According to the National Taxation Bureau of Taipei (NTBT), Ministry of Finance, for the taxpayer, the spouse, and their dependents within the same tax filing household, where the total amount of non-R.O.C. source income and Hong Kong and Macau source income (hereinafter referred to as overseas income) reaches NT$1 million or more in a fiscal year, all of them should be included and properly calculated in the income basic tax return, in order to avoid penalties, other than tax.
    NTBT explained that overseas income is not within the scope of the annual income information provided by the tax authorities. People often mistakenly believe that if there is no overseas income information provided by the National Taxation Bureau, they do not need to file the tax return, and their failure to file the income basic tax return in accordance with the law results in penalties other than tax. According to Article 12 of the Income Basic Tax Act, any non-ROC source income and Hong Kong and Macau source income (overseas income) shall be included in the basic income and be subject to income basic tax since January 1, 2010. If a taxpayer, his or her spouse, and dependents who file jointly have any overseas income, and the total annual amount of such income reaches NT$1 million (inclusive), all of such income must be included in the basic income, and it can be exempt only if the total amount of overseas income is less than NT$1 million.
    For example, Mr. A invested in overseas trust fund in 2021.When he filed the individual income tax return, he failed to file NT$15 million of overseas income in accordance with the Income Basic Tax Act. According to the information notice provided by bank, the overseas income of Mr.A’s personal non-discretionary money trust and personal trust is over NT$1 million. Mr. A argued that he should not be punished because no above-mentioned income information was provided by the tax authority. However, since the filing of individual income tax return and income basic tax return is under self assessment and the argued information is not mandatory provided by the tax authority, the taxpayer still has the obligation to file truthfully, and his omissions are still legally punishable by the amount of tax omission or underreporting.
    As the 2022 individual income tax return filing period is approaching, NTBT urges taxpayers to file the income basic tax return to avoid penalties if the total overseas income of the same filing household reaches NT$1 million or more. If there are any taxation questions, please contact district tax office to inquire about the relevant regulations or call the toll-free service number 0800-000321 for inquiry.
(Contact person: Section Head Ms. Chen of Legal Affairs Division; Telephone: 2311-3711 Ext. 2071)