How are expenses handled in Taiwan?

INTRODUCTION:

Thank you for taking time to read this solution for the information you would probably need to know what are required for your team members' or your reimbursement claiming on business expense paid on the company behalf in Taiwan (China)

All details mentioned in this article to ensure that all employee are promptly reimbursed for all compliant business expenses authorized in accordance with the 

• [Income Taxe Act ] 所得税法 & Enforcement Rules 實施細則
• [Measures for tax collection authorities to administer accounting books and vouchers for profit-making undertakings] 《稅捐稽徵機關管理營利事業會計帳簿憑證辦法》
• [Guidelines for income tax verification of profit-making undertakings]《營利事業所得稅查核準則》
• Business Entity Accounting Act《商業會計法》

Question :What's the general process?

Answer: After Employee claiming the expenses through Horizons Platform, the client rep will review in generally following Y/N critierias

• Whether the expenses are claimed in accordance with client delegation and authorities matrix or not.
• Whether the expense are claimed with voucher at adequate amount or not.
• Whether the expense are claimed with adequate rationality from client business prospective

Once they are approved by client, Horizons Accountant team will conduct pre-accounting review initial putting forward to payout process. It takes 5-10 working days in general to verify all expense and relevant vouchers online. 

• The amount of the original voucher is consistent with or greater than the amounts claimed. 
• Compliance degree of the voucher：
• buyer's information, such as the company's head and tax number, is correct
• the content, price and other information is consistent with the expense description of the reimbursement form.
• The documents of voucher are verified, legible and unaltered.
• The nature of cost is relevant to the business activities

Question:  Why Horizons team must do pre-accounting review before reimbursment being proceed?

Answer:  As the expense will be taken into Horizons' accounting book. After client review and approved from Client’s business prospective, Horizons reviewer must check with all vouchers on the compliance level to the related law and regulation Taxes and Accounting practice, otherwise it will enhance the unnecessary taxes burden to not only Horizons but to client as well. 

Hope the following further Q&A clarifies your questions mark related to expense reimbursements. 

Q1: What business expenses fall within the scope of employee reimbursement? 

A1: Horizons does not impose any restrictions on eligible business expense items for EOR employees. When applying for reimbursement, employees must provide sufficient supporting documentation to substantiate the relevance of the expenses to business activities under EOR arrangement but not other individual or entity , no matter it incorporated in Taiwan or not. 

Q2: In compliance with local laws and regulations, what are the required documents and supporting materials that EOR employees should provide when submitting reimbursement applications? 

A2: Generally, reimbursement for EOR employees will be based on invoice issued to Horizons Taiwan Entity. Please refer to the attached table for specific details of other supporting.

Q3: Is it necessary for EOR employees to provide original invoices and other supporting documents after submitting reimbursement claims on Horizons Portal with scanned or soft copies? 

A3：With the reimbursement process requires proper approval from at least one approver, and only soft copies of receipts are necessary. However, it is crucial for employees to retain the original invoices or receipts for auditing purposes when needed. 

Nevertheless, if EOR employees are assigned to the "Direct Reimbursement" Expense Policy without approver review loggin in Horizons Portal, they must send the original copies of invoices and receipts to the month for expense claiming.

• 6F., No. 378,ChangChun Rd.,Taipei, 104, Taiwan R.O.C.
• 台北市中山區長春路378號6樓
• Attn: Horizons TW

Q4: "Is it permissible for EOR staff to claim Travel Perdiem with the client's approval

A4: Yes, it is absolutely doable if the employee claim the Perdiem with Travel Itineraries provided

 In accordance with the applicable legislation and regulations

The daily amount of domestic and outbound business trip meals and miscellaneous expenses(aka Per Diem) does not exceed the following highest standards could be reimbursed without vouchers but travel itineraries,

1. Domestic Travel in Taiwan: NT $600 per person per day for Per Deim
2. Outbound Travel: According to the main points of overseas travel expenses, according to the daily amount of daily expenses of the central government organs sent to the mainland for business trips, the amount of daily expenses shall be determined. 

• With the Hotel cost reimbursed at actual cost
  • Travels to Mainland China & Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR: 50% x rate at Standard Table Ref
  • Travels to Overseas: 50% x rate at   Standard Table Ref
• With the Hotel cost covered by the Perdiem, employee are not claiming Hotel lodges at acutal cost
  • Travels to Mainland China & Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR: 100% x rate at Standard Table Ref
  • Travels to Overseas: 100% x rate at   Standard Table Ref

* the amount listed in Standard Table are all in USD

Q5: If any non-compliant expenses are identified by the local registered accountant at Horizons after the approval of my expense reimbursement documents by the approver, how will this expense reimbursement be managed?

A5: Insufficient or non-compliant reimbursement documentation often leads to the inability to deduct them from pre-tax income, resulting in an increased tax burden. If we come across such instances during the pre-accounting review stage, we will reject the claim with note to your expense approver for further discussion and resolution, particularly regarding the allocation and assumption of any additional tax liabilities.

Q6: Any other “Must Know” for business expense reimbursement?

A6: 

① All expense invoices issued in the current year must be submitted and approved within the same year(by 5th Jan of the following year)to avoid being subjected to Individual Income Taxes burden. 

② Family and personal expenses should be treated as Cash Benefit subjected to Individual Income Taxes burden and excluded as reimbursable costs.

The family and personal expense comprise but not limited to 

• Medical Treatment
• Insurance Premium
• Medical Checkup

If client would like to offer financial assistant, please grant the employee the amounts of variable(non-recurring) incomes Where Can I Input Non-recurring (Variable Pay) Income for Employees?

③  Any Vouchers including but not limited to invoice, Delivery Note etc, subject to others business entity, or individual will be not considered as valid voucher for Expense Claiming supportings. It is important to note that this policy applies regardless of the nature of the voucher or its source.