National Taxation Bureau of Taipei, Ministry of Finance expressed that, for the purpose of recognition, flight transportation expenses declared by profit-seeking enterprises for overseas business trip should be attached with payment certificates and other certificates that proved the business travel schedule and facts.
The Bureau explained that, according to Item 2-1, Subparagraph 3 of Article 74 of Regulations Governing Assessment of Profit-seeking Enterprise Income Tax (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations), the traveling expenses of employees who took an international flight for the purpose of business trip should be declared together with the flight ticket stub (or e-ticket), boarding pass and certificate of ticket issuance (or a collection and forwarding receipt issued by the travel agency), which are considered as the source documents. In case of losing the flight ticket stub and boarding pass, the said documents may be replaced by the airline provided passenger coupon of boarding pass or on board certificate (specified with the name of the passenger, on board date, departure/ arrival destination). In case of losing the boarding pass, it is a must to provide a photocopy of the passport or other documents that are sufficient to prove the fact of overseas traveling.
The Bureau expressed that, in practice, employees who took an international business trip failed to preserve or lost the boarding pass, therefore provided an e-ticket and a collection and forwarding receipt issued by the travel agency except the boarding pass. As the original intent of providing the boarding pass is to prove the fact about the employee being abroad, to simplify the operations, the said Article 74 of the Regulations stipulates that the boarding pass may be replaced by “airline provided passenger coupon of boarding pass or on board certificate (specified with the name of the passenger, on board date, departure/ arrival destination)” or “a photocopy of the passport that are sufficient to prove the fact of overseas traveling”. Moreover, to operate in coordination with the e-Gate Enrollment System (known as an automatic customs clearance system of National Immigration Agency, Ministry of the Interior), other certificates (ex. Certificate of Entry and Exit Dates) may also be used to replace the boarding pass.
The Bureau reminded that flight transportation expenses declared by profit-seeking enterprises for overseas business travels should be attached with legal certification documents as governed by relevant tax acts and other acts and regulations. In case of losing the boarding pass, other documents that are sufficient to prove the fact of overseas traveling may be used as a substitute of the declaration certificate.
(Contact Person: Assessor Chen from First Legal Affairs Division; Tel: 2311-3711 Ext. 1818)
