:
If the regular income tax is greater than the AMT, no special action is required.
So I guess if my regular salary is higher than my AMT then I don’t pay tax on it? But again, I don’t know what is considered AMT
My understanding is that it relates to various types of non-employment income, like investments and maybe pensions, primarily aimed at high-net-worth individuals who might otherwise try to avoid taxation. I think the point is you don’t have to report if you’re not Taiwan resident (so doesn’t apply to you, obviously) OR if your income is below a certain amount. I thought that amount was less than NT$1 million (for reporting) with less than NT$6.7 million being exempt from tax, but that appears to be contradicted by your screenshot above so maybe it’s changed recently.
The thing that confused me a bit was the vocabulary relating to different classes of investments, which I don’t know much about, especially with respect to your types of investments obviously. I don’t know if that changes things.
That was my understanding as well - I guess that’s where the word “alternative” comes from, as in “an alternative to regular income tax”. I think they also refer to this, confusingly, as “annual basic income”.
This is very useful. Thank you. I will shoot some emails around and try and find a definitive answer. Would be great if I could some response from tax bureau in writing with a clear answer that I could share here.
The tax helpline is pretty useful, but I don’t have the number to hand. Maybe it’s the same number as on this flyer and just directs to the Foreign Taxpayers Section, not sure.
If you ask tax bureau in Taipei they will give one answer
Ask your broker, cpa or a local Taiwanese in Taiwan and they’ll probably give another answer
I went to a private bank event for investors in Taiwan (I invested enough to hit premier status), the broker asked who reported their foreign investment gains and no one in the room of 20 Taiwanese raised their hands
If you go to the Taipei tax bureau near 北門, they’ll be sure to tax everything (I’ve found them to be the strictest)
Yeah, this is true from what I’ve read. Although the staff at the Taipei tax office are usually friendly in my experience, they do seem to err on the site of taxing things you might not need to pay tax on. That’s why I posted the tax guides above or would recommend an accountant if it’s too much hassle to learn about the rules. I saved quite a bit in taxes by excluding some of my income as 9B, which the tax office accepted but almost certainly wouldn’t have brought it up if I hadn’t asked about it.
The following categories are considered income from sources in the R.O.C.
(1) Dividends distributed by companies incorporated and registered in accordance with the Company Law of the R.O.C. and by foreign companies authorized by the Government of the R.O.C. to operate within the R.O.C.
(2) Profits distributed by profit-seeking enterprises organized in the form of a cooperative or a partnership within the R.O.C.
So let’s say I have some TSMC stocks, some Google stocks and some shares of a total world ETF (which is domiciled in Ireland and also holds TSMC and Google among many others) - all held in a European brokerage.
The TSMC stock is listed on the US stock exchange, but I guess it still counts as a “profit-seeking enterprise […] within the ROC” → so most likely not “foreign” income.
How about Google? They also have an office here - are they thus considered “authorized by the Government of the R.O.C. to operate within the R.O.C” and any dividends received from them would count as “income from sources in the R.O.C.”?
The ETF should probably not be related to the ROC - even if it holds TSMC and/or Google stock, I would assume.
