Taiwan's Q1 Tax Revenue Hits 15-Year High

2015/04/15 | By Ken Liu

Taiwan's Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced collecting NT$353.4 billion (US$11.40 billion) in taxes in the first quarter, increasing 5.8 percent year on year to hit 15-year high.

The ministry says listed companies on Taiwan's stock exchange and over-the-counter markets together generated NT$2.33 trillion (US$75.16 billion) in pre-tax net income throughout 2014, an increase of 14 percent from the previous year, hence prompting the ministry to reasonably expect the island's tax revenue collection to continue towards a favorable direction in the second quarter.

Senior officials of the ministry's Department of Statistics point out that the ministry aims to collect NT$1.94 trillion (US$62.76 billion) of taxes by the end of this year, with the first-quarter revenue already attaining 18.2 percent of the goal due in part to a surcharge of NT$18.1 billion (US$583.87 million).

The department's statistics show March taxes collected totaling NT$162.2 billion (US$5.23 billion), gaining 16.4 percent from the same month of last year, while business tax increased NT$8.5 billion (US$274.19 million), income tax by NT$7.2 billion (US$232.25 million), business income tax by NT$2.1 billion (US$67.74 million) and commodity tax by NT$2 billion (US$64.51 million).

The ministry attributes the impressive first-quarter tax revenue mostly to the record income tax of NT$79.00 billion (US$2.54 billion), business tax of NT$105.40 billion (US$3.40 billion), and commodity tax of NT$42.6 billion (US$1.37 billion).

The statistics department points out that the first-quarter income tax represents a 6.9 percent year-on-year increase due mainly to the increased tax rates on salary, royalty, and distributed earnings. The first-quarter business tax revenue represents a 7.9 percent year-on-year increase due chiefly to rising consumer spending and declining fuel prices. The robust car market is attributed to the impressive commodity tax revenue of the first quarter, which climbed 9 percent year on year.

In the first quarter of this year, the ministry collected NT$10.5 billion (US$338.70 million) in business income tax, spiking 82.5 percent from the same quarter of last year to hit new high since 2002 due in part to several significant collections of outstanding taxes.

Taiwan's Tax Revenue in Q1, 2015