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Chapter 3 Agricultural Land Tax
Article 21
The non-urban lands designated by law as agricultural land as referred to under Paragraph 1, Article 22 of the Act shall mean agricultural and pastoral lands, forestry lands, aquaculture lands, salt industry lands, water conservancy lands, ecological preservation lands, national territory security lands as specified under the Regional Planning Act and lands within national park area that have been acknowledged as conform to the abovementioned requirements by the national park administration authority after consulting with relevant authorities .
Article 22
Non-urban lands designated for uses other than those specified under the preceding article that meet the following requirements shall still be subject to agricultural land tax:
1. Lands on which the imposition of agricultural land tax has been approved before the promulgation and implementation of the revised the Equalization of Land Right Act on 29 June of 1986 and have continued to be used as agricultural land.
2. Lands meeting the requirement of non-urban land use control regulations used as agricultural land.
Article 23
The “prior to the completed construction of the public facilities” as referred to under Subparagraph 2, Paragraph 1 of Article 22 of the Act shall mean the four systems of road, water, drainage, and power that remain under construction.
The completion of said four facilities shall mean the opening for truck riding on planned road systems for road projects; the connection with and transmission through planned road systems for water and power projects; and the ability to provide drainage service for drainage projects.
The boundary lines for the completed public facility shall be set along the half depth line of the adjacent block on both sides of the road. Where significant difference exists between the blocks on the same side of the road or with very special adjacent landforms, said boundary lines may be determined by the Municipality or County (City) Government according to the actual situation.
Article 24
For the purpose of imposing taxes on lands subject to agricultural land tax, the Municipality or County (City) Government shall follow the following procedure:
1. For lands specified under Article 21, the land or National Park administration authority shall compile associated inventory list to the competent taxation authority.
2. For lands specified under the proviso of Paragraph 1 of Article 22 of the Act, the civil works authority shall submit the area boundary map to the land administration authority and the competent agriculture authority. The land administration authority shall then compile a land parcel inventory according to land categories indicated on the land registry and submit said inventory to the competent tax authority.
3. For lands specified under Subparagraph 1 of Article 22, the competent taxation authority shall impose agricultural land tax according to the land parcel inventory compiled before the promulgation and implementation of the revised the Equalization of Land Right Act on 29 June of 1986.
4. For lands specified under Article 22 and land parts for facilities or activities inseparable from the operation of the business of agriculture as specified under the proviso of paragraph 1 of Article 22 of the Act, the competent agriculture authority shall be responsible for accepting and processing applications and shall compile the land parcel inventory after surveying and verifying the lands and in conjunction with relevant authorities and shall submit said inventory to the competent taxation authority.
5. For land parts for crop growing, forestry, aquaculture, and livestock breeding purposes as specified under Subparagraph 2 of Article 22, the competent taxation authority shall be responsible for accepting and processing applications and shall conduct field surveys in conjunction with relevant authorities for verification.
6. For non-urban lands without a land value prescribed, the land administration authority shall compile a land parcel inventory for the competent tax authority.
7. For farmers organization and cooperative farm lands provided directly for agricultural uses including warehouses, freezers (chillers), agricultural machinery centers, silkworm production (breeding) houses, goods collecting yards, inspection centers, patty rice seedling growing lands, water reservoirs, agricultural greenhouses, and agricultural product wholesale markets, the competent taxation authority shall be responsible for accepting and processing applications and shall conduct field surveys in conjunction with relevant authorities for verification.
Article 25
In the event of a change with the land boundaries of the urban agricultural area, preservation area, under construction public facility area, construction restricted area, construction prohibited area, and public facility reserve area as described by the proviso of Paragraph 1 of Article 22 of the Act, the competent authority of Municipality or County (City) government shall determine the area of boundary changes by the end of February each year.
For lands subject to land value taxation after said boundary change in the preceding paragraph, the competent authority of Municipality or County (City) government shall compile a land parcel inventory and submit the same to the tax authority by the end of May each year.
