Taiwan introduces tax rebates to domestic shipowners

Taiwan's domestic shipping firms can enjoy up to 90% reduction in taxes by signing up for tonnage tax in replacement of the current business income tax, Seatrade Asia online reports. The rate of tonnage tax amounts to only one-tenth that of business income tax. In order to qualify for tonnage tax, domestic shipping firms need to switch their flag-of-convenience ships to Republic of China-registered ships and meet certain requirements. Shipping firms will be eligible for 10 years of tonnage tax if they have at least one ROC-registered ship in the first year and share of such ships must increase to 15% in the third year and 30% in the fifth year. At present, the share of ROC-registered ships owned by domestic shippers averages at only 4%. Tonnage tax will be available for application this year. Shipping firms that qualify for tonnage tax before the end of this year will not need to file business income tax.