萬國法律事務所

Taiwan's National Tax Bureau (“NTB”) issued the following reminders for tax filings in May:

1. According to Article 17 of the Income Tax Act (“ITA”), which was amended in 2019, a special deduction for long-term care in total of NT$ 120K was added for every natural person. According to Ministry of Finance, there will be approximately 340 thousand people who benefit from the amendment of Article 17 of the ITA this year.

The special deduction for long-term care expenses is a fixed amount deduction totaling NT$ 120K for any natural person who meets the requirements prescribed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. However, to concentrate resources and lower the economic pressure and tax burden of people with lower incomes, the special deduction for long-term care is not available to people with income tax rates above 20%.

2. For those utilizing off time to earn extra income, tax filing is also required for such non-employment income.

The NTB reminds taxpayers of the following three points:

(1) The income tax will not be levied on income from re-selling personal second-hand items. However, income tax shall be levied on income derived from re-selling brand new items (e.g., gifts from friends), as this type of income is categorized as income from “incidental trading activities” per Article 14 of the ITA.
(2) The income tax will be levied on extra income earned off time.
(3) Different taxes will be levied on income earned by Youtubers (and/or other online celebrities) per their methods of operation: if a Youtuber’s income is earned on a case-by-case basis, the income tax shall be levied on such income; if the Youtuber operates via company or studio, which clearly does not constitute a part-time employment, the business tax and enterprise income tax shall be levied on such income.