Household Bills in Taiwan

Maybe some of you don't have any idea when you should pay household bills such as gas, electricity, or water in Taiwan. Well, those bills are billed every two months. The bills are usually sent via postal mail so you gonna check your mailbox regularly. For those who rent an apartment/ house in Taiwan, the due date of those bills may depends on the property owner.

1. Billed every two months

a. Gas Bill
You will receive gas bills every two months, usually for consumption period from 18th to 18th of the next two months. The due date is around 2th to 5th of the month. Taiwan government has been cooperating with several LPG companies to supply LPG for household need. We can’t choose LPG companies by ourselves, it is decided by government and our location. Because every household in different locations get LPG supply from different LPG companies so the due date may vary slightly between households.

b. Electricity Bill
Electricity bills come every two months too (every 60-63 days). Started from May 2012, electricity cost in Taiwan has been hiked by 17%. The electricity price rise is very disappointing for Taiwanese too. Many of small business owners feel it is very difficult to maintain their business nowadays.
You may receive high electricity bills if you are a heavy user of energy, especially in the summer. The rate for electricity usage per kWh in summer season is higher than in any other seasons. Turning on AC for 24 hours a day during summer is not recommended except your AC is kind of energy saving air conditioners.

c. Water Bill
You will receive water bills every two months (approximately every 60 days). The amount of water bill you have to pay depends on the two-month-usage of water. In my case, it costs around 400NTD to 650NTD for household with 2 persons.

Month	Bill Categories	Due date
January	Gas bill Electricity bill	# 5th January # 13th January
February	Water bill	# 8th February
March	Gas bill Electricity bill	# 5th March # 16 March
April	Water bill	# 9th April
May	Gas bill Electricity bill	# 4th May** # 17th May
June	Water bill	# 8th June
July	Gas bill Electricity bill	# 4th July** # 17th July
August	Water bill	# 8th August
September	Gas bill Electricity bill	# 3th September** # 18th September
October	Water bill	# 8th October
November	Gas bill Electricity bill	# 3th November** # 16th November
December	Water bill	# 8th December

# = The due date for each year may slightly different from year to year, depends on the total number of days in a year. Estimated due date = minus(-)/plus(+) 3 days from  the due date presents on table above.

** = pay attention to bills which are due before 5th of the month, because it will be paid by previous month of salary. (In Taiwan, salary is paid on the fifth of each month.)

2. Billed every month

It is easier to remember household bills which are billed every month. Here is list of monthly household bills. For example:

• Maintenance Fee: If you buy an apartment, you may have to pay monthly maintenance fee. The fee consists of monthly trash service cost (so you don’t need to wait and chase trash truck by yourself), security & safety fee (24 hours guard) and so on. The amount may vary depending on management of your apartment. It cost me around NTD$2.450 per month. However, if you rent an apartment or a room, the occurrence of maintenance cost depends on the property owner’s decision. 
• Rent cost, occurs when you rent a room or an apartment.
• Gasoline cost, occurs when you have vehicle(s)
• Cell phone bill
• The package of fixed line + TV cable fee. It costs me around NT$ 750-850 per month in total.
• Home internet (ASDL) bill. It costs me around NT$ 209 per month.
• etc.

Besides household bills, you may check taxes payment schedules in Taiwan here.

Hope you find it useful!

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Schedule of Taxes Payment in a Year

I think Taiwan is a relatively high-tax country. In this post, I want to list all of the taxes we required to pay annually in Taiwan. By knowing all due dates on those taxes payment, we certainly can better manage our financial by putting aside a certain portion of monthly salary in advance to pay those taxes.

A. Schedule of Taxes Payment in a Year

Let's make several assumptions

Assumptions:  1. You have a job in Taiwan 2. *You have one private scooter / motorbike 3. **You have one private car 4. ***You own an apartment/ house (not renting)

Based on above assumptions, your schedule of taxes payment in a year will be:

Month	Tax Categories	Due date
January	-	No tax payment schedule.
February	-	No tax payment schedule.
March	-	No tax payment schedule.
April	License plate tax (scooter)* License plate tax (car)**	30th April (per year) 30th April (per year)
May	Income tax Property (building) tax***	31th May (per year) 31th May (per year)
June	-	No tax payment schedule.
July	Gasoline tax (scooter)* Gasoline tax (car)**	31th July (per 2 years) 31th July (per year)
August	-	No tax payment schedule.
September	-	No tax payment schedule.
October	-	No tax payment schedule.
November	Land tax***	30th Nov (per year)
December	-	No tax payment schedule.

