The Legislative Yuan today approved an amendment to raise the annual long-term care deduction from NT$120,000 (US$3,853) to NT$180,000 to ease the financial burden on households supporting a dependent who requires long-term care.
The change would apply retroactively from Jan. 1 this year and start to take effect in tax filings in May next year.
Under Article 17 of the Income Tax Act (所得稅法), taxpayers can claim the deduction to taxable income for themselves, their spouses or dependents officially recognized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare as requiring long-term care due to physical or cognitive impairment.
Photo: Wang I-sung, Taipei Time
Lawmakers across party lines had submitted proposals to increase the deduction to between NT$180,000 and NT$360,000, citing Taiwan's rapidly aging population and rising caregiving costs.
They later agreed to set the deduction at NT$180,000.
During a review of the measure at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee in August, Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) said that the NT$120,000 deduction was introduced in 2018, and since, had not been changed.
Most legislators supported raising it to NT$180,000 as a step to address the financial realities of caregiving needs, she said.
The increase would reduce annual tax revenue by about NT$1 billion under current eligibility rules, Taxation Administration Director-General Sung Hsiu-ling (宋秀玲) said.
However, the actual figure is expected to be higher once looser eligibility criteria in the amendment take effect, Sung said.
The Ministry of Finance has estimated that the new measure would benefit about 350,000 taxpayers.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS