Late Income Tax Filing or Amended Supplementary Filing
Even if the tax authority hasn't initiated an investigation, missing a tax deadline or overlooking unreported income can still lead to penalties and interest. To avoid these, it's crucial to proactively file a supplementary or amended return with the National Taxation Bureau as soon as possible.
Scenario One:
Jonathon is a diligent office worker in Taiwan, always busy with his job and daily life. One day, he suddenly realized he hadn't filed his taxes! Jonathon felt a wave of panic and wasn't sure what to do. So, he decided to take the initiative and go to the National Taxation Bureau to handle the matter.
Scenario Two:
Benjamin is a young engineer working abroad, busy with international projects and cross-border collaborations. Although he returns to Taiwan for a little over a month each year to see old friends and spend time with family, he has lived overseas for several years and is somewhat unfamiliar with Taiwan's tax filing procedures. One day, while chatting with friends, he discovered that he needed to file taxes in Taiwan! So, Benjamin decided to handle the matter as soon as possible.
Scenario Three:
Vicky is a young enthusiast of art and blockchain technology. Over the past few years, she has made significant gains from trading artworks like paintings and sculptures and has also earned substantial income from the NFT (non-fungible token) market. One day, she saw an online news discussion and realized that these transactions were taxable!
Based on the above three scenarios, whether it's missing the tax filing deadline for the current year, or certain types of income from previous years not being recorded in the National Taxation Bureau's system causing one to forget to file, even though there is no one reporting such matter to a tax authority, and the National Taxation Bureau has yet to initiate an investigation, to avoid penalties and accumulating interest, it is still necessary to complete a supplementary tax filing or an amended filing. If you find that you haven't filed your taxes, promptly go to the National Taxation Bureau to handle the supplementary filing and payment.
Additionally, it's unfortunate that in Taiwan, when income tax is filed late or corrected with a supplementary filing, the convenient online filing, mobile filing, or system filing methods cannot be used, and you must resort to the traditional paper filing (believe me, the first time you see the tax forms, you'll likely feel dizzy XD). Since everything needs to be filled out by hand (of course, if there are many items, you can prepare detailed income or deduction information as attachments), it's essential to be extra careful when calculating your income to avoid errors and additional interest on unpaid taxes.
Feel free to contact LY CPAs if you would like to understand more in details!
