I am new to the forum, and I am looking for some help regarding a new
partnership a Taiwanese person and I (foreigner) had set up. My
question is - what are the minimum requirements to sustain a work
permit for a foreigner (ie. me, I have a 50% ownership in the
partnership)?
A little background… The business idea is new in Taiwan, and also
fairly new in other places which means there is potentially a long
lead time (due to educating the market, etc.) before revenue starts
coming in. I wanted to secure legal working status in Taiwan before
proceeding, hence the legal set up of the partnership at this stage
before clear indication of when revenue will come in. At the moment,
I am pretty much responsible for everything (business & strategy,
marketing, supplier relationship, training & support, etc.) because
my Taiwanese partner (no relations) is still working. In terms of
supporting myself, I have income from outside of Taiwan that can
sustain me for the forseeable future, so I do not need to draw any
income from the business at this stage, and see this as a long-term
investment. The CPA we used to set up the partnership do not give me
very much confidence as I have to ask about everything before the
information is forthcoming - the problem is how can I ask if I do not
know what I need to know! My partner found the CPA, and we have paid
up front for a year, so switching would be a waste of money.
Any help with my original request (in the first paragraph) would be
greatly appreciated (at least I can then ask the CPA). Thanks in
advance.
I am not sure if this will help as this will help as from your post it seems that you are setting up a school, however here is some information I can glean from my own experience.
The law is constantly changing in regards to foreign invested companies and work permits, I currently understand the law as follows:
As you have setup a foreign invested company (again this is for a company not school), you should be able to hire one “general manager” (you) for your first year of operation. As the general manager of your company you will be able to obtain a work permit and then ARC. However in subsequent years you will have to show sales of 5 times your invested capital in order to renew your work permit/ARC. For example if your invested capital is $500,000 NTD (the minimum) then you will have to show sales for
However please note when you hire yourself, you are required to hire yourself at a salary of no less than $48,000 NTD a month. Which is the minimum for a foreign white color working. So regardless if you earn that or not, you personally are going to pay tax on that amount. On top of that you need to pay all Jianbao costs, which should be about 3,000 a month for 48K salary.
First of all to get an ARC and work permit you’re company needs to have a 5 million NT$ paid in capital … to keep the ARC and work permit the company needs to make 10,000,000 NT$ a year over the next three years …
Reading the above (previous post) makes me think that they might have changed some rules but I’m not sure about that, haven’t heard or read about it …
The company (not a school) was set up for the minimum amount of
NT$500k (as mentioned by one of the posters). I was able to get a
work permit for up to one year as the “General Manager”. It sounds
like the company ~has to~ (at least on paper and for tax purposes)
pay me ~NT$48k plus health insurance (~NT$3k) per month. On top of
that the company has to show a revenue of at least 5 times the
initial invested amount, ie. NT$2.5M. I will check to see if the CPA
knows this or has a different answer. What other requirements might
I need to be aware?
The other thing I mentioned was that at this stage of the business
cycle, there needs to be a lot of education, training, and promotion
(costs), with perhaps very little in the way of return (income) [I
had said that I am look at this as a long term investment], what will
happen at the end of the first year if the revenue number is not met?
What can one do to sustain the work permit without having to inject
fictitiously the required revenue into the company?
Just wanted to post what I have found out in case it is of help to
others or there are discrepancies with other people’s experiences:
For the company:
Revenue in the first year must exceed 5 times investment or NT$5M,
e.g. if initial investment was the minimum NT$500k, then first
year’s revenue must be greater than NT$2.5M to sustain the work
permit.
Average revenue per year for the next 3 years must exceed 5 times
investment or NT$5M, e.g. if initial investment was the minimum
NT$500k, then the total revenue for years 2, 3, and 4 ~combined~
must be greater than NT$7.5M to sustain the work permit.
The revenue requirement goes up according to the amount invested,
so if further investments are added later, then the revenue
requirement is adjusted accordingly, e.g. if another NT$500k is
added in the second year, the total revenue for years 2, 3, and 4
~combined~ must be greater than NT$15M to sustain the work permit.
For the individual:
The General Manager / Chief Executive / Director, then are ~no~
salary (and tax) or health insurance requirements. (If no salary
is drawn, I guess an alternate source of income has to be shown?!)
Other professional workers (white collar) must have a minimum
monthly salary of ~NT$48k plus pay tax and health insurance of
around ~NT3k.
I hope that is useful (and correct). Would be interested in any
comments or alternative experiences people have had.
Revenue in financial terms is gross revenue, i.e. gross sales. It does not mean net profit. So say you sell NT$2,500,000 in Bob’s Widgets throughout the 2006 tax year but you spent NT$3,000,000 on Widget Machinery in the same year, your profit is -NT$500,000 or a loss of NT$500,000. However, your gross income or revenue is still NT$2,500,000. * HINT ALERT * I’m sure with a bit of imagination you can work out a way of maintaining your revenue level that does not involve you paying any excess tax. Of course I am in no way endorsing the use of very gray loopholes to get around measures put in place by our fine friends at the MOEA and MOFA.
As I had previously posted, in order to sustain the work permit for a
foreigner, the company needs to bring in revenue that is 5 times the
initial investment in the first year. My question is that if there
is a shortfall in the revenue for the first year, is it possible to
maintain the work permit by increasing the investment; if so, how is
the amount worked out?