Hi, I am Linh from Viet Nam, I am working at Taiwan now ( ARC holder). I have a small coffee factory in Viet Nam, and I am planning to sell it online in Taiwan via Momo, shoppee and my own website. But I am confusing about: Does it legal for foreigner, who is holding an ARC, do online business in Taiwan ?
If it is legal, anyone has experience in this field could share with me please ?
Thank you so much and sorry for my bad english !
If you only have an ARC, you will need to open your own business. Definitely call a Taiwan CPA and they can help open one for you and procur a work permit.
This Taiwan CPA can help.
Thank you so much, i will contact him !
On Shopee TW, do you sell as an individual, or as a company? If as an individual, all your TW accountant how to book and report that income. Shopee was originally set up as a C2C marketplace
Yes it’s legal.
I was on a student visa and I was an owner and running a business here (was not a problem for me anyway ). It’s not regulated by work permits (you don’t need a work permit for it ) but you need to pay taxes. If you want to provide an invoice need to register a company. I registered a company but I’m not sure if you need to register a company if you don’t provide invoices.
If you are importing products into taiwan and reselling them you do need a company as its a business. Its insanely easy now and arc holders are easily setup. Tax circumstances vary based on a few things, and likely the gov doesnt check much…but to be legal, just register. Its a bit of a learning curve but nothing crazy like it used to be.
It wasn’t crazy when I did it years ago.
All that stuff was easy , it’s dealing with the banks that was crazy with all my chops and documentation !
Also there are strict regulations on marketing of health products, be aware. Food…Not so sure. But you better watch out for the pesticide testing requirement.
I want to sell as an individual, So i can just sell in Shopee and report the income to the government right ?
thank you so much !!!
yeah, so i need to open an trading company right, could you tell me where I can find the way to open the company and where do i need to go please? and do you know how much is the minimum to open a trading company. Thank you so much and sorry for my bad english
I will check it carefully. thank you so much
What everyone is forgetting to mention is this depends on what type of ARC you have. If it was issued to you as a foreign laborer (factory worker/caregiver), then it is not legal. You can be deported for working for someone else other than your registered employer, even if that someone else is yourself.
I’m confused by this. Surely it’s only legal without a work permit under certain circumstances? For example, selling one’s own second-hand items on Shopee and stuff like that.
I saw the posts about needing to register a business if wanting to import stuff to sell, but surely it’s also not okay to buy stuff in Taiwan and resell it online (i.e., act as a business) without actually registering a business?
Also, wouldn’t that count as “work” and therefore mean that regular ARC holders would need an additional work permit, which would also necessitate meeting the capital requirements (500k or whatever initially, then 3m turnover in three years) to sponsor one?
As an example, if I had an employment-based ARC and wanted to make, say, scarves at home and sell them online, that’s not okay, is it? How about if I buy a pallet of computer mice from a Taiwanese wholesaler and want to sell those?
Why is it not okay to trade stuff ? When is a business a business ?
Anyway I had a company and was running it legally and I was on a student visa. But I switched my visa many times.
Because it’s work? If someone is buying things, selling them on Shopee, dealing with customers, taking parcels to Seven to mail out, receiving money…surely that’s work? How can it not be?
I don’t think it automatically goes like that. I know it’s weird.
Any foreigner could be deported for selling stuff online then . In practice I don’t think they are. It’s when you actually do work for other people that you run into a lot of problems. I got married at some point but if my memory is right (and I’m pretty sure it is because I used to laugh about it ) I was a student running my internet services company at the time.
In practice I don’t think they are either…but that’s not really the point. You confidently asserted it’s legal, which I find surprising if true - my default assumption would be that selling stuff online (regularly, for profit, in a business-like manner etc.) would be classed as “work”, and therefore require a separate work permit for a foreigner only holding an employment-based ARC.
I find it hard to believe that this is technically legal, hence my questions (I’m not just being difficult, it’s something I’ve thought about before - my girlfriend was previously thinking about selling stuff online). If the government doesn’t do anything about it, that’s one thing, but I wouldn’t take that to mean it’s completely fine (just like the government doesn’t do much about digital nomads and remote workers etc., especially those on tourist visas - definitely not fine according to the rules, but not usually prosecuted either…for the time being).
So…why do you think this is legal and doesn’t require a work permit? Have you seen anything official to support that?
Thats what courts are for, but actually i do think selling things can be called work. In all likelyhood not, but if someone is pissed at you i would worry.
Selling things online has a digital record and can be had by the gov fairly easily. Why would they care is another topic, but if they did that sure does seem like “work” technically. And if you pay tax…another paper trail. And if not, another law broken. Damned if you do, damned if you dont. Probbaly best to open your own company and get a work visa hiring yourself.
The capitol requirements are low, and foreigners need to make i think 3 million in 3 years, which is easy to do on paper as they just check tax records…be creative…
That statement is very grey isn’t it.
I haven’t seen anything.
At the same time I have not seen anything against random buying and selling stuff either as an individual.
If you are a shareholder and director of a company …Where does your work stop and end ?
It’s legal for a foreigner to setup a company and be the fu ze ren. And I was a fu ze ren when I owned a company.
If you are talking about opening an office and employing people and bidding for business here or doing anything large scale of course you should be looking to get some kind of working visa. Even before that ideally.
But some people don’t have the money for that
But they want to get a start in life. Who am I to stop them ?
I buy stuff off Shopee it’s a very anything goes kind of website. Shopee doesn’t even know who are the traders it seems.
