The Taipei High Court ruled yesterday that supermodel Lin Chi-ling (林志玲) owed NT$6.84 million (US$223,000) in unpaid taxes from 2003 to 2005.
The National Tax Administration had originally asked the model to pay a total of NT$8.19 million, but the court waived a NT$1.35 million fine levied against Lin on the grounds that there was no evidence Lin’s tax evasion was intentional.
While Lin was unavailable for comment because she was out of the country, her mother, Wu Tzu-mei (吳慈美), expressed shock after hearing the amount her daughter had been ordered to pay.
Wu said that Lin filed her taxes every year, and would vigorously contest the court’s ruling.
The model has the option of appealing the verdict in the Supreme Court.
Lin’s annual income is understood to be about NT$70 million. The tax administration’s Taipei City office said her income tax declarations for 2003 to 2005 were inaccurate and it asked the model to pay the shortfall of the previous payments, plus the fine for evasion.
Lin insisted she was innocent of the evasion charge, saying that her earnings should be classified as professional practice income and not personal income. Therefore, she maintained that she was eligible to deduct 45 percent of her income prior to calculating the taxable amount.
The tax administration had a different interpretation of the model’s tax status, saying that her income should be classified as salaried income, which only allows for a deduction of NT$104,000.
The administration therefore felt Lin had to repay the adjusted amount, plus a fine calculated amounting to 20 percent of the unpaid figure.
The model appealed the demand, disputing both the unpaid sum and the fine.
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