Taiwan to Require Foreign Seller of Services in E-commerce to Pay VAT

On September 22, Taiwan's Executive Yuan adopted a proposed bill to require foreign (offshore) seller of services via the Internet to pay a 5% VAT if the total amount of the sale exceeds NT$480,000 (approximately US$15,000) annually to a Taiwan individual consumer.  A foreign seller will be required to either by itself or appointing a local tax agent to complete necessary tax registration for this purpose.  Known E-commerce sellers like Agoda, Booking.com and Uber would be affected.  The Executive Yuan indicated that the proposal is to close a loophole in the tax law and is consistent with the proposals adopted by OECD, EU and practices in other countries such as Japan and Korea. When passed into law by the country's legislature, the new law will have the effect of creating a level playing field for the domestic E-commerce businesses.