Lawmakers have tendered proposals calling for income tax breaks to be offered to companies that make an endowment to sports bodies or competitions.
As with the tourism, restaurant and cultural sectors, whose revenues have plunged amid fears of the spread of COVID-19, the sports sector has been hit hard by the epidemic.
The Super Basketball League said that games scheduled for the second half of its 17th season would not be open to the public and tickets would be refunded.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Independent Legislator Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇) and Democratic Progressive Party legislators Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) have sponsored a proposed amendment to the Sports Industry Development Act (運動產業發展條例).
The proposal would give sports authorities the right to create a dedicated account to receive endowments from firms in the private sector, which would be eligible for an income tax deduction.
In Chao’s draft, profit-seeking enterprises can give endowments to government-designated professional or amateur sports bodies and have income tax deductions of no more than NT$25 million (US$829,738).
In Chang and Huang’s draft, endowments are divided into those for “key sports categories” and “approved sports categories,” and companies giving endowments to the former are exempt from the NT$25 million tax deduction ceiling.
To prevent tax sheltering, the draft proposal includes a provision that states that if the firm and the sports body are affiliated, the tax deduction must not exceed the endowment and would be subject to a NT$10 million upper limit.
In light of an expected fall in tax revenue, the proposals cap the amount that a sports body can receive at NT$3 billion per year.
In addition, those donating funds must request tax deductions within a specified period or forfeit the right to do so, the proposals say.
Professional sports bodies may only receive endowments within 10 years of the amendment’s ratification, while key and amateur sports bodies would be restricted to within five years of the amendment’s ratification, they state.
Chao said that he sponsored the proposal in a bid to improve the sports industry and help amateur sports competitions become professional by encouraging investment in sports, which would incentivize athletes to pursue a career locally and spur development of the industry.
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