To prevent tax evasion, examinations on houses that have been changed into non-residential usage have strengthened and discovered that some citizens have rented their houses but did not file re-application to the local tax bureau according to law. They will be punished by having to pay overdue taxes.
The Taichung Local Tax Bureau stated that for buildings to be applicable for the special self-use residential land value tax rate, they have to meet the following requirements:
1. The land owner or his/her spouse, or at least one of the land owner’s linear relatives has to register their household registration at this place.
2. The house is not under lease or conducting business.
3. The land owner and his/her spouse and underage dependants have to be registered in the same place.
4. The superficies of the land have to be owned by the land owner, his/her spouse or linear relatives.
5. For lands that are applicable for self-use residential land value tax rate, they cannot exceed 300 m2 at urban regions and 700 m2 at non-urban regions.
The bureau further explained it is an obligation for land owners to pay land value tax. However, to reduce the land value tax burden on self-use residential lands, tax laws provide preferential special tax rates under reasonable circumstances. If taxpayers rented their house to others, the reason and reality of being applicable to the special tax rate have disappeared. Therefore, according to legal regulations, they have to file re-application to local tax bureaus on their own and get their land value tax taxed with general land tax rate. For those who did not file re-application and were discovered, they will be punished by having to pay overdue taxes according to legal regulations.
The tax bureau also reminds citizens that if the lease has terminated, resumes to the status of self-use resident, and meets the requirements of a self-use residential land, they can file re-application to the local tax bureaus and will be applicable with special self-use residential land value tax rate after the evaluation and approval of tax authorities. If you have any other questions regarding any local taxes, please feel free to contact the Taichung Local Tax Bureau with the free telephone number of 0800-086969 or seek assistance at neighboring branch offices.