The Amendment to financial accounts listed as “Financial Accounts that Present a Low Risk of Being Used to Evade Tax”
The Ministry of Finance stated that “Microinsurance” and “An account held on behalf of a party involved in connection with a settlement or mediation transcript, the court’s approval of a mediation agreement conducted by a township or county-administered city’s mediation committee, or an arbitration award, all of which have the same effect as a final court judgment with binding effect” have been announced as “Financial Accounts that Present a Low Risk of Being Used to Evade Tax” in accordance with Subparagraph 8 of Article 23 of the “Regulations Governing the Implementation of the Common Standard on Reporting and Due Diligence for Financial Institutions” (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations). From 2022, these accounts will not be subject to reporting obligations conducted by Reporting Financial Institutions.
The Ministry further elaborated that, in order to enhance the efficiency of conducting due diligence, Article 23 of the Regulations stipulates that “Excluded Accounts” are not subject to the due diligence and reporting obligations conducted by Reporting Financial Institutions. Subparagraphs 1 to 7 of this Article list the described “Excluded Accounts” while Subparagraph 8 of the same Article stipulates that “Any other account that presents a low risk of being used to evade tax, which is announced by the Ministry of Finance” is set up to accommodate additional practical needs. The Ministry had previously announced financial accounts listed as “Financial Accounts that Present a Low Risk of Being Used to Evade Tax” on June 27, 2019. It made this amendment after taking advice from the public, consulting experts from international organizations, and confirming with related competent authorities that the above-mentioned accounts fulfill the three requirements of “The account presents a low risk of being used to evade tax in comprehensive consideration of high-risk and low-risk factors (such as providing appropriately defined and limited services to certain types of customers so as to increase accessibility for financial inclusion purposes),” “The account has substantially similar characteristics to any of the accounts described in the Regulations,” and “The status of the account as an Excluded Account does not frustrate the purposes of the CRS” stipulated in the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Therefore, these accounts have been included in the amended list.
The Ministry stressed that, in response to the international development of tax transparency, it will constantly review and renew the list of financial accounts which are “Financial Accounts that Present a Low Risk of Being Used to Evade Tax” for purposes of enhancing the efficiency of conducting due diligence, increasing tax transparency and fulfilling international obligations to follow the latest global rules and to maintain competitiveness in taxation.
Contact person: Ms. Wen-Hsin Tseng, Secretary, Acting for Section Chief
Contact Number: (02)2322-8347
Reference URL：https://www.mof.gov.tw/Eng/singlehtml/f48d641f159a4866b1d31c0916fbcc71?cntId=edot86208