Hi Forumosa,
Two colleagues of mine came to Taiwan to teach English at the start of this year. They employed them under a volunteer visa and explained that this was the only way they could get their funding through a foundation (The foundation and county government supplies funding to hire these teachers into their junior high school).
They receive a living subsidiary of NT37,000 every month in cash and have been asking for a contract for months, but nothing has been given so far. I have APRC, and also get paid in cash monthly.
Here lies the problem: one of the schoolās staff members applied for NHI card for them (without the schoolās knowledge) at the request of these two teachers. Which is totally legal and entitled to them after 6 months. The school is now saying this is a problem because under the NHI application form, they filed under no income but clearly receive some living subsidiary. The school is afraid that the governmental offices will put two and two together, and cause problems for the school or the girls themselves. Note that so far this is not an issue with the government at all, but seemingly the school trying to cover their tracks. Also, they both paid for insurance policies before coming here, so they really donāt need the NHI. It was just something they applied for since they were under the impression that they were entitled to it (which they are).
The school threatened to make them leave Taiwan, initially with only 2 days notice, saying that if they donāt leave and if the govt find out, the girls could have the money they made this year seized and have a criminal record (sounds like BS to me). Now the school have come up with a āsolutionā by saying that they have to back-pay their tax on the first 6 months of subsidiary they have received to justify having their NHI card and to keep their job. 18% of NT37000 times 6 amounting to almost NT40k.
What I need to understand is:
- Exactly what law is it that the school thinks they are breaking?
- Iām responsible for filing my own taxes, so what right does the school have to demand that the teachers back-pay their taxes if they choose not to?
- Do they even need to pay tax in the first place?
- What rights do they have considering their visa status and lack of contract?
These are the questions I have for now so I hope somebody out there has some information that could help. I feel very sorry for them as they both actually had very good jobs back home and set aside one year to help out with this project yet the school is not really helping them out!
