This Act is enacted to care for low-income and middle-low-income households, assist persons in need during an emergency or disaster, and help them to live independently.

The public assistance referred to in this Act is divided into living support, medical subsidies, and emergency and disaster aid.

The competent authorities of this Act are the Ministry of Health and Welfare at the central level, the municipal governments at the municipal level, and the county (city) governments at the county (city) level.
Matters described in this Act which are related to the government of each specific industry competent authority shall come under the related industry competent authority.

The low-income households described in this Act shall qualify under the following conditions: they are approved by their local municipality competent authority via application; their average divided monthly income among each person in the household falls below the lowest living index; and their total household assets do not exceed the specific amount announced by the central and municipality competent authorities in the year of application.
The abovementioned lowest living index is based on the standard announced by the central department of budget, accounting and statistics, and is defined by the central and municipality competent authorities as 60% of the median rate of the expenditure per person in the past year in the household’s local area. The lowest living index shall be adjusted when the difference between the amount of the index calculated in the past year and the amount of the existing index is more than 5%. The municipal competent authority shall report the index to the central competent authority for review and reference.
In addition, the abovementioned lowest living index shall neither exceed the national median rate of the expenditure per person announced by the central department of budget, accounting and statistics in the past year, nor be lower than 60% of the median rate of the expenditure per person in any other county in Taiwan.
The household assets described in the first paragraph include liquid assets and real assets whilst the financial value of the assets shall be defined separately.
The documents shall be attached, and the approval procedures of the application stated in the first paragraph shall be defined by the municipality and county (city) competent authorities.
While the application is undertaken in accordance with the first paragraph, the members of the household must be confirmed as actually living in the registered household municipality city or county (city), and shall have been living in Taiwan for more than 183 days in the past year. There is no time limit for registering of a household during the application process.

The middle-to-low-income household described in this Act shall have been approved by the municipality or county (city) competent authority, in which the applicant is registered and household is located, and shall qualify under the following conditions:
1. Their average divided monthly income among each person in the household falls below the amount 1.5 times as much as the lowest living index and shall not exceed the expenditure described in the third paragraph of the above article.
2. Their total household assets shall not exceed the specific amount announced by the central and municipality competent authorities in the current year.
To qualify under the abovementioned lowest living index, documents shall be attached and the approval procedures of the application shall be done in accordance with the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th paragraph of the previous article.
The household assets described in the second item of the first paragraph include liquid assets and real assets; the financial value of the assets shall be defined separately.

To calculate the number of members living in the household defined in the first paragraph of Article 4, except for the applicant, please also include the following:
1. Spouse.
2. First-degree lineal blood relatives.
3. Other lineal blood relatives and siblings who live in the same dwelling or who are registered in the same household.
4. Other than the above three, taxation obligees who support their family members financially are not required to include the amount spent in support at the time of reporting their combined income taxes.
The abovementioned applicant shall be represented by one of the persons registered in the household and with legal capacity. Exceptions may be granted, in case of extraordinary circumstances, by the municipality or county (city) competent authority.
Any household members listed above shall be excluded from the calculation if one or more of the following applies:
1. Foreign spouses or Mainland Chinese spouses who haven’t been registered in any household in Taiwan.
2. Elderly lineal blood relatives of single families who live separately from the household members, and who have never actually raised any of the household members.
3. Younger lineal blood relatives with no income, are married, and live separately from the household members.
4. The father or mother of single families who live separately from infant household members, who have never actually raised the infant household members, and who have never carried out parental duties and obligations to the infant household members.
5. A draftee or person serving alternative military service.
6. Individuals who receive government grants for education.
7. Individuals serving sentences, being detained, or taken into custody.
8. Individuals who have been missing and have not been found after being reported to police authorities for more than six months.
9. In the case where individuals who have failed to carry out the obligation due to special reasons, and has consequently caused the applicant to live in hardship, the entire case must be reviewed and evaluated by the municipality or county (city) competent authority. Usually, it is not suggested to be listed in the calculation.
The above paragraph 9 shall be under the handling guidelines made by the municipality or county (city) competent authority and be reported to the central competent authority for review.
The municipality or county (city) competent authority shall assist the applicant mentioned in subparagraphs 4th and 9th of Paragraph 3 to grant alimony from the person who fails to carry out their duty of support.

