Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance has clarified that collateral provided to lift travel restrictions due to outstanding tax debts will not be returned until the taxes are fully paid.

The National Taxation Bureau of the Northern Area (NTBNA), Ministry of Finance, states that if taxpayers or profit-making enterprises provide adequate collateral and the tax authority lifts the exit restrictions, to ensure the protection of tax claims, the collateral cannot be returned until the tax arrears and fines are fully paid.

This rule also applies to collateral provided by a third party.

The NTBNA offers an example of Taxpayer A, who had overdue taxes and fines totaling over TWD 14 million and did not apply for a recheck.

To preserve tax claims, the Bureau reported to the Ministry of Finance, which then requested the National Immigration Agency, Ministry of the Interior to impose an exit restriction on Taxpayer A. Due to an urgent need to travel abroad, Taxpayer A provided real estate owned by his spouse as collateral, whose value is equivalent to the owed tax amount, and applied to lift the exit restriction.

However, after returning from abroad, Taxpayer A failed to pay the taxes within the agreed period.

Consequently, the Bureau applied for compulsory execution against the collateral. Taxpayer A argued that the purpose of providing the collateral was solely to lift the exit restriction and requested the Bureau to impose the exit restriction again and return the collateral.

The Bureau rejected his application on the grounds that the taxes and fines were still unpaid.

The NTBNA would like to remind taxpayers that according to Article 39 of the Tax Collection Act, if the taxpayer who provides adequate collateral in order to lift the exit restriction fails to pay the tax within the agreed period, the provided collateral will still be sent for compulsory execution.