Political parties and groups are required by law to submit audited financial statements on political donations from the previous year to the Control Yuan by today, but many smaller parties might be fined because their statements have not been audited, triggering complaints from the small parties.
The Control Yuan said that, according to the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法), political parties and groups that have applied to create bank accounts for political donations should file audited financial statements on political donations within five months after each year, whether they received donations or not.
Those that fail to do so face fines ranging from NT$200,000 to NT$1 million (US$6,479 to US$32,393).
The Ministry of the Interior counts 272 political parties and groups nationwide.
The rule triggered protests from New Hakka Party Chairman Ku Wen-fa (古文發), who said that many small parties do not collect membership fees or political donations, so submitting audited financial statements is too much trouble for them, especially because it costs at least NT$30,000 to hire a certified accountant.
The requirement is a financial burden and unfair to small parties, Ku said, adding that the responsible government agency should pay for accountants to do the job.
Control Yuan Department of Asset Declaration Director Lin Mei-hui (林美惠) said in response that there have been cases in which small parties that received no donations were unable to find accountants to make financial statements on their behalf.
The Control Yuan still asked them to make declarations according to the law, and helped them to find accountants willing to do so at a discount, Lin said.
An unnamed Control Yuan official said that the protest is understandable, so the ministry is mulling amending the law to waive political groups whose donations in a year total less than NT$10 million from submitting financial statements.
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