The Employment Gold Card Super-Thread

[pin2xbo]

@Andrew

I won’t be eligible for NHI until six months after the gold card was issued

Clock does not start when the gold card is issued. It starts when you first get into Taiwan. And it will reset if you leave Taiwan before the six months. @tando, right?

[Andrew]

@pin2xbo

Clock does not start when the gold card is issued. It starts when you first get into Taiwan. And it will reset if you leave Taiwan before the six months. @tando, right?

My previous post might have been ambiguous if you’re looking at it from the perspective of applying abroad. I applied for and received it in Taiwan and, in this case, the clock seems to start on the date of issue (even though I’d originally entered Taiwan on the current exemption in mid-February and the previous exemption in mid-November).

The NHI confirmed this with me by email today.

[pin2xbo]

Oh, that makes sense if you are already there. Just confirm if it does/doesn’t reset if you leave Taiwan. Not that it is advisable to travel atm.

[tando]

@Andrew

Employment/accepting work: Is there anything I need to be aware of here with accepting work from Taiwanese/overseas clients while under a gold card?

unless you do something the government requires a lisence, I think you can do most things without special permission.
Example 1: Buxiban should register its employees to the government, but it is not your responsibility and you don’t need to get an approval.
Example 2: no need of permission. University most probably request you to give them estimate and bill, and receipt.

If your monthly sales is more than 40k NTD, you should register yourself as a business entity at taxation office, and they require you to issue receipt.

Articles 28~31 of Value-added and Non-value-added Business Tax Act
Regulations Governing Taxation Registration

Apply for Taxation Registration

eTax Portal,Ministry of Finance

營業人開始營業前，記得要辦理稅籍登記

I think editing isn’t included in gaofei, unless your name is put on the published documents. Maybe science writing by your name is.

[skilmosa]

@Bree

Print the passport verification certificate. It is under the application drop down when you are logged in. It took me a while to find it. The wording is funny, but take that and your passport to the consular office.

Also take a photocopy of your passport, including the page for official notes and observations.

I asked about collection (I am applying in Europe): was told that would be once in Taipei, so it does seem there is some confusion or mixed practice

[sammfsnead]

Great thread! @fifieldt deserves a gold card for life for his herculean efforts here.

I will share all my details a bit later in case someone finds them useful, but for now I wanted to ask and see if anyone has any insight into what exactly the ‘passport inspection’ entails? I got my email to drop it off last Friday but have been a bit too busy to deal with it this week.

I spoke to Mrs. Jian on the phone, and she said something to the effect of ‘they need to check it and make sure there aren’t any problems’…just wondering what type of problems one might potentially encounter.

Many thanks in advance!

[fifieldt]

Hi, welcome to Forumosa and thank you for your kind comment.

So, the gold card is something of an amazing collaboration between all these disparate government agencies that we don’t really need to worry about when all goes well. At the end you get a work permit (from Ministry of Labor), residence certificate (from National Immigration Agency), and visa (from Bureau of Consular Affairs). I believe the “passport check” is actually where the visa part of the card is minted. However, as the holder of a work permit by this point (and a special one at that), you are all but entitled to that visa. Potential reasons for visa denial? Off the top of my head, the ones I can think of are pretty extreme: currently banned from the country, name on terrorist watch list, already a Taiwanese citizen, bad criminal record in Taiwan, passport is fake,…

I’ve not heard of any gold card applicant making it to the point of passport inspection and being rejected. Effectively: congratulations, you’ve got a gold card

[slawa]

You will be fine unless your passport looks like this

[fifieldt]

Papers, please reference. 10 points.

[DesiInTaipei]

I didn’t get your point here. For GC holders, there is no waiting period for NHI. I applied for the NHI card in the 1st month after coming here on the GC and got it within 14 days.

[tando]

@DesiInTaipei

. For GC holders, there is no waiting period for NHI. I applied for the NHI card in the 1st month after coming here on the GC and got it within 14 days.

Did they already change the rule? Or are you employed?

Iirc, There is a draft to change the rule, but it is not passed yet. If you are employed, I think you get the NHI through the employment. It may not be because you are a GC holder.

[DesiInTaipei]

Yes I am employed. I don’t know if they changed the rules, but it’s been this for the past 3 months. Check this point 5 of A2:

https://foreigntalentact.ndc.gov.tw/en/cp.aspx?n=AC68F9FBABA3F294&s=4D07D9F9F687B542

It even says spouses and children won’t have waiting period.

[pin2xbo]

You get it immediately starting the date of your employment. If not, you will need to wait after continuous 6 months in taiwan, with one trip allowance of not more than 30 days.

Link below:
https://www.nhi.gov.tw/English/Content_List.aspx?n=C88B41A4EAB5E692&topn=778856C209BCE527

[DesiInTaipei]

But that is regular NHI isn’t it? From the GC link above, it seems you should be eligible for it right from day it’s issued.

