ECCT Tax Committee Lunch

How to Pay Less Withholding Tax on Payments to Foreign Companies

Guest Speaker

Lynn Chen, Tax Partner, KPMG

Time: 12:00 – 14:00

Date: Friday, 31 July 2020

Venue: The Residence, 2F, The Grand Hyatt Hotel / 君悅酒店 2樓凱寓

Address: No. 2, Songshou Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City / 台北市松壽路2號

For cross-border transactions, withholding tax (WHT) in Taiwan has always been a major cost to consider. While the Taiwanese government tends to treat payments to foreign companies as Taiwan source income (TSI) subject to an expensive 20% WHT, the government has introduced several schemes for mitigating the tax costs. Besides the long-standing approach of garnering exemptions under tax treaties or the deemed profit treatment provided under Article 25 of Income Tax Act (ITA), the relevant TSI guidance has offered other schemes to reduce WHT entailing the deduction of costs and expenses, and the determination of the onshore contribution rate. In response to feedback from industry professionals, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) continues to provide additional guidance with a view to making these schemes really work, the latest being a tax ruling issued in September 2019. 

Each scheme has its own qualifications, merits and demerits that require thorough evaluation and strategic actions to pursue. Moreover, tax officers’ assessment practices of WHT saving applications have changed over time. This event has been arranged in order to provide an update to members on  the latest developments and best practices for companies.

The speaker’s presentation will cover the following topics:

• A high-level overview of the WHT saving schemes, including the qualifications, application processes, required documents and timelines
• An update on tax officers’ assessment practices of approval and refund applications
• A few case examples to illustrate the “yesses”, “nos” and “maybes”
• An open exchange of views and experience with the attendees.

About the Speaker

Lynn Chen has over 17 years of experience in providing tax consulting, M&A tax advisory and tax due diligence services to multinational corporations and major corporations in Taiwan. Her areas of expertise cover general tax advisory and international tax advisory, including advising on cross-border investments, and tax compliance related projects. She is also a frequent guest speaker at National Taiwan University, various foreign trade organisations and taxation seminars organized by KPMG Taiwan.

*This event will be conducted in English.

NT$1,400 for members and NT$2,000 for members' guest(s)

*To cancel without penalty, written cancellations must be received 24 hours prior to the event.

Contact: Emily Kuo / Tel: 2740-0236 ext. 219 / emily.kuo@ecct.com.tw  / www.ecct.com.tw