The number of people who reported a same-sex spouse on their income tax increased 1.5-fold from 2020 to 2023, while the overall proportion of taxpayers reporting a spouse decreased by 4.4 percent from 2014 to 2023, Ministry of Finance data showed yesterday.
The number of people reporting a spouse on their income tax trended upward from 2014 to 2019, the Department of Statistics said.
However, the number decreased in 2020 and 2021, likely due to a drop in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic and the income of some households falling below the taxable threshold, it said.
Photo: CNA
The number of spousal tax filings rebounded to about 2.98 million in 2023, accounting for 43.3 percent of all tax filings, down from 47.7 percent in 2014, the data showed.
This reflects the trend of people marrying later in life or remaining single, the department said.
The proportion of married people who filed as “separated” was less than 0.25 percent from 2014 to 2022, but rose to 0.36 percent in 2023, it said.
The highest proportions of “separated” filings were in Keelung, Taipei and New Taipei City with 0.53, 0.5 and 0.47 percent respectively, it said.
Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage on May 24, 2019, and the law was amended in 2023 to allow Taiwanese to marry a same-sex foreign spouse of any nationality, apart from Chinese, the department said.
Last year, the law was amended again to allow Taiwanese to register a marriage with a same-sex Chinese spouse, provided they first marry in a third country that recognizes same-sex marriage.
There were 2,625 people who reported having a same-sex spouse on their taxes in 2020, the year after same-sex marriage was legalized, the department said, adding that the number rose to 6,637 in 2023.
The proportion of married people reporting a same-sex spouse has risen from 0.09 to 0.22 percent, it added.
Hualien County had the highest proportion of same-sex spouses at 0.41 percent, followed by Taitung County at 0.35 percent, while the lowest proportions were in Changhua and Yunlin counties, both 0.09 percent, the department said.
Among the six special municipalities, the proportion ranged from 0.2 to 0.26 percent, it added.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
MORE RETALIATION: China would adopt a long-term pressure strategy to prevent other countries or future prime ministers following in Sanae Takaichi’s steps, an academic said Taiwan should maintain communications with Japan, as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is to lead a revision of security documents, Taiwanese academics said yesterday. Tensions have risen between Japan and China over remarks by Takaichi earlier this month that the use of force against Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Prospect Foundation president Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) yesterday said Takaichi’s stance regarding Taiwan is the same as past Japanese prime ministers, but her position is clearer than that of her predecessors Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba. Although Japan views a “Taiwan contingency” as a “survival-threatening situation,” which would allow its military to
RSS