Article 26
For lands subject to agricultural land tax pursuant to the provisions under Article 22 of the Act, the competent tax authority shall establish land parcel cards (or tax registration cards) and tax registry according to the land parcel inventory jointly compiledand submitted by the competent authority of Municipality or County (City) government, and shall impose the tax by land category and by household.
In the event of changes with the land rights, land marks, or land owner addresses, the land administration authority shall make changes to the land value records accordingly upon processing the change registration and shall notify the competent tax authoritywithin ten (10) days to make relevant corrections on the land parcel cards (tax registration cards) and the tax registry.
The management authority of public lands shall provide relevant information and assign personnel to verify the land registration records kept by the competent taxation authority forty (40) days prior to the imposition of the agricultural land tax each term.
Article 27
Agricultural land tax shall be, in principle, paid with crops. For lands not producing patty rice or wheat or lands under special circumstances as set forth under Paragraph 1, Article 23 of the Act, said tax may be paid in cash according to the following:
1. For lands under categories other than farmland that do not produce patty rice or wheat, the agricultural land tax payable may be paid by an equivalent amount of cash.
2. For lands under farmland category that do not produce patty rice or wheat due to environmental constraints and have been designated as permanent single-crop farm, temporary single-crop farm or rotation farm, the agricultural land tax payable for the year (term) not producing patty rice or wheat may be paid by an equivalent amount of cash.
3. The annual agricultural land tax on permanent single-crop farms growing another crop every two terms shall be paid with crops for one term and by an equivalent amount of cash for the other term.
4. In the event that a permanent single-crop farm or a rotation farm is subject to any of the situations described under Article 30 that has been confirmed true during a year (term) originally designated for patty rice or wheat growing, the agricultural land tax of that year (term) may be paid by an equivalent amount of cash.
Article 28
Where the taxable amount on lands subject to grain tax payment of the same taxpayer indicated on the tax registry by land section and by household is less than five (5) taxable dollars, said tax may be paid by cash in lieu of grain.
Article 29
Lands under farmland category subject to one of the following situations shall be designated as permanent single-crop farm:
1. Not producing patty rice or wheat for at least one term every year due to environmental constraints, lack of water supply, cold climate, or excessive water supply.
2. Within irrigated area but not producing patty rice or wheat due to regular suspension of irrigation for at least one term every year.
Article 30
Lands under farmland category subject to one of the following situations, thereby not producing patty rice or wheat for the term, shall be designated as temporary single-crop farms:
1. Lack of water supply due to a natural disaster or other reasons.
2. Patty rice farms within irrigated areas lacking water supply for the term.
3. Patty rice farms within non-irrigated areas due to water shortage for the term.
Article 31
Lands under farmland category not producing patty rice or wheat in regular non-irrigated years (terms) shall be designated as rotation farms.
Article 32
The designation of temporary single-crop farm, permanent single-crop farm, and rotation farm shall be made and posted to the public by the competent taxation authority of the municipality or county (city) according to the general patty rice planting season of the locality of the term. The period within thirty (30) days of the end of said general planting season shall be the time period for application. The relevant hsiangs, townships, and cities (districts) shall be notified in writing to take in and process said applications. Permanent single-crop farms and rotation farms with their status already approved need not file such an application.
Article 33
Taxpayers or their proxies applying for a survey for the designation as single-crop farm or rotation farm pursuant to the preceding article shall fill out all and complete information of the land parcels by piece by section and file the application with the hsiang, township, city (district) office or the village/community office at the place of the land. Hsiang, township, city (district) offices shall send out personnel to provide application preparation instructions or to fill out applications for the applicant if necessary.
Said application forms shall be printed out by the competent taxation authority of the county (city) and be distributed to various hsiang, township, city (district) offices for free access by applicants.
