Hello,
I’ve been looking over my tax documents and pay slips and I’m confused. Something fishy is going on and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I’m hoping you can help.
I arrived in August of 2014 for my 1 year contract. I was not in Taiwan for 183 day last year so I know I’m subject to the 18% tax rate for 2014. I was paid cash for the month of September because I’ didn’t have a bank account set up/maybe wasn’t legal to work yet? October and November I was given a pay slip and my school took 18% out…no problems there. However, I’m pretty sure my school is not telling the authorities how many hours I am actually working. I am told not to show anyone my pay slips, and I MUST stay for 183 days in 2015. Fast forward to now, I will not be able to stay 183 days. That means I will be taxed 18%. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay 183 days from the beginning and told my school to take out 18%, so I didn’t have to worry about saving money to pay it back later…they refused to do this. They only took out 5% each month claiming it was helpful to me. The thing is, they are taking 5% out of the pay I am actually getting paid but reporting about half the hours I work. So are they pocketing the difference between the 5% of my actual vs the pay they are telling the authorities?
I was just given my documents to take to the tax bureau and it says I owe a boatload of money for 2014. How is this possible if I was taxed 18% all of 2014? I don’t think I should owe anything, correct? Also, why would my school “be nice” and only take out 5% in 2015…wouldn’t they want to cover their risk and just take out the full 18%? Seems strange.
Any idea what’s going on here? What should I do?
Thanks!