Tax revenue last month rose 11.3 percent from a year earlier to NT$239.1 billion (US$7.4 billion), lifted mainly by gains in corporate and personal income taxes, as well as stock exchange transactions, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Personal income tax revenue swelled 37.5 percent to NT$40.7 billion, as some firms distributed year-end bonuses last month, ministry statistics official Liu Shun-rong (劉訓蓉) said, adding that cash dividends and capital gains from property deals contributed to the increase.
There is a trend for firms and mutual funds to distribute cash dividends every quarter rather than annually, the ministry said.
Photo: Wu Chi-lun, Taipei Times
Corporate income tax revenue rose 5.7 percent to NT$9 billion as firms gradually emerged from an economic slowdown induced by inventory adjustments, sharp global inflation and monetary tightening, it said.
The improving macroenvironment lent support to the local bourse, which has seen capital inflows from mutual funds and foreign players seeking to take advantage of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, Liu said.
Taiwan is home to the world’s largest contract manufacturers of high-performance computing chips, high-capacity servers, storage, memory chips and other electronics.
Tax revenue from securities transactions in March spiked 65.6 percent to NT$29.1 billion, with average daily turnover soaring 88.4 percent from a year earlier to NT$551.7 billion, the ministry said, citing Taiwan Stock Exchange data.
The TAIEX climbed above the 20,000 points this month as dozens of local tech firms participate in supply of global AI infrastructure and services.
A positive wealth effect helped boost tax revenue from land value gains, which rose 13.8 percent to NT$7.8 billion, Liu said.
However, tax revenue from tariffs and sales of goods shrank 3.4 percent and 12.7 percent to NT$142 billion and NT$13 billion respectively, owing partly to a decline in vehicle imports, she said, adding that delayed recognition of vehicle sales contributed to the lackluster figures.
In the first quarter, the ministry collected NT$557.6 billion of tax revenue, a 14.5 percent increase from a year earlier and ahead of the government’s budget schedule by 16.4 percent, she added.
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)
RSS