The Executive Yuan yesterday approved an amendment to the Tax Collection Act (稅捐稽徵法) that would increase fines for tax evasion, aiming to fix a loophole that allows tax evaders to get away with milder penalties.
Under the existing act, people found to have intentionally evaded paying their taxes face a fine of up to NT$60,000 (US$2,114) or five years in prison.
Some lawmakers have long said that the act allows room for “certain powerful people” to skirt the law after dodging billions in taxes.
Photo: Allen Wu, Taipei Times
For example, under the existing act, Landseed International Hospital superintendent Chang Huang-chen (張煥禎), who was in October 2018 indicted for not paying more than NT$500 million in taxes from 2007 to 2016, would only be fined up to NT$60,000.
The amendment drafted by the Ministry of Finance stipulates that people found guilty of evading more than NT$10 million in taxes or profit-making enterprises found to have evaded more than NT$50 million in taxes are to face one to seven years in prison or a fine of NT$10 million to NT$100 million, the Executive Yuan said in a statement.
Chang could be sentenced to seven years in prison and fined NT$100 million, the ministry said.
The amendment would increase the maximum fine for mild tax fraud to NT$5 million, it added.
The amendment changes the reward for those who report tax evaders to 20 percent of the amount of taxes evaded or up to NT$4.8 million, although tax bureau personnel, tax inspectors, their spouses and close relatives are ineligible for rewards.
The revised act is to be forwarded to the Legislative Yuan for further deliberation, the Executive Yuan said in the statement.
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