According to the National Taxation Bureau of Kaohsiung, Ministry of Finance, if the head office of a profit-making enterprise establishes a branch office or store in any place, the branch office or store shall first complete the tax registration and obtain uniform invoices before opening for business, and shall not use the uniform invoices of the head office for the sake of convenience, which may result in the head office being penalized.

The Bureau further explains that if a branch office of a profit-making business sells and issues the uniform invoice obtained by the head office to the buyer before completing the tax registration, and the head office reports the sales and pays the business tax, and then the branch office also completes the tax registration and reports the sales and the business tax payable by the head office in a consolidated manner, although there is no actual tax evasion, and the branch office is exempted from the penalty under Article 45 of the Value-added and Non-Value-added Business Tax Act (hereinafter referred to as "Business Tax Act") for failing to apply for tax registration, and Subparagraph 1, Paragraph1, Article 51 for unauthorized business operation, as well as the penalty for failing to provide certificates under Article 44 of the Tax Collection Act. Additionally, for the part of the uniform invoice that the head office lends to a branch office for use, the company shall still be subject to the penalty under Paragraph 2, Article 47 of the Business Tax Act for transferring the uniform invoice for use by another entity.

The Bureau provides the following example. Company A, whose head office is located in Taipei, establishes Store A in Kaohsiung. However, the tax registration of the store is still in the process of application. For convenience, the store first uses the uniform invoice of the head office to give to the consumers, and the head office reports the sales and pays the business tax; once Store A has completed the tax registration, the head office reports the sales and pays the business tax in a consolidated manner. However, if the Bureau finds out that the head office has transferred the uniform invoices for use by Store A, it shall still be fined not less than NT$3,000 and not more than NT$30,000 in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 2, Article 47 of the Business Tax Act.

In particular, the Bureau reminds business entities that if they have inadvertently transferred uniform invoices for use by others, they shall be exempted from penalties if they take the initiative to report the actual use of the invoices to the tax authorities before they are reported or investigated by the tax authorities. If you have any questions, please feel free to call the toll-free service hotline at 0800-000-321 or go to the Bureau's website (https://www.ntbk.gov.tw) to make inquiries online using the National Tax Smart Customer Service "National Tax Little Helper."

Contributing Unit: Legal Affairs Division
Contact Person: Ms.Kung   Telephone: (07)7256600 ext. 7550