The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday approved plans to extend tax cuts for electric car sales by another five years to help electric car and parts makers grow and stay viable.
The bill, which must still pass second and third readings, exempts electric motorcycles and cars valued at less than NT$1.4 million (US$43,411) from sales tax from next month to December 2021 to boost sales.
The tax exemption was introduced in 2011 and was due to expire on Jan. 26.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said that the extension is necessary to encourage the development and purchase of electric vehicles.
The tax incentive could increase electric cars sale by 5,939 units and electric motorcycles sales by 150,000 units over the next five years, or generate related industrial output by NT$94.39 billion, Shen said.
Governments abroad have introduced measures to boost electric vehicle sales because the vehicles are seen as more environmentally friendly.
LOCAL FIRMS
Twenty-eight local firms are involved in the development and production of electric vehicles and parts, Shen said.
The expected increase in electric vehicle sales may help boost business tax by NT$4.36 billion a year, more than offsetting tax losses estimated at NT$2.4 billion per year, Minister of Finance Sheu Yu-jer (許虞哲) said.
Critics have questioned the success of the tax exemption, citing low sales figures.
Shen attributed the lackluster performance to a lack of battery packs in the supply chain and the extended tax exemption is intended to address that.
The legislature’s Finance Committee also approved plans to allow the Ministry of Finance five more years to collect back taxes on notorious tax debtors, including family members of late business tycoon Huang Jen-chung (黃任中) and Holiday Inn Asiaworld Taipei (環亞飯店).
UNSETTLED CASES
A revision of the Tax Collection Act (8) in 2007 stipulated that the government has 10 years to collect outstanding back taxes, which is due to expire on March 4 next year, meaning it has to close any unsettled cases at that time.
The extension would allow the ministry to pursue those cases further and recover an additional NT$5 billion in back taxes, Sheu said, adding that the recovery unpaid of tax is an important element of a fair taxation system.
The ministry is to target 370 people, each of whom owes more than NT$10 million tax, Sheu said.
The minister remained uncommitted to tax cuts for daily trade to invigorate the local bourse, saying daily trade does not enjoy favorable tax terms in other countries.
The ministry needs more time to contemplate the issue, Sheu said.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
RSS