The Ministry of Finance said yesterday that foreign tourists would be allowed to receive sales tax refunds of under NT$1,000 at specified stores as of July 1.
The finance ministry and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications decided to allow foreign tourists to collect sales tax refunds of less than NT$1,000 at stores carrying “Authorized Cash Tax Refunds-TRS” signs, a Tax Administration official said.
“This would encourage foreign tourists to buy more because they would be able to get their refunds at the stores. It would also reduce the number of people waiting in line of at airport customs to collect their refunds,” tax administration deputy director Hung Chi-shan (洪吉山), told a media briefing.
A total of 153 stores — including the Taipei 101 shopping mall and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department stores (新光三越) — have been approved to participate in the in-store refund program, Hung said.
However, foreign tourists must first obtain an “alien’s exit-entry permit” to be able to collect the sales tax refund, which can only be applied to purchases made in the 606 stores identified as a “Tax Refund Store [TRS],” he said.
The government began refunding the 5 percent sales tax to foreign tourists in 2003. In the first four months of this year, foreigners received a total of NT$150 million in such refunds, the ministry said.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip
RSS