Job Discussion Forums

sbucha004 · Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 7 Location: shandong, china

i'm currently trying to change money, but my school won't give me a tax certificate. they told us foreign teachers that we have to pay taxes on income over 3500 (contrary to the 4000 everyone seems to post about) and that they're trying to protect us from paying taxes by not giving us the certificate... so the FAO is 'having a try' to change the money herself, although i'm not sure how she plans to do it (at the bank, she claims). i'm quite concerned about what's going on and why they won't give us the proper documentation to change money ourselves, esp. because all our contracts end in 2 weeks and we'll be going home. when we asked about changing money before, we were told that it's too hard for them to do it throughout the year and they'd do it all at one time in the end. i think this is very bad, is this very bad? are there any legitimate reasons they would be withholding the certificate? i also know the school is running out of money, do you think this has to do with it or is there a real reason?

any advice would be appreciated, all us foreign teachers here are having some major problems with the school... they didn't want to reimburse me for the ticket i found to go back home, because they thought it was too expensive, so they searched themselves and found a ticket... to los angeles... but i live in memphis... they think it's all the same!!! 'it's also america' is what they said...

susan

Taiping04 · Joined: 27 May 2004 Posts: 188 Location: East of Aden

My guess is they're not paying tax to the government on your income as they should be doing; a very common practice. The easiest and safest thing for you to do would be to convert your RMB to foreign currency on the black market, and wire it home rather than carry it through customs. I can't see the school providing you with a certificate. Is this a private or state school?

stavrogin2001 · Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 92 Location: Liaoning

Is this a private school? It sure sounds like it, however I have had some of the same problems at state schools in China.

I think you can take RMB and have it western unioned to the US and pick it up in USD. This has a fee, but you will know that it is not counterfeit.

It is very common in China to go to the illegal changers. In some cities they are in the bank that can do it legally and the bank doesnt seem to care about it. I had a friend that wanted to change Korean money and had a hard time with exchange rate, but USD is always around 8.2-3 something and to exchange it is about the same. I have not seen fake USD in China either so this is one alternative if your school wants to do it that way. Sure it s not legal or even the "best" way, but after serving out a contract I am sure you have come to understand that the Chinese just don't always do things the same way as we would.

As far as my experience with the school doing it in the real bank, it has been like this:
They take your red book, your "foreign experts book" and the school has to take a few documents with them as well. They and you head down to the bank where they look at everything, make some copies and you are on your way. I don't think however you can change it by yourself. For this I could be wrong.

As for airfare I have had the same problem. Some people are quite cheap when it comes to this. They will do anything to get you there, but once you have arrived, you become unimportant. Just out of curiosity, how much was your ticket? I have been told that 7k is the limit by some, while others say 10k. These prices are roundtrip.

Just out of curiosity, what school and city are you in?

sbucha004 · Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 7 Location: shandong, china

i don't really want to say exactly what school and where, as my contract isn't finished yet and they're quite sneaky here... somehow they will find me and punish me, i'm sure!! i'm in shandong province at a state college... (to show how sneaky/dishonest - the japanese teacher here is my friend, she helped me translate when we were discussing everything with the FAO who can't speak english very well, now the FAO is refusing to renew the teacher's contract as promised because she's embarassed about the japanese teacher being able to translate from english to chinese better than she can)

so if i change the money illegally, how likely is it that it's counterfeit? has anybody had any problems getting fake money? that's my only issue with changing it illegally... i suppose i'll try changing illegally in beijing, is it safe?

is it bad to carry a lot of money through customs? like is there a problem if they find out, or is it just inconvenient? i don't have that much money, provided i get it changed it should be less than USD 2000...

a friend has tried western union, the branch here said you have to change it to USD first and then they'll wire it home...

thanks for the help

susan

sbucha004 · Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 7 Location: shandong, china

oh, i forgot about the ticket, my first one way ticket to come here was under $700 US from memphis to my backwater town in china... the ticket going home, i have no idea how much, the school is just buying it for me instead of me buying and reimbursing... that's more convenient anyway, and i think i convinced them that LA isn't good enough... what they wanted to do originally was have me buy it myself and then ask around for what the cheapest price is and reimburse me for that only, but i said no because my contract clearly states that they'll pay for me to go from the school to my next destination, not for what they consider the cheapest price... so i said if they want a particular ticket they have to just buy it for me instead of just deciding what is the price cap when there's none mentioned in the contract...

my parents and everyone keep telling me to be nice to them so i can get what i want, but it's so hard! i'm tired of being nice! and it's not like i'm being nice to get just something i want, it's something that's clearly promised in my contract... aaaaaaaa...

susan

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

You seem to have been duped. Did you get hired legally, with a work visa???

I suggest you not pin your hopes on them. Take your loot to Hong Kong and convert it there into HK dollars, then into the currency of your country.
It will set you back a little, what with two conversions necessary. But at least you can do it relatively quickly.
You will get HK$ 93-94 for every RMB 100, then you can buy US dollars at the rate of around HK$ 7.78 per one US dollar.

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Imust contradict struelle. There never are compelling reasons for them to withhold a tax recewipt. They have to applyto the relevant bureau to pay your tax, then they must deduct it from your ssalary, and the tax bureaumust issue a tax receipt in the name of the tax payer.
BUt most schools don't report their staff tothese bureaus. The tax issue is relativelynew but it is fairly straitforward.
Why withhold taxes if they don't give a receii;t?
The only answer: they pocket it themselves!

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

Talkdoc · Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 696

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

Talkdoc · Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 696

Ger · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 334

I, and the other 6 foreign teachers who worked with me at the time, had difficulty getting out tax certificate from our now former-boss in China.

I got mine two months after I had finished working at the school, but I made sure to get a letter from my employer stating details like the dates of my employment in China, the total amount of salary for the period of work concerned, the total tax amount owed to the Tax Bureau, etc.

I had to ask the boss for the telephone number, contact name and address of the tax bureau, as well as a relevant reference number.

I also had to get a bank to email my employer telling him that the bank needed my tax certificate in order to change RMB into a foreign currency.