Article 34
For designation of single-crop and rotation farms, a verification survey shall be conducted according to the following procedure:
1. Upon receipt of single-crop farm or rotation farm verification application, the hsiang, township, city (district) office concerned shall provide a systemic reference code and verify the taxpayer’s or proxy’s name, the land location, grade, area, and taxable amount against the tax registry records and shall then send personnel to bring the original application to the site for a detailed field survey. The surveyor shall provide his comments and date of initial survey in corresponding columns on the application. Said initial survey shall be completed within five (5) days of the due date of the time limit for local application. After the initial survey, the responsible surveyor shall sign on the application and bind applications into volumes by land section and shall then submit them to the finance section chief and the director of hsiang, township, or city (district) office for countersignature before filing them for recordation.
2. Upon completion of the initial survey, the hsiang, township, or city (district) office shall render its decision on whether to designate the land under application as single-crop or rotation farm based on the initial survey results within eight (8) days of the due date of the time limit for application and shall produce a detailed survey result inventory in three (3) copies of a same form and detailed survey result statistics for the hsiang, township, or city (district), also in three (3) copies of a same form, and shall attach them to the front of the three inventories, one for each. One (1) copy shall be retained for recordation with the rest two (2) copies delivered to the competent taxation authority for a second survey.
3. Upon receipt of the survey result inventories, the taxation authority shall schedule a second survey within three (3) days and shall conduct a second survey in conjunct with the designated personnel by the local competent authority of food administration.
4. The second survey team shall bring the cadastral map and initial survey result inventory to the site for a detailed survey and shall provide comments for the second survey. In the event that the second survey should decide the application incompliant with the requirements, the land parcel entry on the inventory shall be crossed out using double red lines and the joint second survey team members shall affix their official stamps in an appropriate place on the crossed out record along with detailed remarks on the field survey for future reference.
5. The second survey team members and the chiefs of the taxation and food administration authorities shall both provide signatures on the survey inventory after the second survey and shall produce a survey result statistics in two (2) copies of a same form and submit them along with the inventories to the County (City) Magistrate (Mayor) for approval. The approved statistics sheets shall be attached to the front of the survey inventories with one (1) copy of the combined inventory submitted to the local competent authority of food administration.
6. Lands designated as permanent single-crop farms and rotation farms shall be subject to an initial survey and a second survey every three (3) years according to the approved inventory records kept at the relevant county (city).
7. With excessive number of land parcels applying for single-crop or rotation farm designation where relevant surveys cannot be completed within the prescribed time limits set forth under this Article, an extension of the survey period may be granted according to the actual situation. However, the second survey shall be completed in any case within thirty (30) days of the due date of the local application period at the latest.
8. Lands applying for temporary single-crop farm designation with part of the land pieces containing an paddy rice planting area in excess of one half of the total area of the land piece shall not be granted the temporary single-crop farm status.
For applications concerning single-crop farms and rotation farms under the jurisdiction of a municipality, the provisions under the preceding paragraph shall apply mutatis mutandis.
Article 35
For permanent single-crop farms and rotation farms planting paddy rice during the year (term) originally approved as non-rice growing year (term) due to improved water conservancy facilities, the taxpayer or taxpayer’s proxy shall automatically change the tax declaration status to grain tax payment.
In the event of the taxpayer’s or proxy’s failure to change the tax declaration status to grain tax payment for the land specified under the preceding paragraph, if found or reported and confirmed true, the provisions under Subparagraph 2, Paragraph 1 of Article 54 of the Act shall govern.
Article 36
The rules governing agricultural land grain tax payment and concurrent rice acquisition upon taxation shall be prescribed and promulgated by the Executive Yuan.
