Job Discussion Forums

[wildernessskier]

I recently tried to file a tax return and found out at the office that my employer never filed nor reported my ARC or income and tax payed for last year 2005. I left Taiwan at the end of my contract no problems in December 2005, but when I returned I lost contact with the school and boss. I did have his number handy still and called around the time I decided to file a tax return, july 2006. The school has since shut down and no records where kept, apparently. Now I totally have lost contact with this guy with repeated attempts after I gave his contacts to the tax office. He never answered there phone calls either.
So the problem is the government knows that I had an ARC last year and that I earned income, including income from outside of my ARC however small, but they never had a report from my ARC school with income and tax deducted by them. I paid taxes this I know, at least a few thousand every month but I threw out all paper records and got paid cash everytime. I need to do a tax return...so the question is....does anybody know how to do one without a statement from employer who obviously won't help me out? should I report him to the F.A.P.? should I rat on him to the tax office since I know where he lives and his phone number?
Any advice will do.....I don't want to end up on a missing persons list for doing the wrong thing.

[I_is_teach_English]

If he hasn't paid the taxes to the Tax Department, why should they rebate you? In effect, you haven't paid the taxes either. I think (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that unless you get the tax statement from your previous employer, you aren't going to be able to file. As anyone who has lived here for a while knows, ducking and diving paying tax is common practice here, it seems your employer was deducting it from you, but not paying it on to the tax department, pocketing it for himself.
As to whether you should grass him up, I have not been in the situation myself, but here are some things to consider :
1) You haven't paid tax for your earnings last year. Might you also get in trouble? Get stuck with a tax bill?
2) If the school has closed down, then I'm guessing the guy went out of business. He may not have the money to pay the tax, and it might be a long time before you see anything as a tax rebate.
3) I'm sure if you do, the Tax Office will be very efficient in dealing with it. Make sure that you are totally legal as far as work goes now, as they may also be tempted/'advised' to investigate your circumstances.

[clark.w.griswald]

I think that this Taiwan teacher specific article may help:

Tax Deductions by Employer Not Paid to the Tax Office

Basically though it would be your word against your employer if you have no receipts to prove that you paid taxes. This is why paper work for everything you do is so important.

I am assuming that this is an issue for you as the tax office is now tightening things up. You need to prove you paid taxes for the time you were working here. Worst case scenario will be that you will just have to pay taxes to the government on declared earnings. This will get you in the clear and you can then be more careful next time.