I’ve been offered a position working as a sales rep for a Taiwanese company. I would be based in Canada and working on commission, not salary. Does anyone know about or have experience doing this? I am married to a local and currently live here on a marriage visa.
Some questions that I’m trying to work out are:
- Do I pay tax in Canada or Taiwan? Or both?
- Is it better to have my bank account here or should I open one when I get to Canada?
- Are there any issues that I should expect or watch out for?
Also, just in case anyone happens to know, I have some more specific questions…
- What are the import taxes like if I sell a machine to a Canadian customer?
- Are there regulations/rules about sending machinery overseas?
Thanks to everyone who can help out in advance!
Graham
Oh and your other questions are not easy to answer in a short time, you cant avoid taxes here if the job is legal, yes there are numerous restrictions on importing and exporting in all countries, sounds like you may be in over your head if you take that job.
Are you getting exclusivity for Canada? Do you already have some customers or solid leads there? Will you also need to do support work for your customers, or can you focus on commission-generating sales? Looks like they’re simply trying to set you up as an agent with no risk to themselves. Might be better to start your own company, act as their agent, but then also be open to be the agent for other companies.
My advice would be avoid this job, some laoban thinks he has you. Negotiate a monthly salary or just work for a Canadian company. Even minimum wage is probably better than they will offer you. Why would you work for a Taiwanese company if you are in Canada.
Thanks to everyone for the replies.
elburro: I won’t have exclusivity to Canada for the time being; however, that is something that I’ll negotiate for once we get things going. I’d originally considered setting myself up as an agent, rather than an employee, but this way, the company covers all of my work expenses including travel, several large trade shows, and office/warehouse rental on top of providing me with a couple demo machines of my own. I’m definitely not in a financial position that will allow me to front these costs and hope for sufficient sales. As such, they’re taking a rather large risk (far, far larger than mine). I’ll be doing support work to the extent that I’m able to, but my technical knowledge of these machines significantly limits my ability to do so. So primarily, I’ll be doing sales with considerable support from the home office.
Down the road, I’ll likely move more towards an agent position for other complementary products, but not sell anything that competes directly with this company. I really appreciate the questions and please let me know if you have any other thoughts.
Swervetech69: I have absolutely no intention of avoiding taxes and definitely would not be posting in a public forum to try to find out how to cheat the government. Also, I am well aware of how expensive Canada is. As for the restrictions, I am aware that they exist, hence my question asking for more information about what to expect.
Skate bum: Thanks for the advice. I’ve been fairly vague about the details of the job, but the compensation, depending on my success, will definitely be more fruitful than a minimum wage position in Canada. The reason I’d work for this company has nothing to do with them being Taiwanese or Canadian, it’s just a hell of an opportunity.
If anyone else has any suggestions or answers to those original questions, I’d love to hear them.
I didnt intend to sound like i thought you wanted to illegally dodge taxes, just meant its hard to get away from them legally here. do what you want, but I always think its a bad idea to sign up with a company that takes almost zero risk on you. For my sales job I get a base that covers all my living expenses ect easily, the rest is on comission. This is the common model in Canada and if youre going to work here you need a base salary, good luck.
The way it sounds now is that you are actually not working for the Taiwanese company, you’ll be an agent, you have to set up your own legal structure (company) and you’ll have to do it the Canadian way, it’ll have nothing to do with Taiwan. (except for the product). Taxes are Canadian, risk is all yours.
If your working in canada you have to pay canadian taxes. From my understanding there is nontax treaty between canada and taiwan. You would have to check in taiwan if they would collect tax off your pay aswell…but they may takeninto account that you alreadynpaid lots of tax in canada and take that as a deduction - this is what treaty countries do. But then…you may pay double tax…may. hire a tax lawyer from taiwan if you are planning on this. Worth the money for proffesional advise.