The criteria for paying agricultural land grain tax with in-lieu cash payment and the prices of rice acquired upon taxation are as follows:
1. The quantity for rice to be submitted as tax payment according to the annual taxable amount and tax rates indicated in the land tax registry for lands under categories other than farmland shall be converted into the equivalent cash amount according to the average market price of the rice of the Tsai Lai variety produced within major Tsai Lai rice producing hsiangs, townships, cities (districts) in the five (5)-day period from the 20th to the 16th day before the imposition of the agricultural land tax of the term by the county (city) concerned. For the agricultural land tax to be paid with in-lieu cash payment within the jurisdiction of the Penghu County of the Taiwan Province, the conversion price shall be the first-term price publicly posted by the Tainan County of the Taiwan Province.
2. The price for the rice acquisition upon taxation shall be set in accordance with the average market price of the rice of the Peng Lai variety and the average market price of the rice of the Tsai Lai variety produced within major producing hsiangs, townships, cities (districts) in the five (5)-day period from the 20th to the 16th day before the imposition of the agricultural land tax of the term by the county (city) concerned, and shall be submitted to the relevant price appraisal committee for rice acquisition upon taxation under the County (City) Council and the County (City) Government. The final decision on the acquisition price shall be rendered on the 14th day before the imposition of the agricultural land tax. Said designated acquisition price shall be more favorable than the market price.
3. The rice market prices set forth under the preceding two subparagraphs shall be surveyed by the Executive Yuan Council of Agriculture in conjunction with the local county (city) government, county (city) council, farmers’ association, and rice chamber of commerce.
4. The price of the rice to be acquired upon taxation shall, after decided by the relevant price appraisal committee, be submitted to the Executive Yuan Council of Agriculture within three (3) days for promulgation. The criteria governing tax payment with an equivalent cash amount shall be promulgated on the following day of the completion of the rice market price survey by the County (City) Government.
5. For the criteria on tax payment with an equivalent cash amount and the price of rice acquisition upon taxation of a municipality, the current-term price publicly posted by an adjacent county shall apply. For lands under farmland category and counties (cities) where paddy rice production is relatively less or where actual rice trading prices during the market price survey period are sporadic, the current-term price publicly posted by an adjacent county shall be used for the calculation of in-lieu cash tax payment and the rice acquisition price upon taxation.
6. For rice market price survey, data reporting, and all other relevant matters, the various county (city) government regulations shall govern.
Article 37
The competent taxation authority shall send the agricultural land grain (in-lieu cash) tax payment notice to the taxpayer or taxpayer’s proxy prior to the imposition of agricultural land tax of the term. Upon receipt of said notice, the taxpayer or proxy shallbring the notice and make the specified tax payment to the designated public grain warehouse or treasury according to the provisions under Article 47 of the Act. The competent taxation authroity shall submit one (1) copy of the agricultural land grain taxinventory to the local competent authority of food administration and the designated public grain warehouse respectively. Where the taxpayer or taxpayer’s proxy lives outside the jurisdiction of the hsiang, township, city (district) where the taxable landis located or where whose domicel is outside the jurisdiction of the designated public grain warehouse, or where the agricultural land grain tax cannot be paid or the rice acquisition imposed upon taxation cannot be made to the originally designated publicgrain warehouse due to special circumstances such as disasters, the following provisions shall apply:
1. Where the taxpayer or his proxy lives outside the jurisdiction of the hsiang, township, or city (district) at the palce of the land, the competent taxation authority may deliver the agricultural land tax payment notice to the hsiang, township, city (district)office at the place of the taxpayer’s or proxy’s residence for said office to send out the notice and collect the tax payments on behalf of the taxation authority. For agricultural land grain tax payment, the rules governing land swap for tax payment prescribedby the competent authority of food administration may apply.
2. Where the taxpayer’s or proxy’s domicile is outside the jurisdiction of the designated public grain warehouse or where the agricultural land grain tax cannot be paid or the rice acquisition imposed upon taxation cannot be made to the originally designatedpublic grain warehouse due to special circumstances such as disasters, the agricultural land tax payment notice shall be delivered to the hsiang, township, city (district) office at the place of the taxpayer’s or proxy’s residence for said office to submitthem to the local competent authority of food administration for land swap tax payment.
