萬國法律事務所

According to Taiwan’s Constitutional Court Interpretation No. 687, the current Article 47, Paragraph 1 of the Tax Collection Act is in violation of the Constitution and should be voided one year after the interpretation is published. Article 47, Paragraph 1 of Taiwan’s Tax Collection Act provides that the responsible person of a company who violates the Tax Collection Act may be subject to imprisonment. While the provision that criminalizes the responsible person of a company for the violation of the Tax Collection Act is constitutionally acceptable, the Constitutional Court found that said provision violates the Constitution as it provides only imprisonment without alternative less severe penalties.

In its Interpretation No. 687, the Constitutional Court referred to Article 41 of the Tax Collection Act, which provides that a taxpayer who evades tax payment by fraud or other wrongful means shall be sentenced to imprisonment for no more than five (5) years, detention, or in lieu thereof or in addition thereto, be fined an amount of no more than NT$ 60,000. The Constitutional Court held that because Article 41 refers to the criminal responsibility of a person who violates the Tax Collection Act, the same rule should apply to the person regardless of whether or not he/she is the responsible person of a company. The current Article 47, Paragraph 1 of the Tax Collection Act which provides only imprisonment sentences to the responsible person of a company conflicts with Article 41 of the same act and thus violates the principle of fairness under the Constitution.