Some Announcements of Tax Changes and Grad Programs

Michael Fahey over at Winkler Partners notifies of new tax preferences for foreigners.

On January 8th, Taiwan's Council for Economic Planning and Development announced new tax preferences for foreign professionals in Taiwan. Employers of eligible foreign professionals will be able to declare non-salary payments and reimbursements to foreign professionals as operating expenses. Examples of expenses include travel and school tuition for children. From the perspective of the employee, the preferential incentive is that these payments and reimbursements will no longer be treated as income for tax purposes.

Winkler has the entire regulations translated on their website as a courtesy to the local foreign community.

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The redoubtable anthropologist Jeff Martin, whose wisdom has graced this blog on more than one occasion, announces the Taiwan Studies grad program at his university on H-Asia:

I would like to inform the H-Asia membership of the existence of a Graduate Institute of Taiwan Studies, now in its third year of operations at Chang Jung Christian University in Tainan. Based on my experience working here for two of these years, I would say we have a pretty interesting thing going on, with an interdisciplinary faculty (history, geography, anthropology, political science, literary studies, religious studies) and about 30 graduate students working on a broad variety of research projects. We are now in the process of developing an English language curriculum for a two year program leading to a master's degree,
and applications to this program for Fall of 2008 will be accepted through April of this year. If anyone would like to learn more about us, our program, or Taiwan Studies in Taiwan, our website address is http://www.cjcu.edu.tw/taiwan/en/ and I would also be glad to answer questions. Finally, I would like to extend an invitation to anyone passing through the southern parts of Taiwan to drop in on us for tea and Taiwan-Studies talk; just drop me a note and let me know your interests and schedule.

Jeff is both extremely personable and extremely knowledgeable, and if you are in southern Taiwan, definitely take the opportunity to say hello.

[Taiwan]