Taiwan's Tax Revenue Nears NT$2 Trillion in FY 2014 to be All-time High
2015/02/02 | By Steve ChuangMostly driven by surging profits generated by local enterprises, the Taiwanese government collected taxes exceeding NT$1.957 trillion (US$61.73 billion) for the fiscal year (FY) 2014, an all-time high, according to the latest report by the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
The MOF indicates that such tax revenue rose 6.7%, equal to NT$123.7 billion (US$3.90 billion), over FY 2013, and exceeded the FY 2014 target by 4.8 percentage points, an equivalent of NT$90.5 billion (US$2.85 billion).
According to the MOF, income tax collected from profit-oriented enterprises in FY 2014 increased NT$50.1 billion (US$1.58 billion) compared to FY 2013, with business taxes, securities transaction taxes and individual income taxes also rising NT$19.6 billion (US$618.29 million), NT$16.9 billion (US$533.12 million) and NT$16.1 billion (US$507.88 million), respectively.
Worth mentioning is that individual income tax collected in FY 2014 broke the NT$400 billion mark the first time, to NT$408.3 billion (US$12.88 billion), including NT$92.5 billion (US$2.91 billion) in withholding taxes levied on dividend payments to foreign investors, up 26.7% year-on-year (YoY).
Meanwhile, collections of commodity taxes, gift taxes, land value taxes, property taxes, and vehicle license taxes all soared to help enrich the national treasury.
However, affected by the government's clampdown on real estate speculation, the land value increment tax collected decreased 1.5% YoY to only NT$101.7 billion (US$3.20 billion), with luxury tax collected also down by 3.5% to NT$5.134 billion (US$161.95 million).
Regarding tax revenues in FY 2015, the MOF comments that the government will likely collect taxes exceeding NT$2 trillion (US$63.09 billion) for a couple of reasons, including steady increase in collection of property, land value and vehicle license taxes, and, particularly, the implementation of a unified taxation system, which is expected to boost dividend payments by enterprises to shareholders to drive overall tax revenue.
(SC)
| Overview of Taiwan's Tax Revenues in FY 2014 | |||
| Tax
| Amount
| Proportion of Total Tax Revenue
| YoY Growth Rate
|
| Securities Transaction Tax
| NT$88.308 Bn.
| 4.50%
| 23.7%
|
| Profit-oriented-enterprise Income Tax
| NT$401.169 Bn.
| 20.50%
| 14.3%
|
| Customs Duty
| NT$106.440 Bn.
| 5.40%
| 9.7%
|
| Business Tax
| NT$322.625 Bn.
| 16.50%
| 6.5%
|
| Commodity Tax
| NT$172.227 Bn.
| 8.80%
| 6.0%
|
| Individual Income Tax
| NT$408.319 Bn.
| 20.80%
| 4.1%
|
| Vehicle License Tax
| NT$59.326 Bn.
| 3.00%
| 2.7%
|
| Property Tax
| NT$64.673 Bn.
| 3.30%
| 2.6%
|
| Land Value Tax
| NT$71.516 Bn.
| 3.70%
| 1.0%
|
| Land Value Increment Tax
| NT$101.659 Bn.
| 5.20%
| -1.5%
|
| Luxury Tax
| NT$5.134 Bn.
| 0.26%
| -3.5%
|