- Businesses in Taiwan selling land under borrowed names must issue taxable unified invoices and pay business tax.
- The Kaohsiung National Tax Bureau of the Ministry of Finance stated that if a business purchases agricultural land and registers it under someone else’s name, and then sells the land without obtaining ownership, it is considered a debt transaction. According to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance on July 4, 2012, the business should issue taxable unified invoices to the buyer based on the selling price, and the exemption from business tax for the sale of land and the exemption from issuing unified invoices for the sale of land specified in the regulations of the Ministry of Finance on April 26, 1990, do not apply.
- As an example, a company purchased agricultural land for 3.15 million New Taiwan Dollars (NTD) and registered it under the name of the company’s responsible person. The company then sold the land to the same person for 3.15 million NTD. Since the company did not obtain ownership, this transaction is considered a debt transaction, and the company should issue a taxable unified invoice for 3.15 million NTD to the buyer and pay business tax. Failure to comply with the invoice issuance and reporting requirements may result in tax penalties.
- The bureau reminds businesses not to assume that buying and selling land as a standard transaction qualifies for tax exemption or exemption from issuing unified invoices. The actual transaction behavior should be considered. If the above situation occurs, the business should issue a unified invoice based on the selling price to the buyer and declare and pay business tax to avoid tax penalties.
- Taxpayers with any questions can contact the bureau through the toll-free service hotline or visit the bureau’s website for online inquiries.
Source: mof.gov.tw
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
