Job Discussion Forums

[eissc]

Hello All,

I am a US citizen who has been teaching in China for the past five months and we just learned about something you may find interesting.

There are tax treaties between the US, China, and many other countries that allow you to work overseas without paying income taxes to the host country for the first three years or so.

Here's a quote from Article 19 of UNITED STATES-THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA INCOME TAX CONVENTION:

"An individual who is, or immediately before visiting a Contracting State was, a resident of the other Contracting State and is temporarily present in the first-mentioned Contracting State for the primary purpose of teaching, giving lectures or conducting research at a university, college, school or other accredited educational institution or scientific research institution in the first mentioned Contracting State shall be exempt from tax in the first mentioned Contracting State for a period not exceeding three years in the aggregate in respect of remuneration for such teaching, lectures or research."
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/china.pdf

Here is some other information that may be helpful...

http://www.intltaxlaw.com

Income Tax Treaties between the US and other countries:
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/corporations/article/0,,id=96739,00.html

We were reimbursed half of the taxes that we paid. When we asked why we were not receiving all of the money, we were told that "the government has already spent the money, so they cannot refund all of it."

It's a funny world we live in, isn't it?

Scott

[scot47]

It is quite common to find that there are "Double Taxation Agreements" and other conventions between countries. It is always worth checking these out.