With the rapid development of digital technology, people often purchase goods from overseas e-commerce platforms, import them under their own name, and then sell them on social media （e.g., Facebook, Instagram, YouTube） or web platforms. Those whose sales have reached the minimum taxable threshold （i.e., when the sales of goods reach NTD 80,000 or the sales of services reach NTD 40,000） must remember to apply for tax registration with the National Taxation Bureau to avoid being caught and facing back taxes and penalties.

The National Taxation Bureau of Kaohsiung, Ministry of Finance, stated that individuals who sell goods or services online for profit and whose monthly sales have not reached the business income taxable threshold may be exempt from applying for tax registration with the National Taxation Bureau. However, if their monthly sales exceed the taxable threshold, they must apply for tax registration with the National Taxation Bureau. To ensure the accuracy and integrity of taxation data, individuals applying for tax registration must provide the following: the domain name and IP address, applications to the internet service provider or other intermediaries that offer virtual hosting for the membership to sell goods or services, including the member account, and other essential information. Those individuals must also proactively disclose the “name of the business entity” and the “enterprise uniform serial number” in a prominent location on the sales website or webpage.

The Bureau provides the following example: Party A began purchasing clothes, shoes, and other household goods from an overseas e-commerce platform starting in 2020. Party A imported the goods under his （her） own name, sold them directly on Instagram, delivered the goods to buyers （i.e., those who left a “+1” in the messages）, and received payments through the convenience store payment system. After investigation, the Bureau found that Party A failed to apply for tax registration between 2020 and 2021 while selling the goods, and that Party A’s monthly sales had already reached NTD 250,000 （which exceeds the monthly average sales amount of NTD 200,000 for the uniform invoice standard）. Since Party A’s total sales during this period amounted to over NTD 7,080,000（tax included）, Party A was required to pay off the business tax of approximately NTD 330,000 （NTD 7,080,000 ÷ 1.05 × 5%） and was imposed with a heavy penalty of over NTD 330,000 in accordance with Article 45 and Subparagraph 1 of Paragraph 1 of Article 51 of the Value-added and Non-value-added Business Tax Act, or Article 44 of the Tax Collection Act, whichever imposes a heavier penalty.

The Bureau would like to remind taxpayers that, in response to the booming online trade, the Ministry of Finance has jointly established a smart taxation application system with the Fiscal Information Agency of the Ministry of Finance and local national taxation bureaus. Using artificial intelligence （AI） technology, the system will enforce inspections on individual sellers who fail to apply for tax registration and on cases of business tax evasion. If an individual voluntarily files a supplementary tax declaration with the tax authorities and makes supplementary payment covering the tax amount which he/she/it has failed to declare, as long as it is neither a case brought about by an informant, nor a case under investigation by an investigator appointed by the tax authorities or the Ministry of Finance, the person may be exempt from punishment or penalties as prescribed in Article 48-1 of the Tax Collection Act. For further clarification, please dial the free service hotline 0800-000-321 for more information or go to the Bureau’s website （https://www.ntbk.gov.tw） to make an inquiry online through the national tax smart customer service “National Tax Assistant.”

Provided by：Sales Tax Section
Contact person： Ms. Huang            　   Telephone：（07）7256600  Ext. 7310
Written by： Ms.Cheng.                     　  Telephone：（07）7256600  Ext. 7312