[fifieldt]

As I understand it, this was the original intention of the program. However, after it was implemented MoHW had a different view meaning a legislative fix was required.

[Andrew]

@tando

Example 2: no need of permission. University most probably request you to give them estimate and bill, and receipt.

If your monthly sales is more than 40k NTD, you should register yourself as a business entity at taxation office, and they require you to issue receipt.

Thanks once again for your help @tando. Could I please clarify something here? Does the 40k TWD/registration/receipt requirement you mention refer exclusively to sales within Taiwan or both inside and outside Taiwan? That is, do I really need to register and issue fapiao for clients outside Taiwan?

I’ve looked through the two acts you posted, and some of the language here seems to indicate (at least to me) that many of the articles specifically refer to goods/services sold inside Taiwan. In particular,

Value-added and Non-value-added Business Tax Act
Article 1: Value-added or non-value-added business tax shall be levied, in accordance with this Act, on the sale of goods or services within the territory of the Republic of China (R.O.C.) and on the import of goods.

Article 4: Any of the following circumstances is a sale of services within the territory of the R.O.C.:

1. Where services sold are supplied or utilized within the territory of the R.O.C..
2. Where passengers are boarded or goods loaded within the territory of the R.O.C by an international transportation enterprise.
3. Where a foreign insurance enterprise accepts reinsurance policies from an insurance enterprise within the territory of the R.O.C…

Am I reading that wrong?

Also,

Article 7: The business tax rate is zero for sale of the following goods or services:
[…]
2. Services relating to export or services provided in the R.O.C. but used in a foreign country.

Would this not apply here?

Article 8: The following goods or services are exempted from the business tax:
6. Publication which are textbooks authorized by education authorities for use at various levels of schools and important specialized academic writings awarded by the government according to the law issued by the publishing industry.

Could this also not apply here for specialized academic publications (though I’m not exactly sure what the “awarded by…” part refers to)? Probably not, I guess?

Regarding the “Regulations Governing Taxation Registration” act, I’ve looked through that…and I get the impression that it would seem to mean that any individual doing work on a freelance/contract basis, whether for Taiwanese or overseas clients, would need to register as a business entity. Am I wrong, or is that really the correct interpretation?

Surely this type of situation, i.e., doing freelance/contract work for one or two clients outside Taiwan, is one that would apply to quite a number of other gold card holders here? I might not have explained myself clearly above - what I intend to do, initially, is essentially provide a regular service to two foreign companies, send each one an invoice every month, and get paid (can be either to a foreign account or Taiwanese one, whichever is easier).

Do I really need to register as a business entity, issue fapiao, and file taxes every two months for this? I know the concept of “freelance” isn’t so common in Taiwan, but I honestly thought I would just need to do something simple like file a personal tax return once a year and pay.

How have other gold card holders in this thread handled this? Surely I’m not the only one in this kind of situation…?

@tando

I think editing isn’t included in gaofei, unless your name is put on the published documents. Maybe science writing by your name is.

Ah okay, thanks. I thought I’d read somewhere that translation and similar services were included, but I must be wrong then.

[tando]

@Andrew

. I thought I’d read somewhere that translation and similar services were included,

now I remember, I’ve read so somewhere on this forum too.

BTW, taxation office is providing professional English taxation consultation, I think for free.

https://www.ntbt.gov.tw/english/multiplehtml/dfd186f192bd4b669352fedbd31c39cd

[andrewng]

Hi,

I’m currently living in Singapore (PEP holder) and tempted to apply for the gold card as I’m interested to relocate to Taiwan with my family. From what I have understood so far, I will be applying as an oversea foreigner.

My question is that if things go smooth and my application gets approved, will the 3 years eligible period (assume this is the duration I apply for) starts immediately? or will it only starts when I & family physical enter Taiwan?

This is quite important to me as I need to plan for quitting my job here, terminate my rental contract, arrange for my kid’s schooling, pack and move my family belongings over to Taiwan, etc. Ideally I want the clock to start ticking only when I enter Taiwan to maximize my 3 years period.

I have been reading lots of comments above but so far I don’t seem to find a definitive answer… any advice on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Andrew

[tando]

@andrewng

if things go smooth and my application gets approved, will the 3 years eligible period (assume this is the duration I apply for) starts immediately?

short answer, yes.

This post explained.

"Employment gold card" for some foreigners

When the card is issued that determines the expiry date. If you applied overseas you will get the Resident Authorization Form (basically a paper version of the card) to show immigration at the border. Your card is printed and sits at the Immigration Center until such a time you collect it. When I collected mine the agent at the counter looked through a stack of cards to find it. To be clear, the expiry date is not counted from time of entry or pick-up. I have checked my emails and expiry dat…

[andrewng]

Thanks tando!