The National Taxation Bureau of the Northern Area (NTBNA), Ministry of Finance recently received a question from Mr. A regarding the seizure of his recent salary income by the branch of Administrative Enforcement Agency for his insufficient payment of year 2009 individual income tax. Mr. A asks, since it is over the 5-year tax collection period, is he not required to pay it anymore?
       NTBNA explains that according to Article 23 of the Tax Collection Act, the period for collection of a specific tax shall be five years commencing from the date following the expiration date of the period for payment of said tax. 
       Any uncollected tax which has been forwarded to the branch of Administrative Enforcement Agency for compulsory execution shall be effective for 5 years commencing from the date following the expiration date of the period for tax collection. The period of execution, starting on a date within the five-year period, may remain effective for a period of five more years after the end of the five-year period. Besides that, where the forwarding of a request for compulsory execution is held in abeyance under Article 39 or the collection of tax is suspended under other acts, the duration of such temporary deferral or suspension of execution of taxation shall be excluded or deducted from the period for tax collection.
       NTBNA further explains that the assessment decision made by the tax collection authority on Mr. A’s year 2009 individual income tax was that he had additional amount of tax to be levied. The tax assessment and the tax payment notices were sent to Mr. A legally and the expiration date of the period for payment was April 25, 2011. Mr. A failed to make full payment of the additional tax levied before the expiration date and did not file an application for recheck. As a result, the tax collection authority forwarded the uncollected tax to the branch of Administrative Enforcement Agency for compulsory execution. The branch of Administrative Enforcement Agency then sent a payment notice to Mr. A, informing him to report his property status. Mr. A claimed that he had no property or income to pay the tax. The tax collection authority then found that Mr. A worked in Company A and he had salary income from it, so it informed the branch of Administrative Enforcement Agency to issue an execution decree to Company A for seizing Mr. A’s salary income and the tax was completely collected. According to the Tax Collection Act mentioned above, commencing from the date following the expiration date of the period for payment of tax, the expiration date of the collection period for the tax in this case was April 25, 2016. The uncollected tax was forwarded to the branch of Administrative Enforcement Agency for compulsory enforcement before the expiration date of the collection period and the branch of Administrative Enforcement Agency started the execution procedure before April 25, 2021, so the period for pursuing the uncollected tax could be extended to April 24, 2026.        
       NTBNA would like to remind taxpayers to make full payment of the uncollected tax as soon as possible. Don’t mistakenly think that the uncollected tax no longer needs to be paid after dragging for a few years. As long as the tax collection authority finds the property or income of the tax defaulter, it will inform the branch of Administrative Enforcement Agency to launch the compulsory enforcement procedure, so tax defaulters should not take any chances. For those who still have further questions, please dial the toll-free service number 0800-000321 for inquiries.