萬國法律事務所

On 20 January 2020, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) held a press conference to announce that six laws would be amended this year. The laws scheduled for amendment are the Tax Collection Act, the Land Tax Act, the Customs Import Tariff Act, the Securities Transaction Tax Act, the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures, and the Stamp Tax Act.

The Tax Collection Act, the Land Tax Act, and the components of import vehicles of the Customs Import Tariff Act will be amended to reduce the tax or tariff. The tax on warranty hedging transactions in the Securities Transaction Tax Act will be reduced as well, but, the opinions of the relevant authorities and of the public are still being gathered for consideration before final decisions will be made. Additionally, the MOF has indicated that it will adhere to the Executive Yuan’s instructions and propose bills with respect to the questions of whether or not to abolish the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures and the Stamp Tax Act.

Minister of Finance, Su Jain-rong, stated that the amendment of the Tax Collection Act will have an immediate impact on the public. The maximum penalty for delinquent payment will be reduced from 15% to 10%; and the ratio of payable tax on compulsory execution being held in abeyance will be reduced from one-half to one-third, and these profitable policies will be promoted on schedule.

Pursuant to Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 779, the present Land Tax Act merely exempts the land reserved for public facilities from the land value increment tax. However, the people’s non-urban lands designated as for the purpose of transportation are not exempted; the Justices concluded that this discrepancy violates the Principle of Equality at Article 7 of the Constitution, and thus it is unconstitutional. As such, the MOF stated that it will follow the Interpretation’s guidance and propose an amendment bill as soon as possible. Before the amendment is passed by the Legislative Yuan, the MOF will provide the administrative rules to fill the gaps and to meet the public’s needs.

The Customs Administration will propose an amendment bill to the MOF regarding the tariff reduction on components of import vehicles. The MOF will respect the Financial Supervisory Commission’s advice when drafting the amendment of the Securities Transaction Tax Act to adjust the ratio of tax on warranty hedging transactions, which could be reduced from 0.3% to 0.1%.

Given that the Presidential election was only recently concluded, Finance Minister Su stated that whether to abolish the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures and the Stamp Tax Act will depend on the Executive Yuan’s overall assessment.

After the MOF announced that six fiscal and tax laws will be amended in 2020, it was explained that the exact schedule of such amendments will be decided only after cross-ministry discussions and deliberation.