2009-05-01 11:29:44

Taiwan income tax filing season has begun. Before June 1, residents in Taiwan shall file 2008 Individual Income Tax Return. Considering financial downturn from last year, the government has decided to reduce people’s tax burden. Taxpayers shall note that the deductible amount for the four major deduction categories has been raised. 1. For standard deduction, single people may deduct NTD73,000, while married couples filing joint returns may deduct a total of NTD146,000. 2. Another option is to adopt itemized deduction method to take off rents, insurance premiums, donations and other expenses from their gross incomes. For those choosing the latter method, they can deduct their national annuity premium payments of no higher than NTD24,000. 3. For salary deduction, people can deduct a maximum of NT$100,000. 4. For education deduction, the amount was NTD25,000 per family in the past. Now people can deduct NT$25,000 for each child attending college or graduate schools. 5. For those with disabilities, they can deduct NTD100,000. The government has also relaxed the income tax rate. People are subject to a tax rate of 6% for taxable income between NTD0 to NT$410,000; 13% for between NTD410,000 and NTD1.09 million; 21% for between NTD1.09 million and NTD2.18 million; 30% for between NTD2.18 million and NTD4.09 million; and 40% for over NTD4.09 million. Meanwhile, the government is encouraging the public to use the Internet to file their taxes. The period for which online filing is open is from midnight May 1 to midnight Jun. 2. People may upload their tax materials to the National Tax Administration anytime during this period, without having to actually go to the administration's various offices and stand in lines to file.