The Ministery of Finance is to limit the maximum number of residential properties for personal use applicable to a lower house-tax rate to three per homeowner, Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said yesterday.
To be eligible for the lower tax rate, self-use residential properties should be truly occupied by the owners or their direct relatives, such as parents or children, and not be rented out or operated as business offices or studios, Chang added.
Last month, the legislature’s Finance Committee passed its preliminary review of a proposal to increase the tax rate for non-owner-occupied residential properties to between 1.5 percent and 3.6 percent, from the current tax range of between 1.2 percent and 2 percent.
The tax range for owner-occupied, or personal use, homes is to remain unchanged at 1.2 to 2 percent, under the proposal.
The ministry had planned to draft the definition of the standards for residential properties for personal use last month.
Chang named several standards during a question-and-answer session in the committee yesterday, in a bid to clarify various concerns raised by lawmakers.
Based on government data, the number of homeowners which own three or more properties totaled 717,000 at the end of last year, translating into less than 10 percent of the nation’s 7.56 million households.
Only 300,000 homeowners held four or more properties as of the end of last year, Chang said, citing government statistics.
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