I’ve forwarded the response you received to the European Chamber of Commerce, with the odd sarcastic comment.
In regard to the issue we discussed last week, I’d just like to forward another response from the MOF, the result of an administrative appeal against the previous responses given by the National Taxation Bureau and MOF after the Control Yuan complaint.
A couple of key points:
There seems to be a common theme developing here severely limiting the kinds of decisions by government agencies that can be appealed against under the Administrative Appeal Act. This is despite Article 2 of the act specifically stating that inaction by a government agency (which is mostly what we’ve been complaining about) is also grounds for appeal.
The MOF is apparently sticking to its interpretation that foreign residents cannot be domiciled or truly resident in Taiwan, because we might leave at some point. I’m starting to wonder what they think the “R” and “P” in “ARC” and “APRC” mean.
Article 20 of the Civil Code was mentioned again, but the interpretation seems rather dubious. The only “supporting fact” apparently being considered here is whether an individual has household registration or not. They seem to be ignoring the second part of that article, which stipulates that everyone always has exactly one domicile (I’m not sure where this is assumed to be for foreign residents if it isn’t Taiwan - a passport country we might not have lived in for decades?), and Article 22 also seems to provide grounds for a person’s residence being considered their domicile if their domicile cannot be certified (it seems to me that this would apply to foreigners not covered by household registration).
There is also the suggestion that the foreign resident might want to let their Taiwanese spouse handle it, which is really just laughable coming from a government agency talking about adults who should be able to handle their own affairs…
Anyway, I just wanted to keep you updated. My friend who submitted the appeal has already forwarded this to the Italian representative office and also asked the MOI whether foreigners can have 住所 in Taiwan as suggested by the Nationality Act, because the MOF is claiming that they cannot. If the MOF is correct, it would seem to imply that foreigners cannot undergo naturalization (and they obviously can).
I wonder if they can eventually refuse to take complaints from someone if they feel they are a “nuisance” forcing you to file suit. Or are they obligated to respond forever.
I’ve wondered that too. But… would it actually matter? As far as I can tell, none of these government agencies have actually done anything useful to resolve any of these complaints yet.
Even the FSC complaints only seem to have had an effect because banks don’t like to receive FSC complaints and “scores” are kept for each bank. Whenever a bank responds saying they’re not going to fix the problem, the FSC is apparently fine with that.
So I think we can all just use our complaining credits until they run out?
Come to think of it, NHI treats foreigners residency exactly the same as Taiwanese. It’s poorly worded but if you have a spouse ARC or APRC the same enrolment/withdrawal rules apply as citizens. Active/inactive HHR is just replaced by having a valid valid/expired ARC/APRC
Schrödinger’s Resident, of course, simultaneously domiciled and not domiciled.
It’s kind of ridiculous that I can live together with my spouse for the same amount of time in Taiwan and she counts as a resident and I don’t. Obviously our “subjective intention” is to continue living together, or do they also believe there’s no way for NTB to know that I won’t abandon my marriage at any moment?
I’ve just been down to DBS today about this as I got a letter through saying they’re withholding tax to send to government and have me listed down as not a resident of Taiwan on the form but as a tax resident in my native country.
Woman at the bank said I need to wait until July before I can change it, as this is when I’ll have been in the country over 183 days (assuming I don’t go on holiday), but she said after that I can change it to show tax resident of Taiwan for the rest of the year. Does that mean that for the final six months of the year, they won’t withhold tax on interest and won’t send any more to the government to hold? Seemed like it.
I don’t know how to prove I’ve been in the country 183 days though when I don’t have stamps in my passport - always use the e-gate.
…and the following year, you’ll go back to being a non-resident again and become a resident of your passport country again (because that makes sense according to the tax authorities in Taiwan). No matter whether you’ve been there or not.
