According to the National Taxation Bureau of Kaohsiung, Ministry of Finance, in order to uphold the justice of taxation, adhere to the spirit of assisting and serving taxpayers, and actively deal with the taxpayer rights protection business, the Bureau and all branches and tax collection offices have set up the Taxpayer Rights Protection Ombudsman (hereinafter referred to as "Taxpayer Ombudsman”), who can provide immediate assistance in communicating and coordinating tax disputes, accepting complaints, and providing administrative relief and consultation services, in order to help protect the legitimate rights and interests of taxpayers through their professional and practical experience in tax matters. 

The Bureau cites an example to illustrate. In order to purchase property at his workplace, Person A sold a house and land in Kaohsiung City in early 2023 granted to him by his elders. When he filed the individual income tax return for housing and land transactions (commonly known as the House and Land Transactions Income Tax), he used the amount of money approved on the gift tax exemption certificate as the cost of acquisition to calculate the income from the housing and land transactions, and paid a tax of more than NT$1.4 million. During the examination of the case, the Taxpayer Ombudsman found that the acquisition cost of the case was not declared in accordance with the Operating Guidelines for House and Land Transactions Income Tax, which stipulates that the cost shall be based on the current appraised value of the house and the current value of the land at the time of the gift adjusted by the Consumer Price Index, and that the land value increment tax paid by the grantee at the time of the acquisition of the gift was not declared to be deducted, which resulted in an overpayment of the tax. In order to protect the rights and interests of taxpayers, the Taxpayer Ombudsman took the initiative to provide assistance to Person A and advised the staff in charge of handling this case to make adjustments in accordance with the relevant regulations and refund more than NT$0.2 million of overpaid tax after re-approval. After receiving the tax refund, Person A felt warmly that the Taxpayer Ombudsman was able to stand in the position of taxpayers, take the initiative to assist in checking the matters in his favor, and proactively protect taxpayers' rights!

The Bureau cordially reminds taxpayers that, in addition to written applications, applications for taxpayer rights protection can be made by various means, such as fax, telephone (verbal), e-mail, and the Internet. To learn more about the taxpayer rights protection, please visit the "Taxpayer Rights Protection Zone" (https://www.ntbk.gov.tw), a popular feature on the homepage of the Bureau's website. 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: Mr. Kuo    Telephone: (07)7256600 ext. 7570