I’m looking for advice on working as a foreigner and a freelancer while living in Taiwan. My wife is also a foreigner and works for a school. We both have an ARC. Her ARC is a work visa for the school and mine is a Dependent visa. We plan to stay in Taiwan for a long time and we would like to someday apply for the APRC. Her job and salary fills the requirements for the APRC, and I would like to learn how my freelancing work can also count towards the requirements.
I’m a Web Developer and my work comes from projects found on Upwork and through my personal network. Most of these projects are based in the US or Australia. None of my work has ever been based in Taiwan. Income from these entities is transferred into a US bank account.
As a dependent ARC holder, am I required to get a work permit to continue my freelancing work in Taiwan? Does my income need to be transferred to a Taiwanese bank account in order to be eligible for the APRC? Or can I just report my US account’s income to Taiwan?
Likely Gold Card if want the tax code that would be filed for that income in the tax return to be considered for APRC.
I don’t think it matters where is money is paid, since you are performing those services while physically in Taiwan its just declared during the tax filing.
It seems to be a bit of a gray area whether remote work for foreign companies requires a work permit or not: There have been statements posted here where government agencies said that a work permit is not required in that case, bug no one knows if those statements would actually be enough in case you do get caught in an investigation…
Two fully legal ways exists:
Acquiring an open work permit (either through marriage or through an Employment Gold Card)
Starting a company in Taiwan and hiring yourself and issuing your own ARC basically
Note that the tax bureau is quite clear that the remuneration for all work performed in Taiwan is considered “Taiwan-sourced” income and needs to be fully taxed in Taiwan. It doesn’t matter to them who paid the money or where the account is located.
Although many people argue that the government won’t have any way to proof that one received that kind of income. But that argument would probably be possible to make for almost all countries in the world…
On the other hand, if you pay taxes on the income, it should also be accepted for an APRC application. Just do note that it’s unclear if this could lead to further questions by NIA if you performed the work while not having a work permit (as said: Some government agencies say that this is not required, but you never know what could happen…)