Taiwan says may tighten tax rule on property trading

Taiwan says may tighten tax rule on property trading

Monday, Jul 29, 2013

Reuters

TAIPEI – Taiwan does not rule out the possibility of tightening a tax rule on trading properties and luxury goods, as it aims to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. Speculation has helped drive up property prices on the island, especially in the capital Taipei and some other northern cities, and worsened affordability at a time when growth is slowing. Taiwan’s Finance Minister Chang Sheng-ford told reporters over the weekend that studies show the tax has received positive feedback as it has helped curb property turnover and narrowed the gap between rich and poor. The government introduced the so-called luxury tax almost two years ago. Properties that are sold in less than two years after being bought are taxed. A 15 per cent tax applies to properties sold within a year of purchase and 10 ppercent to those sold within two years. A 10 per cent tax applies on sales of luxury goods worth at least T$3 million (S$126,405). One possibility is to collect the tax from buyers, which is what Hong Kong and Singapore have done, Chang said. Another option is to extend the tax-free period to three or four years from the current two years, the minister added.

 

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Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

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