The one thing to keep an eye on is to make sure the withholding statements correctly identify whether you qualify for the lower resident tax rate. This part is on the withholding form below the tax id number box, and if I recall correctly this part of the form is only in Chinese. Basically if you've been in the country more than 183 days this year or last then the boxes indicating that should be marked appropriately. Some employer's accountants are too lazy to check the foreign worker's actual status and will assume your arrival date is whenever you started working for them.
To make sure that you are having withholding done correctly, you will want to visit your local district's tax office and check with the withholding desk to see that the correct rates are used. They usually don't speak English so take someone with you if your Chinese isn't up to the task. You will want to prepare as following beforehand:
- Whether you have been in the country more than 183 days either this year or last to qualify for the resident tax rate.
- If not considered a resident, are you a resident of a country Taiwan has a tax agreement with?
- For each job you receive income for a clear description of the type of work so that they can properly classify the type of income.
(If you happen to be in Zhongshan district the tax office there is at the corner of Nanjing and Songjiang Roads in the Asia Trust Building. The withholding desk is on the 9th floor just to the left when you walk in the office.)
GPhunk76 wrote:Where does one find a copy of "Article 51"? Online at all??
This refers to the Employment Services Act Article 51 which outlines certain cases where someone can apply for an open work permit which then covers any employment you take:
http://www.evta.gov.tw/english/lawevta. ... wevta1.htm
Even better is the Article 48 exemption for foreign spouses.
