I used Google lens to extract the text. If someone spots an error, can edit this wiki post.
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Any reasonable government would look at that and be like ‘Well shit we’ve been screwing up for a long time. We’ve been acting illegally. Let’s fix it immediately and permanently so this doesn’t go any further and won’t happen again.’
I would be VERY surprised if that happens. There will be a an illogical response that isn’t in line with the law as a bullshit excuse and it will need to be taken higher.
Acting reasonably, logically and legally is not in the nature of any Taiwanese person I’ve met, including the one I married. They might be one or two of the three but rarely the trifecta.
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However, now we have a constitutionally established agency, free from any interfence from any ministry, looking into it and asking.
I can use this and the potentially BS replies (if BS replies come) to shame them on the newspapers.
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I look forward to it!
Danshui.
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Another sample point - Hong Kong makes it very easy to declare tax residency. You just need a residence permit and declare that you ‘ordinarily reside’ there, and they consider you a tax resident. There’s no min number of days stay per year as long as your residency is valid and you have a residence in HK. Here is their residency certificate: https://www.ird.gov.hk/eng/pdf/ir1314b_e.pdf
Taiwan’s law is the same @comfy123 has done the research on that.
The Taiwan Tax office acts illegally by making a definition of tax residence that isn’t in line with the law. The tax office definition actually has 0 to do with the law and they’ve acted as if the rule of law does not apply to them.
Australia has a similar definition to HK
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Just really misunderstood in my opinion. You see 20 odd years ago everyone had only temporary residence cards and foreigners were seen as temporary (unless they were some SEA bride who will renounce because their home country passport sucked anyway…
However once the APRC was out and many foreigners remained in Taiwan permanently as foreign citizens… nobody at the tax office bothered to update the policy for those living in Taiwan permanently. —NOR DID ANY OF THESE PEOPLE ACTUALLY COMPLAIN… (In my opinion the blame is on both sides.)
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I did coz I’m secretly inside a Karen
It’s not just that. When you bring up these issues you get a lot of foreign Karens with APRCs who tell you to go home and stop whinging…
Same happened when I posted on the various info exchanges on facebook when Esun tried to do me dirty. All I got were posts deleted and people telling me to go home.
Same happened even on here when I first mentioned about how banks won’t let us get the virtual only accounts because we’re not citizens. Then many argued in support of the BS that it’s because of CRS.
But what I do see now is that many of those who have previously put their heads in the sand and lived under their wife’s name are finally waking up… What’s funny through are seeing those who suffer the consequences of their stupidity such as getting a divorce 35+ and not having a credit or rental history because everything was in their wife’s name…
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that’s bad indeed, but their own fault though.
As u probably know, I’m still relatively “fresh” as a Taiwanese resident (just passed the 1yr mark last 28-apr), but what I got from some old timers (particularly the kind of folks who can’t be asked and let the wifey or husband do it all) is that they actually defend how things are coz “this is Taiwan, it’s different, either u like it or go back home”… What a bunch of BS! TW has rules that are not that different from other places, what differs is the abysmal chabuduo culture and societal attitude towards them.
My fiance’e keeps telling me “why u like to fight so much? u don’t need to”, I keep saying that if this country wants to be different from “a whiny neighbour” we all know, this is something they should really address.
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Exactly. The ones who should be going home are the ones who can’t be assed to actually read the law and make improvements…
For example I hear of @Satellite_TV and what he tells of back in the day when he would get loans, credit cards and licenses (WITHOUT CITIZENSHIP- yes before he applied for citizenship) when everyone said it was impossible… How did he do it? He got off his ass and complained about the issue. He didn’t back down when he was told he needed a guarantor for his car loan. As he said “I’m not buying it for my wife.”
I don’t want to dive into someones private life but I think they separated shortly after… imagine what would have happened if he had put it under her name…
I was talking to a friend from Canada who had 2 kids and his wife was a cheater… He was forced to move back to Canada with no money after years of living in Taiwan. All the money was in the wife’s account, he was using wifeys credit card everywhere. Phone plan was under wifey. Scooter was under wifeys name too.
Leading up to the official divorce she silently cancelled the credit card and reported the scooter stolen. He then also found his phone suddenly not working. The guy had no money in a Taiwan bank (because all his assets were under her name) and no lines of credit. - Imagine waking to that reality.
A 40+ year old man had to call his mom to wire some money into his Canadian account that he found was inactive because he hadn’t used it in years…
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The transition from Taiwan as a rule-by-law dictatorship to a rule-of-law democracy is slow and uneven. It’s not like a light switch that can be flipped from off to on. It only moves forward with steady pressure, not rudeness, just pressure to change for the better.
All credit to you for helping out in this way. I hope it doesn’t trash your relationship! 
Guy
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It’s not about that. The rules are written and clear.
I think you have misunderstood my point.
Guy
This is tragic, but man… Shit happens all the time, ppl must have always contingency plans and be prepared for the worst…
It saddens me very much this story, for real. But the man had to know better. I do hope he got back up on his feet again!
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Your point is clear to me, rules are there, but the culture of applying rules and not just “do what the bureaucrat said” typical of dictatorship is yet to engrain into their minds.
I agree and know that this will change as it is changing, albeit slowly. I am doing my part to help this transition.
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Your efforts are appreciated.
Guy
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I see your point about not being rude. However… nothing started changes until you complain. (However rude it may seem)
For example Esun or Richart bank which would have never happened without the complaints and pressure to the FSC