The Ministry of Finance states that the automatic exchange of financial account information for the year 2020 between Taiwan and Japan, Taiwan and Australia, as well as Taiwan and the United Kingdom was carried out in 2021, in accordance with strict international confidentiality and data protection standards. The carrying out of these exchanges will enhance international tax cooperation and safeguard the rights and interests of legitimate taxpayers.
The Ministry of Finance explains that in order to continue responding to the review of international organizations on the transparency of information in tax matters, Taiwan has been actively strengthening its legal environment to align with the new international standards for information transparency, while continuously expressing its willingness to cooperate in automatic exchange of financial account information for tax purposes with its treaty partners. Following the first exchange of financial account information with Japan and Australia in 2020 on a reciprocal basis, a consensus on carrying out such an exchange cooperation was reached between Taiwan and the United Kingdom in early 2021, and the automatic exchange of financial account information for the year 2020 between Taiwan and Japan, Taiwan and Australia, as well as Taiwan and the United Kingdom was carried out in the same year. The relevant statistics are as follows:
1. In the case of Japan
Unit: NTD
| Item |
Number of Reportable Accounts |
Total of Reportable Account Balance |
| Information associated with Japanese residents provided by Taiwan |
94,967 |
1.52 trillion |
| Information associated with Taiwanese residents provided by Japan |
55,060 |
28.1 billion |
2. In the case of Australia
Unit: NTD
| Item |
Number of Reportable Accounts |
Total of Reportable Account Balance |
| Information associated with Australian residents provided by Taiwan | 19,199 |
204.5 billion |
| Information associated with Taiwanese residents provided by Australia* | 65,798* |
8.9 billion* |
* Australia to gradually provide information associated with Taiwanese residents.
3. In the case of the United Kingdom
Unit: NTD
| Item |
Number of Reportable Accounts |
Total of Reportable Account Balance |
| Information associated with British residents provided by Taiwan | 16,317 |
84.6 billion |
| Information associated with Taiwanese residents provided by the United Kingdom | The policy of the United Kingdom is not to disclose such statistics. |
|
The Ministry of Finance emphasizes that, according to the provisions of relevant income tax agreements and the Regulations Governing the Exchange of Tax Information Concerning Agreements on Tax Matters, Taiwan strictly performed adherence measures regarding the Confidentiality and Data Safeguards when receiving the aforementioned financial account information from its treaty partners. In addition, such information is for use by the tax collection authorities only on evaluation of tax evasion risk and with a reference to audit case selection, rather than be used directly as evidence for assessing a tax liability. In the event a tax collection authority concludes that a case has a high risk in terms of tax evasion based on the information received, the tax collection authority is required to collect evidence pursuant to relevant laws and verify the associated tax evasion violations based on any collected evidence, before an assessment on the tax liability thereof may be made. This set of rules is aimed to protect the benefits to and rights of taxpayers.
The Ministry of Finance urges taxpayers to present their supplementary tax declaration and make up the tax shortfall as early as possible, if there is any under-reporting of relevant taxes. Should double taxation arise due to cross-border transactions, taxpayers may eliminate such a double taxation situation by taking advantage of the 34 income tax agreements currently in effect.
Contact person: Mr. Kevin Pao, Section Chief.
Contact Number: +886-2-23228150.