The Taichung City Government Local Tax Bureau has announced that, in order to effectively prevent stamp duty evasion and promote a sound tax system, from June1st it will be launching comprehensive stamp duty checks. This year the recipients of checks will be electricity suppliers, water suppliers, civil engineering works, construction projects, electromechanical engineering works, landscaping projects, environmental protection works, building refurbishments, advertising, finance and insurance, the securities industry, the haulage industry, construction services, cleaning services, waste management, the travel industry, the laundry industry, cram schools (including those which are unregistered but still receiving students), preschools and hospital clinics, etc.

The Local Tax Bureau also explained that the stamp duty is a tax certificate, and must be paid on documents including employment and sales contracts and monetary receipts. When a monetary receipt is created, the creator of the receipt should affix a stamp duty receipt amounting to four thousandths of each amount. 12 TWD should be paid for each amount on a deed of sale.

The bureau adheres to to the concept of 'love your taxes,' and from the end of April began sending out letters of instruction to companies that would be receiving checks, reminding them that they must check and affix a stamp duty form to every taxable certificate and contract (such as monetary receipts, employment contracts, property transfer contracts, etc.) for the last five years from 2008 to 2013 as quickly as possible. Alternatively, they can apply for automatic tax arrears with their Local Tax Bureau. If documents have not been affixed with a stamp duty form, or if some stamp duty forms are lacking, then a fine will be imposed amounting to 5-15x the stamp duty owed.

When tax payers are required to register a large number of tax certificates, in order to avoid the risk of the inconvenience of individually writing off stamp duty or a portion of stamp duty being omitted, for the purposes of convenience taxpayers can apply to their nearest branch of the Local Tax Bureau for a periodic summary tax or to pay their stamp duty in one lump sum. If you have any questions about the stamp duty, please call 0800-086969 toll-free for more info.