Taxes and Private Students

Hi. Is there any way to report income from private students? I make quite a bit of money from privates these days, and it would be nice if I could somehow include that income when I do my taxes. I think this will be important when I finally decide to get my APRC. I currently have a JFRV. Thank you.

[quote=“Damage”]Hi. Is there any way to report income from private students? I make quite a bit of money from privates these days, and it would be nice if I could somehow include that income when I do my taxes. I think this will be important when I finally decide to get my APRC. I currently have a JFRV. Thank you.[/quote]You can make a self-declaration for income earned from privates. :slight_smile:

Here’s what the official tax form will reflect when you have self-declaration of income. This is a tax form of a foreigner married to a Taiwanese on a JFRV ARC and how he reported his private English teaching income. He only had privates and didn’t have any other income from any other sources…allegedly!

Please see the bottom where it indicates that the income is self-declared or “Self-Assessed”. The tax bureau doesn’t really care where your income comes from so long as you declare it and pay the appropriate taxes on it. :bow:

You are too cool. Thanks a million.

Just a cautionary note: while the English translation for that last line says “self-assessed by taxpayer”, the Chinese original (which I am sure would govern) says “what is reported on this form has not yet been verified”. So, it would seem that keeping records would be in order. I would imagine that the concern of the Tax Department would probably be that one was under-reporting income, not over-reporting, so the most likely avenue I would anticipate would be a check of one’s bank deposit records.

If the privates pay in cash (actual cash, not bank transfer) of course it would be far more difficult to prove anything, sort of like waitress cash tips in the US, which are historically under-reported without the tax authorities being able to do much about it.

If you wanted to prove that you DID have as much income as you said, I’d advise getting as many students as possible to pay using bank transfer directly to your account, so as to have a paper trail showing that income. It would probably be easier for you as well – they might pay a month in advance, and if they cancel a class without 24 or 48 hours notice (or whatever you like) they would forfeit the money for that session. That part has more to do with marketing and business plan than taxes.

[quote=“ironlady”]Just a cautionary note: while the English translation for that last line says “self-assessed by taxpayer”, the Chinese original (which I am sure would govern) says “what is reported on this form has not yet been verified”. So, it would seem that keeping records would be in order. I would imagine that the concern of the Tax Department would probably be that one was under-reporting income, not over-reporting, so the most likely avenue I would anticipate would be a check of one’s bank deposit records.

If the privates pay in cash (actual cash, not bank transfer) of course it would be far more difficult to prove anything, sort of like waitress cash tips in the US, which are historically under-reported without the tax authorities being able to do much about it.

If you wanted to prove that you DID have as much income as you said, I’d advise getting as many students as possible to pay using bank transfer directly to your account, so as to have a paper trail showing that income. It would probably be easier for you as well – they might pay a month in advance, and if they cancel a class without 24 or 48 hours notice (or whatever you like) they would forfeit the money for that session. That part has more to do with marketing and business plan than taxes.[/quote]Excellent and sage advice! :notworthy:

Thank you, Ironlady. Would it be possible to have my students sign some sort of receipt when they pay a month ahead? They pay me a month in advance in cash. It would be sort of be a pain for them if I changed the way they have to pay me. Thanks again.

There are receipt books of all kinds at your local stationary store.

You can have them just give you a copy of the bank transfer form showing the stamp from the bank. This even works to get payments into one’s Taiwanese bank or post office account when one is not in Taiwan. Not that I’d know anything about that.