The National Taxation Bureau of Taipei, Ministry of Finance said that, in accordance with Paragraph 2, Article 25 of the Enforcement Rules of the Income Tax Act, if a taxpayer has chosen to claim the standard deduction when filing the individual income tax return, or has not indicated in the tax return filing whether the deduction is an itemized deduction or a standard deduction, it is deemed to have chosen the standard deduction in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1 of the same Article, and the taxpayer may not request to change to itemized deductions once the tax return is assessed by the taxing authority upon filing the tax return.
The Bureau said, for example, Mr. A chose to claim the standard deduction of NT$120,000 upon filing the 2019 individual income tax return, but there was still a tax deficiency payable after the Bureau had assessed, in accordance with Mr. A's original choice, the associated deductions and other adjustments. Subsequently, Mr. A claimed that he chose to claim the standard deduction on the tax return filing at first as he did not have all the documents related to the itemized deductions when filing the tax return, and he requested to recalculate the tax amount based on the itemized deductions after all the relevant documents had been collected. Due to the facts that the Bureau had assessed Mr. A's tax return based on his chosen standard deduction of NT$120,000, and the relevant Notice for Assessment of Tax and the Assessed Tax Bill had also been legally served, Mr. A could not apply to change to itemized deductions after the taxing authority's assessment, in accordance with the law. Thus, the Bureau upheld the original assessment.
The Bureau urges taxpayers to apply to the taxing authority as soon as possible if they want to change to claiming itemized deductions before the taxing authority's assessment, if it is more advantageous for them to claim itemized deductions, in order to safeguard their own rights and interests.
(Contact person: Section Head Liu of the Second Legal Affairs Division; Telephone: 2311-3711 ext. 1931)
