Profit-seeking enterprises, which engage only in preliminary or auxiliary business activities in the Republic of China (ROC) by the enterprises themselves or delegate free-trade-zone (FTZ) enterprises to purchase, import, store, or deliver products in FTZs, and are reviewed and approved by the FTZ management authority shall be exempted from profit-seeking enterprise income tax on the income from selling such products.
When profit-seeking enterprises from foreign countries, mainland China, Hong Kong, or Macau without a fixed place of business in the ROC purvey commodities certified by a recognized international metal futures exchange and ratified by the authority (MOTC), or the commodities of the same tariff number as those described above, and when the commodities are stored in places of FTZ enterprises approved by the FTZ management authority, the income from sales to domestic and/or overseas customers shall be exempted from profit-seeking enterprise income tax without the need to apply for such tax exemption, and the enterprises are exempted from filing an income tax return for such income in accordance with the Income Tax Act.
The regulations governing the scope of preliminary or auxiliary business activities, purchase, import, storage, or delivery of products, the approved application period as stipulated in paragraph 1; the application scope and specific conditions, authorized and approval authorities as stipulated in paragraph 2; as well as application procedures, approval, abolishment and other relevant requirements specified in both the preceding two paragraphs shall be prescribed by the competent authority (MOTC) in consultation with the Ministry of Finance.
The profit-seeking enterprise income tax exemption stipulated in paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 shall remain in effect until 31st December 2042.
Paragraph 1 to paragraph 3 promulgated on 28th December 2018 shall enter into force from the profit-seeking enterprise income tax return for the year 2019.
For cases which have been approved in accordance with paragraph 1 prior to the promulgation of this Article on 28th December 2018, the approved application period shall end by 31st December 2021.
For cases which have been applied but not been approved prior to the promulgation of this Article on 28th December 2018, the income tax exemption for the year 2018 and the previous years shall be applicable to paragraph 1 prior to the promulgation; the income tax exemption for the year 2019 and following years shall be applicable to paragraph 1 after the promulgation.