I know there are threads where similar topics have been discussed, but I didn’t find quite what I was looking for.
Do those who are here on a Work Holiday Pass and work online as digital nomads commonly pax taxes in Taiwan? Is this being enforced?
Does anyone get asked about it when leaving Taiwan?
Do tax authorities here care about this category, or are WHP holders de-facto treated as tourists unless they work here for a company?
Are you asking whether you will be caught if you evade income taxes?
If there is income showing, the tax office will require an accounting of it.
Back when I was a student I thought I didn’t need to pay tax (I didn’t owe any as it was $0) but years later some Karen at the tax office insisted I needed to file for a $0 years later. I never bothered but I assume if I owed they would have followed up.
If you leave without paying i personally doubt they would chase you for a small amt to your home country but you never know as tax offices are starting to work together now compared to years ago
Not sure about the digital nomand stuff
Visa type is irrelevant to tax law in Taiwan. It’s the # of days in Taiwan that matters.
But to be realistic about working holidays and employment in Taiwan. If you are British and had a Taiwanese employer, your boss would probably have declared you as if you were earning minimum wage. And the path of least resistance is to just pay tax on what was declared- although this is illegal.
If you are not British and had a Taiwanese employer, your boss probably convinced themselves you’re in Taiwan illegally and didn’t declare any of your income. Path of least resistance, don’t complete a return as you ‘earned nothing’ - also illegal.
It’s kind of a lose lose situation. No matter what, you will be put in a corner to do something illegal unless you want to fight with the tax office, labour bureau, and your boss over a 1 year stay with the outcome being you need to pay more money.
Why is being British important? I don’t get it.
Because British citizens on working holidays in Taiwan are the only people who get a working holiday ARC
Did not know that.
Not many do. Makes the program totally useless. I used it when I first came to Taiwan. It was an absolute shit-show.
I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone eligible except Brits
Working Holiday Visa holders aren’t excluded from paying tax. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a website for the Working Holiday Visa and have some FAQs on Income Tax and other things such as Health Insurance, Driving in Taiwan etc can checkout for more information on the program.
(1) Any individual earning income from sources in Taiwan (including income derived outside Taiwan for services rendered in Taiwan when staying in Taiwan for over 90 days within a single taxable year) is required to pay income tax in accordance with Article 2 of the Income Tax Act.
The program can be ok for other nationalities too with no work restrictions etc, though for some it’s quite restrictive such as not being able to have the same employer for more than 3 months which can make it harder to find a job.
What is on paper is not reality.
I was in TW for a year on a WHV. Most employers refused to hire me convincing themselves I was in TW illegally. The others hired me as if I was there illegally and didn’t care.
No one believed I had the right to work even when I shoved the visa in their face.
Nope. They couldn’t, bosses didn’t declare my income cos I was just an illegal immigrant according to them
Problem with working holiday visa is that there’s too much restrictions.
The 3 month per employer rule makes no sense. No taiwanese employer will hire you for that little time. If you intend to work this long you have to do a lot of lying.
That’s the only real restriction. And it depends on where you are from.
For Australians, it’s 6 months with 1 employer. I think for the British it’s a year
It’s better than a work ARC in the sense that you’re visa is not tied to an employer. You can quit whenever you want and get another job whenever you want. In theory, and in the rest of the world. Not really how it works in TW as most employers refuse to employ WHV holders either at all or legally.
I know having employment time restriction is a deal breaker in taiwan. In fact a lot of work place won’t hire you if you haven’t been drafted because the risk is you’ll be drafted soon after starting work.
And so short term work is so hard to find here, often you’re forced to just be in a temp agency where you have very little benefit or protection.
That’s true too I guess. All the schools whinge about not being able to find staff and they all hate sponsoring ARCs.
Huge missed opportunity of teachers for them. Probably because Americans aren’t eligible so they don’t wanna use it to hire the rest of the English speaking world
Because they need 1 year commitment from teachers. Working holiday doesn’t allow that. No one offers working holiday to Americans because america doesn’t offer working holiday for anyone. The agreement goes both ways.
Better having someone for 3-12 months than having no one 
I know they want a 1 year commitment but beggars can’t be choosers.
They can try to petition the government to allow longer visa for working holidays.