For collecting agricultural land grain tax or rice acquired upon taxation, the designated public grain warehouse shall verify the tax payment notice amount against the records on tax registry. For inspected and accepted rice, the collection date and the responsibleperson stamps shall be affixed and the rice acquisition price shall be paid according to the amount indicated on the payment copy of the notice before the rice can be collected and submitted to the local competent authority of food administration along withthe acquisition price payment monthly report of the month. The original notice and the receipt copy shall be returned to the taxpayer for reference. The for-approval copy shall be submitted by the public grain warehouse collecting the rice to the competenttaxation authority along with the monthly report of the month for the taxation authority to cross out or cancel relevant tax payable records; the cancellation copy shall be submitted to the relevant hsiang, township, city (district) office on the same dayof tax payment for record cancellation.
The treasury’s office or any treasury licensed office shall affix the official stamp of the office and its responsible person upon settlement of the in-lieu cash payment for agricultural land tax and shall return the original notice and the receipt copy tothe taxpayer for record. The for-approval copy shall be submitted to the competent taxation authority along with the daily report in order for the taxation authority to cross out or cancel relevant tax payable records; the cancellation copy shall be submittedto the relevant hsiang, township, city (district) office on the same day of tax payment for record cancellation, while the for-record copy shall be kept at the responsible treasury’s office for recordation.
The compilation and distribution procedure and the format for the tax registry of the agricultural land grain tax and the in-lieu cash payment thereof and for the relevant payment notice shall be prescribed by the Municipality or County (City) Government.
Article 38
In the event that the taxpayer or taxpayer’s proxy has made double or undue payments for agricultural land grain tax or the imposed rice acquisition, said taxpayer or proxy may apply for a refund or a payment offset for the corresponding grain tax or rice acquisition of the following term pursuant to Article 28 of the Taxation Act. Said application shall be submitted to and handled by the competent taxation authority in conjunction with the local competent authority of food administration. However, only grain tax payment may be refunded. Applications for the refund or offsetting of the agricultural land tax in-lieu cash payment does not need to be handled in conjunction with the local competent authority of food administration.
The refunded agricultural land grain tax or rice acquired upon taxation pursuant to the preceding paragraph shall be made with grains submitted in the current term and of the same class of the original submitted grains. For the refund of the rice acquired upon taxation, first calculate the total rice acquisition price according to the government-approved rice acquisition unit price of the current term, and then pay the amount to the designated public grain warehouse to make the grain refund.
Article 39
Under special circumstances such as disasters when the taxpayer or taxpayer’s proxy does not have any rice production for the term or the rice thus produced has failed to meet the acceptance requirements set forth under Paragraph 1, Article 25 of the Act, which results in the taxpayer’s or proxy’s failure to pay the required agricultural land grain tax, the various designated public grain warehouses shall provide rice at market price for taxpayers to purchase and pay for grain tax accordingly. Said rice price however shall not exceed one hundred and three per cent (103%) of the rice acquisition cost.
Where the designated public grain warehouse does not have rice in stock for taxpayers to purchase for grain tax payment, taxpayers may request the competent authority of food administration to appoint a public grain warehouse for tax-use rice purchase.
For the purpose of court execution for compulsory collection of agricultural land grain tax in arrears, the competent authority of food administration shall appoint an easily accessible public grain warehouse at each county or city to take charge of rice purchase; the chosen public grain warehouse may not refuse such an appointment.
Article 40
For imposition of agricultural land tax, the thirtieth (30) day prior to the agricultural land tax imposition of each term shall be the base day of tax payment. The land owner or dien right holder, land distributee, or tillage right owner indicated on the land registration on the base date of tax payment for the term of agricultural land taxation shall be the taxpayer.
Article 41
The date of agricultural land tax imposition shall be specified by the Provincial (Municipal) Government.