The legislature yesterday passed an act to waive licensing taxes for electric vehicles until the end of 2021 under the Vehicle License Tax Act (使用牌照稅法).
The amendment extends the exemption for electric vehicles by four years until Dec. 21, 2021.
With the passage of the amendments, rules stipulating the term for which electric scooters are to be exempted from license tax were formally introduced.
The amendment stipulates that from Jan. 1 next year to Dec. 21, 2021, electric scooters are to be exempt from the tax.
The amendments are aimed at reducing pollutants associated with traditional vehicles and to nurture the domestic electric vehicle manufacturing sector.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said the extension could boost electric car and scooter sales by 5,795 and 17,1000 units respectively over the next four years, which could translate into a NT$800 million (US$26.5 million) increase in business income tax and revenue in the period.
License fee exemptions for registered welfare groups and care services providers have also been relaxed.
Organizations aimed at improving social welfare and providing long-term care would no longer be limited to license fee exemptions.
Such organizations are to be exempt from license taxes as long as they obtain approval from local authorities.
In related news, the Real Estate Securitization Act (不動產證券化條例) has been relaxed so that real-estate securities issuers would not have to shoulder liabilities if investors sustain losses.
Existing rules state that real-estate securities issuers should assume any and all responsibility should a prospectus it publishes contain false or misleading information, causing an investor to sustain unforeseeable and unpredictable losses, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsiu-yen (盧秀燕) said, adding that the regulation was too strict.
The amendments stipulate that real-estate securities issuers or financial institutions entrusted with the task of issuing the securities should only be held accountable for losses sustained by investors that are attributable to them.
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