You realize you don’t need to submit proof of income, right? It’s the honor system unless they ask for it specifically.
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Give it a try! My kids are pretty hairy too and the government always gave me a bit cash for each of them.
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Thanks, Dr_Milker. I wasn’t sure, but I’ve always done it out of habit, and the staff at the office always end up calculating a bigger tax return than what I do (not sure how), so I just let them do it there and give me the free certificate. Providing the certificate might prevent the hassle of an audit (just a wild guess).
I suppose that’s not totally outside the realm of possibility. The advice I’ve always heard from accountants though is, “Never provide the IRS with information they haven’t asked for.”
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This is the first time I will (maybe) be getting a refund. & It’s not because I overpaid withholding tax this time. It has everything to do with dependents.
My willful ignorance of the tax law is the reason I lost so much. Plus, the tax software was so shitty, I didn’t want to stick around it too long. Every year I just always wanted to get done with the process as soon as possible.
Anyways, this is first year I used the web platform, which is so smooth and convenient. & So that’s the first time I “discovered” that I could add dependents, even those without ARC ( 
5 years too late ).
I added my wife. My daughter that was born last year. I have a little brother that I support from time to time, who studies in a Taiwanese university. And, I support my father back home. So, 4 dependents in total (actually they are 7, but I can’t prove them all).
Once I had input all the dependent data, suddenly things went from zero NT$ refund to 130,000 NT$.
Either way, I can’t celebrate yet, not until I get the money.
I have sent them all the documents today e.g. proof of relationship, proof of survival, proof of remittances, some payment/receipts for tuition fees etc.
I will report back if I get the money or a middle finger from them.
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You can redo previous years taxes up to a time limit, can remember if it is 3 or 5 years, you can ask in the tax office and redo those years with dependents.
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This is the first year my local tax office has been asking for this, I see nothing in the rules that requires it and I highly doubt that locals are required to prove financial support of dependents, could be wrong. Thinking of challenging it on principle, I have adequate proof should that fail! Has anyone challenged in the past?
I’ve been asked by the Taipei City tax office to provide such documents since I filed in 2010.
Other jurisdictions in Taiwan may have other more lenient standards.
Guy
Yes, Taipei city has been requesting proof for a long time, first time my local tax office has been asking though. Will see what happens if I refuse to provide it.
Link anyone?
Like for foreign spouses filing jointly under Taiwanese spouse. Are there both Chinese and English websites?
First looking for Chinese language site for wife to file our taxes (with me having ARC) and without the need for a card reader.
Do we need to go to some government office to get password to log in? or no need?
thanks
Really? I didn’t know that’s possible. I will definitely look into this. Thanks
I don’t know where I can see the rules for this. This is the actual document from e-filing system, asking me to provide these supplementary documents. Since this is the first time for me to apply for dependents, I didn’t want to take the risk or not providing them with what they asked for. So, I gave them what they asked, mostly.
In this image, from top to bottom, there are four dependents, and the documents required for each are different ( I can’t read, used google translate to figure it out ):
- Spouse : Passport copy , ARC and Marriage certificate (proof of relation).
- Child : Passport copy, ARC and Birth Certificate (proof of relation). They also asked for proof of expenses, but I didn’t provide any. I think they are smart enough to know an infant has a lot of expenses and can’t pay for it itself.
- Father : Passport/ID, Proof of remittances, proof of relationship, and proof of survival.
- Brother: Passport/ID, Proof of relationship, Proof of paying for expenses e.g. tuition fees, if student in Taiwan needs Student ID Card, or graduation certificate.
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This is the link :
https://efile.tax.nat.gov.tw/ifnw/ch/index.jsp
Besides the index page, the rest of the system supports English UI. Only one issue is that the web service is only supported for Mac OS, IOS/Android (tablets only), and Linux users.
Windows users must continue to use the shitty software that they need to download and install.
Anyways, on the main page, you can choose the left-most option to login (i.e. via Health Card), which is the easiest, in my opinion.
Assuming you have a MAC/Linux, you can login by using a Card Reader + your Health Card + Registration Password.
- Card Reader is easy. You can get it for a couple of hundred NT$ from any computer shop. Most of them will get configured automatically once you plug them in.
- I assume you have a health card.
- If you don’t have a “registration” password, then you can apply for one. You need to go to another website for that :
https://cloudicweb.nhi.gov.tw/cloudic/system/mlogin.aspx
-
Go to this link. But before you click that registration button, make sure you have plugged in the card reader and inserted your health card.
-
There’s a very simple form you’ll need to fill in. You need to enter some details off your ARC card and pick a password. You must provide a correct email and phone number. Once you submit the form, they will send you an authentication email. You have to click the link there (and once again use the card reader + health card) to finish the authentication process.
Now, you are free to use your “registration password” that you just created. You can go now to the tax filing website and (assuming you are on a mac/linux) you can just click the left-most option and able to log-in.
What if you don’t have a mac ?
Here’s a few options that I think might work :
- I think in practice, it shouldn’t be impossible to fool the browser, somehow, but I haven’t researched in to this. I know there are ways to make browsers behave as if they were something else, e.g. make IE appear like Safari etc… Worth researching if you are interested.
- Alternatively, you can borrow a mac from a friend.
- Or build a hackintosh
- Or run Mac OS on Windows use virtualization software…
- Or use a tablet , as they are supported.
But then the issue is, how to login with a card reader on a tablet (especially those without a USB-C port) ?
There is a way , though I haven’t tried it. Let’s say you already got your “registration password” using your windows pc and a card reader.
Next step you can apply for something called a “Query Code”. I haven’t applied for this yet, but if you succeed in applying for that, then you will no longer need to use a card-reader / health card to login (on any platform/OS).
That’s the right-most option on the index page (the first image). If you use that to login, you would only need to provide your ARC number, DOB, and Query code to log-in. No need to connect a card-reader.
If you want to apply for a “Query Code” (in order to use on a table or even a PC/MAC without a card reader), then you can go to this link to apply :
Once here, just choose the left-most option. Use your card-read + health card + registration password. By the end of the process you should now have a “query code” (I can only speculate at this point).
Once you have a query code, you can do your filing on mobile devices like tablets, where normally it’s difficult to connect a card reader.
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No problem, I did the same some years ago after finding out about all the deductions I should have been claiming. If I remember correctly I had to write a short note as to why I wanted to redo previous years ~ briefly explain you didn’t understand all the rules and do now. It was a nice cheque to receive at the time!
Question: If I started in November, would I still need to do my tax statement by the end of June? Tax is taken out of my salary each month
Yes. That is 2019 income. Even though it is miniscule, it still has to be filed.
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Get ready to get a bit back!
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As Marco said, and keep in mind that you don’t have tax resident status for last year (unless you were in Taiwan for at least 183 days), regardless of your status this year, so you don’t get the lower rate or the nice deductions.
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Yeah the 183 day rule for each calendar/taxation year is critical!
Guy
This is no wonder why nothing was mentioned to me about this.
I hope I can get my income tax refund before I should happen to
leave Taiwan for good.