The National Taxation Bureau of Taipei (hereinafter referred to as NTBT), Ministry of Finance (hereinafter referred to as the MOF) stated that, restriction on leaving the Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as R.O.C.) associated with tax arrears will be lifted once taxpayer, including  the responsible person of profit-seeking enterprise, provides property of equivalent value as security  to the tax collection authority in jurisdiction.  However, the said property will not be returned to the taxpayer until the tax due is paid back.
　　Take taxpayer Mr. A as an example.  Mr. A whose tax arrears have reached threshold amount is imposed exit restriction which is enforced by the National Immigration Agency, Ministry of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as NIA) at the request of MOF.  Mr. A asks for removing the exit restriction by furnishing individual Mr. B's real estate that value is equivalent to tax arrears as security, because Mr. A hurries to go overseas.  After returning to the R.O.C., Mr. A claims that the said real estate is only for purpose of lifting exit restriction not for security purpose.  Mr. A asks the NTBT to enforce exit restriction on him again in exchange for retuning the said real estate, but the NTBT denies it.
　　The NTBT explained that the purpose of exit restriction is to ensure tax collection.  Hence, MOF shall ask NIA to lift exit restriction to enable taxpayer, including the responsible person of profit-seeking enterprise, with tax arrears to go abroad once he/she provides collateral of equivalent value.  The reason to lift restriction is that only with collateral in control can tax collection be secured, so it makes no sense to return collateral to taxpayer with outstanding tax arrears.  
　　The NTBT reminded that to protect their own rights and interests, taxpayers shall pay attention to the relevant laws and regulations before providing property as security to the tax collection authorities.
(Contact: Ms Chen, Section Head of Collection Division; Tel: 886-2- 2311-3711 Ext. 2016)