Lawmakers across party lines yesterday agreed to July 1 as the provisional date on which a draft amendment to the Income Tax Act (所得稅法) is to come into effect, with the aim of curbing real-estate speculation.
The consensus was reached following interparty negotiations at the legislature’s Finance Committee to determine when revisions to the “integrated house and land transaction income tax” would take effect.
The committee on Monday last week passed a number of revisions to the act, but failed to agree on when they would take effect.
Photo: CNA
Under the proposed revisions, the tax would be set at 45 percent of gains on the sale of property within two years of purchase and 35 percent of gains on property sales made within two to five years of purchase.
For foreign nationals and companies, the tax rate on property sales would be 35 percent on any property held for more than two years.
The same tax rate would be imposed on individuals and businesses to prevent individuals from setting up companies to buy and sell property, and paying only 20 percent corporate income tax on gains.
At present, the integrated house and land transaction income tax rate is 45 percent of gains on sales of property made within a year of purchase and 35 percent of gains on sales of property made within one to two years of purchase — but those rates only apply to individuals.
The revisions also widen the scope of properties to which the tax applies.
For example, the tax currently applies only to transactions of existing residential properties not considered to be for “self-use,” whereas the new measure would also apply to the sale of presale homes, above-ground use of land rights (superficies) and special shareholdings.
The measures would be applied retroactively to transactions from 2016.
Lawmakers also agreed to add a clause to the revisions in which individuals and businesses given a share of a land or property as a result of urban renewal projects would enjoy a 20 percent tax on gains made from property sales made within five years.
The proposed revisions have been sent to the legislature’s plenary session for discussion.
The integrated house and land transaction income tax was introduced in 2016 to reduce property speculation, especially in the residential property market.
The latest measures have been proposed as the property market heats up at a time of high liquidity and low interest rates.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San