That is how I keep note on my taxes payment each year. Did I miss something?

B. How to Calculate Taxes?

1. INCOME TAX
Income tax needs to be paid on May. If you have arrived in Taiwan for 183 days and more, then the standard income tax rate will be charged to you as shown by following table.

Annual Net Income (NT $)	Tax Rates
<370,000	6%
370,001 to 990,000	13%
990,001 to 1,980,000	21%
1,980,001 - 3,720,000	30%
>3,720,001	40%

If you haven't stayed in Taiwan for 183 days, you will be charged 18% of income tax rates, no matter what your level income is.

The 183 day counts begin on the second day you arrive in Taiwan (date of arrival written in your passport, exclude the first day), NOT from the date you get a job. For example: you arrived in Taiwan on March 30th, but you get your job in September, you will be taxed at standard rates (shown by table above), instead of 18% because from March 30th until December 31th, you will have been staying in Taiwan for more than 183 days.

2. PROPERTY TAX
Calculating property tax:

Current Value of Building  = Approved unit price  x Area x (1-rate of depreciation x  years of depreciation) x adjustment rate based on location classification x building floor sharing rate

Current value of building; Approved unit price = $
Area = m2
Years of depreciation = years
Rate of depreciation; Adjustment rate based on location classification; Building floor sharing rates = %

Property Tax  = Current value of building x applicable tax rates

Applicable tax rates are varies from 1.2% (for residential use), 2% (for non-residential and non-business use), and 3% (for business use).


3. LAND TAX
Calculating land tax:

Current assessed value = Land declared value x Area

Current assessed value; Land declared value = $
Area = m2

Land Tax  = 0.2% x Current assessed value

4. SCOOTER/ MOTORBIKE TAX
a. License Plate Tax, paid annually

Total Cylinder Displacement Volume	License Plate Tax (per year)
<= 150 cc	NT$ 0
151 - 250 cc	NT$ 800
251 - 500 cc	NT$ 1,620
501 - 600 cc	NT$ 2,160
601 - 1200 cc	NT$ 4,320
1201 - 1800 cc	NT$ 7,120
>1800 cc	NT$ 11,230

b. Gasoline Tax, paid per 2 years

Piston Displacement	Gasoline Tax (per 2 years)
<= 50 cc	NT$ 600
51 - 125 cc	NT$ 900
126 - 250 cc	NT$ 1,200
251 - 500 cc	NT$ 1,800
501 - 600 cc	NT$ 2,400
601 - 1200 cc	NT$ 3,600
1201 - 1800 cc	NT$ 3,960

5. CAR TAX

a. License Plate Tax, paid annually

Total Cylinder Displacement Volume	License Plate Tax (per year)
< 500 cc	NT$ 1,620
501 - 600 cc	NT$ 2,160
601 - 1200 cc	NT$ 4,320
1201 - 1800 cc	NT$ 7,120
1801 - 2400 cc	NT$ 11,230
2401 - 3000 cc	NT$ 15,210
3001 - 4200 cc	NT$ 28,220
4201 - 5400 cc	NT$ 46,170

b. Gasoline Tax, paid annually

Piston Displacement	Gasoline Tax (per year)
251-500 cc	NT$ 2,160
501-600 cc	NT$ 2,880
601-1200 cc	NT$ 4,320
1201-1800 cc	NT$ 4,800
1801-2400 cc	NT$ 7,200
2401-3000 cc	NT$ 8,640
4201-4800 cc	NT$ 11,220
4801-5400 cc	NT$12,180

Besides taxes, you may check household bills payment schedules in Taiwan here.
Hope you find it useful!

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Taiwanese-Mandarin Slang Words

Same as other languages, Taiwanese-Mandarin also has slangs words which are considered very common in an informal conversation. Here are some Taiwanese-Mandarin slang words you may not have known.
Hope you find it useful!

