Case News
The TCC delivers its Judgment 115-Hsien-Pan-2 (2026)
The Taiwan Constitutional Court (TCC) delivered its judgment on the “Case on Fines for Failing to Remit Supplementary Insurance Premiums for the National Health Insurance” (TCC Judgment 115-Hsien-Pan-2) on February 6, 2026.
Facts, Issues, and Procedure of the Case
Under Article 31, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 of the National Health Insurance Act (hereinafter the “NHI Act”), beneficiary individuals (the insured and his/her dependents) who receive salary earnings outside of those from the group insurance applicants shall have supplementary insurance premiums deducted and remitted to the insurer (i.e., the National Health Insurance Administration). However, the duty to deduct and remit such premiums lies in the premium withholders, i.e., the tax withholders defined under Article 89, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 of the Income Tax Act, such as organizations and enterprises who are paying the salaries. Under Article 85 of the NHI Act, failing to deduct and remit supplementary insurance premiums within the deadline will result in a fine equal to the amount that should have been withheld, and triple the amount for exceeding the extended due date. [1]
Petitioner Mr. Kuan-Chun CHEN, who is the person in charge of Guanyu CEC (a construction company), failed to deduct and remit supplementary insurance premiums from the salaries of three workers within the extended deadline and was consequently fined NT$ 93,000 in 2019—three times the amount of the supposed remittance. After an unsuccessful administrative appeal and subsequent litigation, the petitioner’s case was finally dismissed by the Taipei High Administrative Court. The petitioner filed for constitutional review in 2022, arguing that relevant NHI Act provisions violated the principle of proportionality for fining equal or triple the amount of supplementary insurance premiums without considering different circumstances.
Three justices continued refusing to participate in the deliberation and decision of this case. The TCC cited the decision in Judgment 114-Hsien-Pan-1 (2025) and excluded them from the number of incumbent justices to meet the quorum for deliberation and decision.
Judgment 115-Hsien-Pan-2 (2026) was announced on February 6, 2026. Justice Tsai-Chen TSAI authored this Judgment. Justice Tai-Lang LU filed a concurring opinion, in which Chief Justice Ming-Yan SHIEH, Justice Chung-Wu CHEN, and Justice Po-Hsiang YU joined.
Decision of the Court
The TCC declared Article 85 of the NHI Act partially unconstitutional.
In its reasoning, the TCC ruled that the purposes of Article 85 of the NHI Act, which are to reduce waste of NHI resources, increase NHI income, and maintain the fairness in levying insurance fees, are appropriate. The TCC also deemed administrative fines provided in the said provision suitable for attaining its purposes.
However, the TCC pointed out that by stipulating fines that are either equal or triple the amount of the supplementary insurance premiums that should have been withheld, without providing room for discretion or a mitigating mechanism, the provision has violated the principle of proportionality and, consequently, people’s right to property under Article 15 of the Constitution.
[1] Translator’s note: There is a conflict of meaning between this article’s original text and its official English translation. To avoid possible confusion, the content in this case news follows the original text.
Notes:
- The full texts of the TCC Judgment as well as the concurring and dissenting opinions of individual Justices are available on the TCC website in Traditional Chinese. An English summary of this Judgment will be available later on the TCC English website.
- The TCC’s Case News is prepared by the Department of Clerks for the Constitutional Court (Judicial Yuan) for information only and does not constitute as a part of the decision.
- In case of any conflict of meaning between the Traditional Chinese version and the translated English version, the Traditional Chinese version shall prevail.