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  • Interpretation
  • No.198【Under Translation】
  • Date
  • 1985/08/30
  • Issue
    • Is the Income Tax Act constitutional in defining, under Article 7, Paragraph 2, that a person who has a domicile and regularly resides in the Republic of China is an "individual residing within the republic of China" for the purpose of filing final tax return?
  • Holding
    •        Paragraph 2 of Article 7 of the Income Tax Act is intended to define the term "an individual residing within the Republic of China" used in said Act to make it easy for taxpayers to file final tax return as required by law, and is in agreement with the principle of taxation by law. It is hence not contradictory to Article 19 of the Constitution.
  • Reasoning
    •        The Constitution provides in Article 19 that "the people shall have the duty to pay tax in pursuance of law," whereby the principle of "the principle of taxation by law" is enunciated. The Income Tax Act is a legislation by which the state levies upon the people tax on their income. Under Article 2, Paragraph 1, and Article 71 of the Act, every individual residing within the Republic of China is required to file final tax return for his total annual consolidated income or business income. Article 7, Paragraph 2, of the same Act provides: " The term *individual residing within the Republic of China* used in this Law denotes: (1) a person who has a domicile within the Republic of China and regularly resides within the Republic of China; and (2) a person who has no domicile within the Republic of China but has resided within the Republic of China for a total of 183 days or more during a particular taxable year." The standard for determining which one of the two categories an "individual residing within the Republic of China" belongs in under such definition is whether he or she has a domicile within the Republic of China. The conditions under the two subparagraphs cited above are different and should not be confused. Thus, under Paragraph 1 (1), insofar as a taxpayer has a domicile within the Republic of China, and there exists the fact of his regularly residing therein, he is deemed to be an "individual residing within the Republic of China" although he may not have lived in this country for 183 days. This provision is not contrary to the principle of taxation by law. 
      
    •        In conclusion, we hold that Paragraph 2 of Article 7 of the Income Tax Act is intended to define the term "individual residing within the Republic of China" used in said Act to make it easy for taxpayers to file final tax return as required by law, and is in agreement with the fundamentals of the principle of taxation by law. It is hence not contradictory to Article 19 of the Constitution.
      
    • *Translated by Raymond T. Chu.
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