Article 51
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Where the performance of contract(s) of construction, sale, technical cooperation and so forth necessitates a foreign legal person to appoint a foreign worker to engage in work as referred to in Subparagraph 1 or 2 of Paragraph 1 of Article 46 in the Republic of China, and where such foreign legal person has not established any branch office or representative agency in the said territory, the business entity with whom such foreign legal person contracted or the agent duly authorized by such foreign legal person shall apply therefore in accordance with the regulations promulgated pursuant to Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 48.
Visa-Exempt Entry
Those who have entered Taiwan visa-free for purposes that do not require a permit—such as engaging in tourism, visiting friends or relatives, attending social events, conducting business, attending exhibitions, and engaging in fact-finding missions or international exchanges—who then intend to engage in activities that, according to the laws and regulations of relevant agencies, do require a permit must still obtain such a permit. Those who intend to enter Taiwan for purposes that require qualifications, such as religious work, must obtain a visa from an ROC overseas mission before entering Taiwan.
I know I’ve brought it up before but if there is ever a chance would love some insight for someone who does youtube(monetized) with an ARC to teach english but no such permit for youtube. (No idea how I would even get that… or if its really that important).
Another possibilty is to set up a Rep Office in Taiwan, which , providing you actually pay youself ( I believe the pay can be less than the minimum of twice the minimum wage). You can obtain an ARC Card that way for yourself but there are costs to set up , say a HK company to do it.
The principle applied by both the tax office and municipal labor bureaus has long been substance over form. It would be hard to argue that earning a living income over the internet within 2 consecutive 90 day stays does not constitute work. Again, the chances of being caught are low, but that is besides the point.
You do not need to be part of the local labor force to be in breach of laws and regulations pertaining to foreign workers in Taiwan. You just need to be physically present in Taiwan. By your logic, if you were physically present in the US while doing work for Taiwanese businesses under Taiwanese contracts you would be in breach of Taiwan’s labor laws, when in fact such as situation would be legal whereas the situation you propose (US-based digital nomad work while physically present in Taiwan) won’t be.
The other posters are correct. Legally, you need a work permit to work while in Taiwan. With that said, if you are a digital nomad, I don’t know how you would be caught unless you tell people or you are using a Taiwanese bank account. Every 90 days, you’ll need to leave and come back.
I’m a US citizen and I file taxes in the US and can deduct my Taiwan taxes from my tax bill in the US as long as I meet the Taiwan residency requirement.
With an resident permit, I can purchase insurance, have access to the healthcare system, and it is good for banking, renting places, etc. I even set up a biz here and hired myself.
Do consider, if you stay here over 90 days in tax year you are subject to Taiwan tax law (even on visitor visas). If you ever try to file for legal residency in the future, they will inquire about how you were supporting yourself previously while in Taiwan on visitor visas and why you didn’t file a tax return. Essentially you’ll be forced to file for that period.
It’s hard to believe that the Taiwan authorities would give somebody a hard time if they claimed they were living off savings, and go so far as to demand US bank records to prove that. I don’t have any experience in this but it just seems a bit much for any Taiwan officials caring enough about this to demand to see US bank statements and questioning where any deposits originated.
By the way, for the OP, us tax law allows you to claim a foreign earned income deduction simply by dint of being physically present for a year anywhere outside the US. If you do stay in Taiwan for a year, regardless of who employs you or the location of the bank account your get paid into, you can take this exemption. You should look into that if you do spend all or most of 365 consecutive days (it can be across tax years) outside the US. It’s called the physical presence test. They don’t care who is paying you, it’s all about where you are physically. You still are liable for self-employment tax if you are freelance with 1099 income or the normal social security deduction if you are an employee with 1040 income, but the normal earned income is fully deductible up to about $100k. Check it out.
I’m not making it up, as you said, you have no experience in the matter.
They simply ask for your US returns from the period in question when you file for the first time as a legal resident. It’s absolutely zero work for them as they can see everything at that point. Up until that point, the tax office has no record of you.
Please don’t take it personally, I certainly didn’t mean to imply that I thought you were making stuff up.
This is very interesting. I’ve been staying in Taiwan on multiple 90 day entries, no prying questions asked when you re-enter.
I’ve been a long term resident of Japan, sometimes eligible to work there (spouse visa), back in the day on successive 1 ‘cultural’ year visas with no official permission to work enough to support myself and I always expected questions but was never even asked how I was supporting myself. And I never heard of any close cooperation between Immigration and the Tax office there.
Sounds like immigration is definitely more concerned about how you support yourself here. But do they ever share info with the tax office?
Information sharing between government agencies in Taiwan becomes more common. For instance, all agencies under the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) now access each other’s databases. You will notice that since 2-3 year people on this forum who stay in Taiwan as the dependent of ROC spouses no longer report needing to bring a household registration transcript when extending their ARC. Your local tax office is not part of the MoI, but their information sharing with banks and even foreign governments who have entered into double taxation agreements with Taiwan works quite well. Taiwan being Taiwan, one might be lucky in 9 / 10 cases or depending on the case manager. But then again - why risk anything?
It’s really not about immigration…it’s about the tax office. If you are coming in on 90 day visas they don’t know you (though immigration may ask questions similar to what you describe).
Once you become a legal resident and file for the first time in Taiwan, the tax office can now see your past immigration record and likely will ask questions. They won’t ask for bank statements, they will simply require you to file for the time period under question.
I knew one guy who worked it out so he wasn’t paying any taxes. He worked remotely as a contractor for a company in the U.S. so he didn’t pay U.S. taxes because he, well, wasn’t resident in the U.S. And he didn’t pay any Taiwan taxes because he, well, just happened to be in Taiwan at the time and his activities had zero impact on Taiwan’s economy.
Wouldn’t try this at home kids…as a US citizen you are required to file… filing is based on citizenship not residency. Also breaking the law in Taiwan if over 90 days in a tax year.
Half the U.S. citizens in Taiwan are felons without knowing it. Failure to file, failure to report aggregate $10,000 in all bank accounts, failure to pay 15% self-employment tax on privates and other sideline work, failure to report capital gains on sale of property. And that’s not even considering the long arm of many state law/residency requirements.