The total family income referred to in Paragraph 1 of Article 4 and subparagraph 1 of the 1st paragraph of Article 4-1 is defined as follows:
1. Salary or wage, calculated based on the following rules:
A. For those employed, the calculation shall apply to the following:
(1) The calculation shall be based on the actual total income of the total number of family members counted for the current year, and relating documents shall be provided. Should documents not be available, the calculation will be based on the total income listed in the most current tax application.
(2) If there is no income found on the current tax application and no wage related document is provided, the calculation of total income should be based on the average salary listed in the salary survey report based on job categorization in Taiwan.
(3) If not found in the abovementioned salary survey, the calculation shall be based on the average salary calculated by the amount newly-hired employees earn in all industries as published by the competent authorities in charge of labour affairs.
B. For persons who are capable of working but are unemployed, the calculation shall be based on base pay. As for persons who are recognized by the public employment service centre as jobless, including those who are at the age of 55 or elder or jobless after having failed to find a job after three job matches have been conducted by the public employment service centre, or who are participating in full-time vocational training, the period of unemployment will not be used in calculation. Unemployment benefits shall be listed and calculated as other income.
However, living allowance for persons who join the cooperative education program will not be calculated in accordance with the implementation of high school cooperative education law and Cooperative Education Student Rights Protection Act.
2. Financial benefits from liquid (chattel) and real assets.
3. Other income: income that is non-social aid and other than those listed in the preceding two clauses.
As for the salary mentioned in items 2 and 3 of Subparagraph 1 of Paragraph 1 for aborigines, please consider the employment survey report published by the central competent authority in charge of aboriginal affairs, and make the calculation based on the main salary ratio between the general public and aboriginal population. The base pay must be used if the amount obtained from the abovementioned calculation is below the base pay.
The income referred to in Subparagraph 3 of Paragraph 1 shall be enacted by the municipality and county (city) competent authorities.
The municipality and county (city) competent authorities may interview the applicant household to confirm their total household income and report of household assets. Any persons found to have confirmed falsified shall be removed from the name list of low-income household or middle-to-low-income household, and shall return all subsidies paid upon being informed of time limit in writing under the order given.

The land types listed as follows shall not be included in household-owned fixed assets:
1. Aboriginal reservation areas that have not yielded economic benefits yet.
2. Land that has not yielded economic benefits that are reserved for infrastructure, and existing roads which could be used for public access.
3. Land that has not yielded economic benefits that are for national safety use, environmental protection use, historical site reservation use in non-urban areas, graveyard use, and water conservancy.
4. Land that has not yielded economic benefits that had been obtained in the division process after the dismissal of an ancestral worship association.
5. Land that has not yielded economic benefits that are for agricultural, pastoral, and aquaculture uses in severe land subsidence areas.
6. Land for agricultural, pastoral, aquaculture, and forestry uses that has not yielded economic benefits due to natural disaster.
7. Addresses that have been announced as undergoing pollution remediation in accordance with the law. Exceptions may exist when the person producing the pollution is the owner of the polluted land.
To recognize the land types mentioned above, each central industry competent authority shall coordinate with the central and regional competent authorities of this Act.

Persons who qualify as being “capable of employment” referred to in this act are individuals older than 16 and under 65 without any of the following conditions:
1. Individuals who are under 25 and unable to work because they are currently enrolled in courses from National Open University, high school or higher level further education course(s), professional courses, credit courses, weekend or evening courses, or distant education courses.
2. Physically or mentally challenged individuals.
3. Individuals suffering from trauma or serious illness are required to receive treatment for 3 or more months, and are therefore, unable to work.
4. Individuals who are sole care providers for physically or mentally challenged dependants or patients with specific illnesses incapable of taking care of themselves and currently living together, and therefore, unable to work.
5. Individuals taking care of younger lineal blood relatives under the age of 6, and are therefore unable to work.
6. Women who are 6 months pregnant or who are due to give birth within 2 months, and are therefore unable to work; or women who should not to work in accordance with a doctor’s prescription during the pregnancy.
7. Individuals who have become subject to the order of commencement of guardianship.

Competent authorities of all levels shall establish special departments or assign specific personnel to execute the operations related to public assistance.

When an assistance item under this Act is of the same nature as prescribed in another social welfare law, a preferential provision shall apply, and the welfare service provided under the other law will not be affected.

The amount of assistance granted by the government and received by each person each month under this Act or other acts shall not exceed the basic wage of the current year of announcement by the government.

The applicant and household members have a duty to provide real and actual information that the municipality and county (city) competent authorities need for the execution of procedures within this Act.
If any person receiving public assistance is found to have committed any of the following, the competent authority shall cease public assistance, and the subsidies already paid may be recalled:
1. Provision of false information.
2. Hiding or refusing to provide information required by the competent authority.
3. Acquisition of public assistance prescribed in this Act by cheating or other dishonest means.

Educators, nursery nurses, social workers, medical officers, the clerks of each village (li) and police officers shall report to the municipality or county (city) competent authority once they notice while they are executing their duties any individual or household needs public assistance.
Once the municipality or county (city) competent authority notice or is informed of the report aforesaid, officers responsible for the investigations related shall be appointed and necessary assistances shall be provided in accordance with the relevant law.
The report procedure and the term for handling in the aforesaid two paragraphs shall be defined by the central competent authority.