The Ministry of Finance yesterday said that it collected NT$472.5 billion (US$16 billion) in tax revenue last month, more than three times the amount it collected a year earlier due mainly to a month-long moratorium on personal and corporate income tax filings.
The government allowed individuals and companies to file their income tax from May to June this year because of COVID-19.
As a result, personal income tax revenue spiked to NT$194.4 billion, from NT$10.8 billion a year earlier, while corporate income tax revenue increased to NT$129.7 billion, from NT$2.6 billion, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Chen Yu-feng (陳玉豐) said.
Cumulatively, personal income tax revenue increased by a modest 2.7 percent in the first seven months, while corporate income tax revenue fell 29.3 percent, dragged down by profit declines among listed firms and a tax cut from 10 percent to 5 percent on their retained earnings, the ministry said.
The virus outbreak has been taking a toll on non-tech product makers and service providers heavily reliant on cross-border tourism, even though Taiwan did not report any local COVID-19 infections in May.
Securities transaction tax revenue was NT$17.6 billion, surging 89.4 percent from a year earlier as daily stock turnover grew more than twofold to NT$288.4 billion, Chen said.
For the first seven months, tax revenue from securities transactions grew 59 percent to NT$78.6 billion, as local tech companies benefited from 5G network deployment and remote working arrangements.
Property tax revenue increased 13.1 percent to NT$9.9 billion, supported by a recovery in housing transactions, the ministry said.
From January to last month, the number of property transactions totaled 345,553, a mild 2.1 percent drop from a year earlier, it said.
As of last month, overall tax revenue totaled NT$1.44 trillion, dropping 5 percent from a year earlier and slightly behind the budget schedule, the ministry said.
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