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
1	3Q	san Q	thank you
2	3C Product	san C Product	computer, communication, consumer product
3	PK賽	PK sai	duel (a one-on-one)
4	酷	ku	cool
5	很Q	hen Q	very chewy
6	小可愛	xiao ke ai	tank top
7	OK 棒	OK bang	bandage
8	A片	A pian	porn movie
9	很窄	hen zhai	very narrow

Slang words no. 10-14 are words for COMPLIMENT, no. 15-16 are NEUTRAL.

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
10	型男	xing nan	stylish/ metrosexual man
11	美男	mei nan	pretty boy
12	正妹	zheng mei	pretty/ beautiful girl
13	帥哥	shuai ge	handsome guy
14	素女	su nu	beautiful, gentle (female)
15	宅男	zhai nan	a couch potato; male who prefers to stay at home  and seldom goes out
16	宅女	zhai nu	a couch potato (for female)

Slang words no. 17-24 are considered OFFENSIVE for SOME people.

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
17	台胞	tai bao	Taiwanese
18	台妹	tai mei	very conservative, old-fashioned Taiwanese girl
19	老外	lao wai	foreigner
20	外勞	wai lao	immigrant worker (labor)
21	娘娘腔	niang niang qiang	feminine guy
22	土包子	tu bao zi	bumpkin, a hick
23	書呆子	shu dai zi	nerd, geek
24	草莓族	cao mei zu	strawberry-generation, refers to Taiwanese  who born between 1981 and 1991 with  spoiled, lazy, arrogant, selfish characters  (unwillingness to work hard, easily give up,  just like strawberry, soft and get mashed easily)

Slang words no. 25-26 are considered OFFENSIVE for SOME people.

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
25	小心眼	xiao xin yan	stingy, being very calculative about something
26	有种	you zhong	have gut
27	翻白眼	fan bai yan	eye-rolling to irritate people or express anger
28	傷腦筋	shang nao jin	troublesome, nerve-racking

Slang words no. 32-34 are considered IMPOLITE.

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
29	相思病	xiang si bing	miss someone so badly
30	劈腿	pi tui	betray, have an affair
31	吃醋	chi cu	jealous
32	小三	xiao san	being a third party in a relationship
33	狐狸精	hu li jing	female who snatch others' BF/husband
34	上床	shang zhuang	having sex

Slang words no. 35-39 being adapted from other languages.

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
35	麻豆兒	ma dou er	model
36	卡通	ka tong	cartoon
37	羅曼蒂克	luo man di ke	romantic
38	一級棒	yi ji bang	the best (adapted from Japanese, ichiban)
39	拜拜	bai bai	bye-bye or praying

Slang words no. 40-52 are considered IMPOLITE/ OFFENSIVE

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
40	羅哩叭嗦	luo li ba suo	wordy, gabber
41	碎碎念	sui sui nian	wordy, gabber
42	囉嗦	luo suo	wordy, gabber
43	嘮叨	lao dao	wordy, always repeat the  same thing over and over again
44	機車	ji che	annoying, always complaint, not easy  to get along with, demanding
45	欠扁	qian bian	deserve a spanking
46	披在癢	pi zai yang	being naughty deserve a spanking
47	挑嘴	tiao zui	picky, fussy
48	俗拉	su la	coward
49	雞婆	ji po	always want to get involved in  someone else’s business
50	厚臉皮	hou lian pi	shameless
51	吹牛	chui niu	bluffing
52	沒水準	mei shui jun	no standard

Slang words no. 53-59 are considered OFFENSIVE

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
53	王八蛋	wang ba dan	bastard
54	混蛋	hun dan	bastard
55	小混混	xiao hun hun	gangster, bad boy
56	流氓	liu mang	gangster
57	傢伙	jia huo	brat
58	烂人	lan ren	lousy, no responsibility
59	色狼	se lang	pervert, sex-maniac

Slang words no. 60-62 are considered VERY OFFENSIVE

No.	Taiwanese Slang	Read	Meaning
60	遜	xun	lame, crappy, showing no courtesy,  have bad manner
61	賤	jian	cheap (refers to a person), low status
62	靠	kao	f*ck

CONCLUSION: to determine whether a word is offensive or not, it depends on the person you are talking to (can they stand it?) and the relationship between you and that person (close friend, common friend, acquaintance, or older people, and so on.)

