Taiwan's Luxury Tax Extended To Industrial Land

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

30 December 2014

Taiwan's Legislative Yuan has passed a change to the special goods and services sales tax (also known as the luxury tax) so as to include industrial land in the tax base, in a effort to broaden the effort to reduce short-term real estate speculation.

The initial target of the luxury tax, which took effect in June 2011, was residential property purchased for speculative purposes (rather than as a family home), and then sold on within a short period. The tax base will now also include speculative transactions in commercial and industrial land and buildings.

The owner of a property suffers a 15 percent tax on its sale price if it is sold within one year of its purchase, falling to 10 percent if sold during the second year.

The new revisions will also make it more difficult to qualify for residential property exemptions. Sellers will now have to produce proof of self-occupancy to obtain exemptions from the luxury tax for their prime residences sold within two years of purchase, in addition to presenting home registration records.

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