How to File Taxes in Taiwan as a Foreigner: The May Tax Return, Step by Step
By Raytio Ray
How to file taxes in Taiwan as a foreigner: who must file, the first-year 18% refund, leaving mid-year, online vs in person, rent deduction and a document list.
If you have a job and an ARC, you will have to file taxes in Taiwan as a foreigner every May, and the good news is that for most employees it is a one-hour job that often ends with money coming back. The catch: nobody explains it, and the first year is exactly when you are most likely to be owed money. Here is how it actually works, using the rules for the 2025 income year that was filed in May 2026.
Who has to file
Taiwan taxes you based on days in the country during the calendar year (January 1 to December 31), not on your passport or visa.
- 183 days or more in the year: you are a tax resident. You file an annual return in May of the following year, at progressive rates, with exemptions and deductions.
- Under 183 days: you are a non-resident. Your employer withholds a flat 18% from salary (6% if your monthly salary is no more than 1.5 times the minimum wage, which means NT$44,250 or less in 2026). That withholding is usually the end of it; you don't file a May return.
For income earned in 2025, residents who had not left Taiwan before April 30, 2026 filed between May 1 and June 1, 2026 (May 31 fell on a Sunday). Expect the same window every year.
The first-year refund most newcomers miss
This is the part worth real money. Your employer doesn't know in advance whether you'll reach 183 days, so most companies and universities follow the tax bureau's advice and withhold at the non-resident 18% rate until you actually pass day 183. After that, they switch you to resident withholding (usually around 5%).
But once you hit 183 days, you are a resident for the whole year, and the whole year gets taxed at resident rates. The 18% they took earlier was too much, and the May return is how you get it back.
A rough example. You arrive March 1, 2025 on NT$80,000 a month. March to August: NT$480,000 of salary, NT$86,400 withheld at 18%. September to December: NT$320,000, about NT$16,000 withheld at 5%. Total withheld: around NT$102,400. Now the resident calculation for a single person in 2025: NT$800,000 minus a NT$97,000 exemption, NT$131,000 standard deduction and NT$218,000 salary deduction leaves NT$354,000, taxed at 5%. Tax due: about NT$17,700. Refund: roughly NT$84,700. It only comes back if you file.
Resident rates for 2025 income are 5% up to NT$590,000 of net taxable income, then 12%, 20% (from NT$1,330,001), 30% and 40%. For 2026 income (filed May 2027) the exemption rises to NT$101,000, the standard deduction to NT$136,000 and the salary deduction to NT$227,000.
Photo: 林先生 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Three ways to file taxes in Taiwan as a foreigner
Our pick for year one: go in person. The National Taxation Bureau of Taipei handles foreign residents at its headquarters, No. 2, Section 1, Zhonghua Road, right next to the North Gate (Beimen MRT, or a five-minute walk from Ximen). Forum regulars have praised the English there for years, and staff will fill in the form and calculate the tax for you; one resident described the visit as 15 minutes of waiting while someone else did the maths. You go to the office covering the address on your ARC: Taipei City addresses go to the Taipei bureau, New Taipei addresses to the Northern Area bureau's local office (Banqiao, Xindian and so on). If you moved and never updated it, see updating your ARC address first.
In 2026, offices took bookings for a slot within three business days and handed out same-day queue numbers online. The last week of May is packed; go in the first two weeks.
Year two onwards: file online. Use the "Individual Income Tax Return for Aliens E-Filing System" on the MOF's e-filing site (tax.nat.gov.tw), in English or Chinese, as a web version or a Windows program. To log in, foreigners can use the alien citizen digital certificate, an MOF-approved certificate, the NHI card with a registered password (you need a card reader; see our NHI guide), or the taxpayer ID plus passport or ARC number. Users call it clunky but workable. One catch: online filers report that foreigners still have to mail supporting documents (lease, receipts, dependent proof) to the tax office, because the document upload site is set up for locals.
The phone app is not for you. Taiwan's five-minute mobile filing doesn't support foreign residents.
Online filing has a real advantage: refunds arrive sooner. For 2025 income, online returns filed by June 1 got the first refund batch on July 31, 2026. Paper and barcode returns waited for the second batch on October 30. If you owe money, you can pay online by credit card or bank debit, or at a convenience store for amounts under NT$30,000.
Photo: susan curry via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0
Step by step
1. February: collect your withholding statement (扣繳憑單) from every employer you had last year. Employers have to give them out by around February 10.
2. March and April: gather deduction paperwork (see the checklist below). If you have rent to claim, check your lease and payment records now, not in late May.
3. Early May: file online or book a counter visit. Have your Taiwan bank account number ready so the refund goes straight in.
4. Within a few days of filing online: mail any supporting documents the system asks for.
5. Late July to October: refund arrives, or pay any balance by the deadline on your payment slip.
The rent deduction: worth it, but read this first
Since the 2024 income year, renters can take a special deduction for rent of up to NT$180,000 per household per year. For a typical Taipei studio, that is worth around NT$9,000 off your tax at the 5% rate, or NT$21,600 at 12%. The conditions:
- Nobody in your household owns a home in Taiwan, and you live there yourself (not an office).
- Your tax rate is under 20%. From the 20% bracket up, the deduction disappears. One forum member found this out at the counter in 2025, stamped landlord receipt in hand.
- You bring the lease, proof of payment (bank transfer records are best, or receipts signed by the landlord) and, since foreigners don't have household registration, a signed statement that the place is your own residence.
Since May 2025 you no longer need the landlord's consent. The catch is that your filing names the landlord, and many Taipei landlords don't declare rental income. That is what the "rent excludes tax" clauses and "no tax deduction" lines in leases are about. Expats on the forums put it bluntly: claim it, and the rent may go up at renewal. We break this down in the rental fine print guide. Our take: if you are flat-hunting, pay rent by bank transfer and ask before signing whether the landlord is fine with tenants claiming the deduction.
Dependents
If you are married, you file jointly with your spouse. A spouse, children or parents can each add a NT$97,000 exemption (2025 income), including family living abroad, but you will need proof of the relationship (birth or marriage certificates, usually authenticated by a Taiwan office abroad) and, for parents, remittance records showing you sent at least the exemption amount per person during the year. No transfers, no deduction.
Leaving Taiwan mid-year
If you are leaving for good, you can't wait for May. A resident who leaves partway through the year and isn't coming back that year has to file and pay before departure. Universities tell staff to do it about a week ahead, and to ask for withholding statements a month before. Your exemption and standard deduction are cut in proportion to the days you were in Taiwan that year. Bring your passport, ARC and withholding statements. Non-residents whose salary was fully withheld at 18% generally have nothing more to do.
Skipping it is a bad idea: under the Income Tax Act, the fine for not filing at all can reach three times the unpaid tax.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
High earners and overseas income
Two special cases, in brief:
- Salary over NT$3 million: qualifying foreign professionals (including Gold Card holders) moving to Taiwan for work for the first time can exclude half of salary above NT$3 million for five years. Details in our Gold Card and residency guide.
- Overseas income and remote salary: foreign-source investment or rental income only matters under the alternative minimum tax once it reaches NT$1 million and your basic income tops NT$7.5 million. Salary from a foreign employer for work done in Taiwan is Taiwan income. See working remotely from Taiwan and tax.
Document checklist
- Passport and ARC (or APRC)
- Withholding statements (扣繳憑單) from every employer
- Taiwan bank passbook or account number for the refund
- Entry and exit dates certificate from the National Immigration Agency, if your days in Taiwan are close to 183
- Lease, rent payment records and a self-residence statement, for the rent deduction
- Relationship proof and remittance records for dependents
- Last year's return, if you have one (it makes the counter visit faster)
Questions can go to the toll-free tax line, 0800-000-321, or the Taipei bureau's main line, (02) 2311-3711, which has a foreign residents section.