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Best City to Live in Taiwan

Which city do you want to live in? Here I have made a review about best city to live in Taiwan based on the certain criteria.

Public Transports (Convenient)

(1) Taipei is the most convenient city to live in Taiwan since it has MRT that take you around city, sufficient number of public busses and taxis. (2) Kaoshiung comes in second place as it operated its first MRT system in 2008. (3) Taichung, as Taiwan’s third largest city, could be one of many choices too. It doesn’t yet have MRT system, but it has sufficient number of  buses runs along many major traffic routes.

Same as Taichung, other cities in Taiwan that doesn’t yet have MRT system rely heavily on city bus and taxi. Usually, the number of public transports between cities varies according to their population density. However, if you live in a county (not city), it is recommended that you have a car or motorbike for convenient in mobility.

Don’t worry for mobility between cities. Taiwan has two railway services which are TRA (Taiwan Railway Administration) and THSR (Taiwan High Speed Railway). Railway transports connect cities that are far apart, from north to south of Taiwan.

Safety

(1) Crime rate. Taiwan has a relatively low crimes rate. Taipei is definitely the safest city to live in Taiwan. We can still see women walking alone during night or students going back home from cram school after 9-10 p.m. However, Taichung doesn’t seem to be as safe as Taipei. Many said Taichung has a lot of gangsters show up during the night. But, who said going outside at midnight is safe?

(2) Traffic Safety. Drivers in Taipei and New Taipei City seem to have better moral than the other cities. They usually will let pedestrians to pass through first.

Living Cost

Although Taipei offers higher average of salary compared to other cities, the cost of living is relatively higher too, especially when it comes to rent a house or room because Taipei has much higher land and house price. For example: the average cost to rent a room (with toilet inside) in Taipei city is around 11,000 NTD, whereas the average cost to rent a house (entirely) in Chia Yi is around 6,000 to 7,000 NTD. Many Taiwanese also said, for the same amount of money, you can only afford an apartment (usually with two bedrooms) in Taipei, but you can afford a mansion in Taichung.

Industrial (Science) Park

You can consider to live in Hsin Chu, Tainan, or Kaoshiung because they have science park or industrial park. There are a lot of semiconductor and high-tech industries build in the park so it’s possible to increase your chance in getting a job.

Weather

Taichung has the best weather in Taiwan. It receives sunlight throughout the year and rarely strikes by typhoon. Keelung has the worst weather. It has the highest rainfall throughout the year and high humidity.

Generally, the temperature of the cities located in the south of Taiwan is warmer than those located in the north. When it comes to natural disaster, Hualian and Taitung are the most earthquake-prone-cities in Taiwan.

Environmental Pollution

Taipei, Kaoshiung, and Taichung are the most polluted cities in Taiwan since those three cities have higher population density and higher number of vehicles. Cities located in eastern Taiwan such as Taitung and Hualian are the least polluted cities in Taiwan.

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Best Timing to Come To Taiwan

When is the best timing to come to Taiwan? Well, if you ask me, I would say… it depends on your purpose of visit.

1. Purpose: Travel

Summer season begins in May and ends in August. Summer temperature in Taiwan is exceedingly hot (in average 35 degrees Celsius) and humid, especially in July and August. You can sweat easily by staying outdoors for a couple of minutes. Not really comfortable. June, July, and August also be known as typhoon season. Strong wind, heavy rain, and flooding will always be associated with typhoon strike, depends on the typhoon strength. Flight delay or cancellation and typhoon break holiday may happen too if typhoon strike is severe. You may need strong umbrella for conquering typhoon days.

Autumn season begins in around September to November. September: you can still wear short during the day, but you will need thin jacket or long pants for the night. Typhoon sometimes occurs in September too, but not as frequent as in summer season. October: a bit chill during the day and getting colder at night. You probably need to bring a jacket and begin to store your shorts inside closet. November: approaching winter and you need to wear warm jacket, long sleeve, and long pant.

 

Winter season begins in December and ends in February. The average lowest winter temperature reaches about 8 degree Celsius. Cold, humid, and raining frequently, especially in December and January. The thing I don’t like most from winter is that I can’t dry my clothes naturally indoor, so I need drying machine at self-service laundry shop. If you stay at hotel, make sure that they provides heater because there are quite a lot nice, above average priced hotels don’t provide heater.

Spring season is relatively short. If you want to enjoy Taiwan cherry blossom season, come around February until mid of March. When the temperature is getting hotter in March, the flowers start shriveling up. Spring ends around April. Spring rainy season is around Mach and April.

Conclusion: From my opinion, the best timing to visit Taiwan for travel purpose is around end of May (because there is still plenty of rain in early May), September, and October. 

2. Purpose: Working

If you come to Taiwan to find a job, you should know one thing. Taiwan taxable year begins from January 1^st till December 31^th. So, if you arrive at Taiwan and start working in August (for example), by means until December, your staying in Taiwan is less than 183 days in a year, your salary is subject to 18% income tax, which is more than regular income tax rate (no matter in which categories your income falls under). 

Conclusion: (1) if it is possible, arrive at Taiwan before July 2^nd or (2) if you sign one year contract, start the contract on 1^st January and ends on December 31^th is preferably, although I know it is difficult to control when employer wants to hire us.

3. Purpose: Study

Fall semester in Taiwan begins from September to January, whereas spring semester starts from February to June. The official new academic year always starts from fall semester, by means new batch of student in Taiwan universities usually enter new program in September. However, the number of universities who allows foreign students to join the program in spring semester is increasing too. So, you have to make sure that the university or program you are applying for allows you to enter the program in either fall semester only or both.

Conclusion: Ideally, you should come to Taiwan at least one month before the new semester begins because there are several things need to do, such as finding a place to live (if you don’t stay in school dormitory), choosing/ adding course, applying for ARC, and so on.

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How To Translate Taiwan Postal Address Into English?

You might find it’s difficult to read or translate Taiwan postal address because your lack proficiency in reading Chinese. It’s not a biggie! Here some information about how to understand and translate the typical address format in Taiwan. Hope you may find it useful.

Chinese Format

You can easily translate a Chinese postal address into English by using the translation system provided by ChungHwa Post Website here. Simply input the postal address in Chinese by choosing the options in the drop down lists there.

Based on the ChungHwa Post Website, the typical Chinese format of postal address in Taiwan is usually as following (example): 

Notes: The number 1 till 8 above represents order

English Format

After finished inputting your Chinese postal address into the translation system, simply hit “查詢” button to get the English translation of it. Then it will be translated into an acceptable English format as following:

     Now you know the typical English format of postal address in Taiwan is the opposite of their Chinese one.

Things Need to Know

• If the address doesn’t have Section/ Lane/ Alley/ Floor/ Room number, that’s alright. Simply skip it, but you still have to put every part of it into order. For example:

• Dash (“-“ in English) or 之 (“zhi” in Chinese) doesn’t always exist in the address (for number, floor or room). For example: Usually, there are several households live at the same floor of the building. And 8之2樓or 8F.-2 here refers to the second household (family) that lives in the eight floor of the building.

• Commonly used terms & abbreviation are as following：

          City                           = 市
          County                      = 縣

          Township                   = 鄉 or 鎮
          District (Dist.)             = 區
          Village (Vil.)               = 村 or 里

          Road (Rd.)                 = 路
          Street (St.)                 = 街

          Section (Sec.)            = 段
          Lane (Ln.)                 = 巷
          Alley (Aly.)                = 弄

          Number (No.)            = 號
          Floor (F)                   = 樓
          Room (Rm.)              = 室

How to Find ZIP Code?

Taiwan ZIP code is divided into 2 parts that are 3+2. When you translate a Chinese address into English by using ChungHwa Post Website, it will automatically provide you the first 3 digits of your address ZIP Code. The complete ZIP code is important, but not necessarily for local mailing. For international mailing, it is highly recommended to write it down. ZIP Code may ease postman to locate your address.

The ZIP Code table (below) will be showed up after you input the address and hit “查詢“ (cha xun) button.

     Notes:【雙(shuang)=even number; 單(dan)=odd number】

Example :

The complete ZIP Code for this address: No.50, Ln. 12, Wenchang St., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City, is 11060 (because No. 50 is an even number).

You can simply write down 110 for the ZIP Codes. I think that is good enough for local mailing.

Enjoy mailing!

Source of information: ChungHwa Post

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