Local Tax Bureau of Taichung City Government-房屋稅

Scope of house tax:

The house tax shall be levied on all houses attached to land and on such other buildings, which enhance the utility value of said houses. The house includes not only the normal houses but also different types of special buildings that are intended for residential, work, and business purposes, such as loft buildings, various forms of warehouses, fuel tanks, and gas stations.

Taxpayer:

1. House owner. 2. Where a right of Dien exists, the house tax shall be collected from the Dien holder. 3. Where a house is jointly owned by more than one person, the house tax shall be collected from the joint owners who shall designate one person to pay the tax on their behalf, otherwise the present occupant or user shall pay the tax on behalf of the joint owners. 4. In case a house is a trust property and the trust is in force, the taxpayer of its house tax shall be the trustee. In case there are 2 or more trustees, the provision on joint ownership shall apply. 5. In case the whereabouts of the owner or Dien holder of the house referred to in the preceding paragraph is unknown or if he is not domiciled in the locality where the house is located, the house tax shall be paid by the manager or present occupant of the house. In case the house is rented, the house tax shall be paid by the tenant and deducted from the rent payable to the owner. For houses that have never had ownership registered and the whereabouts of the owner is unknown, the house tax due shall be collected from the builder indicated in the use license; in case no use license has been issued, from the builder indicated in the construction license; in case no construction license has been issued, from the current occupant or manager.

House tax calculation:

Standard house price x size (acreage) x (1-an applicable depreciation rate x the years of depreciation) x an adjustment rate based on the level/class of street or road x an applicable tax rate = payable house tax.

Tax rate:

Taichung City House Tax Rates (Effective from July 1, 2024)

Category	House usage		Number of houses held or duration	Tax rate (%)
Residential	Sole owner-occupied house nationwide under a specified value (Note 1)		Only one house owned nationwide	1.0
	Houses Used for Residential Purposes		Up to 3 owner-occupied houses nationwide	1.2
	Leased out for public welfare purpose (Note 2)		No limit on the number of houses	1.2
	Houses Used for Non-Residential Purposes	1.Declared rental income reaches the prescribed amounts (Note 3) 2.Jointly owned house acquired through inheritance Both types are counted toward the nationwide total	No more than 4 houses nationwide	1.5
			5–6 houses nationwide	2.0
			7 or more houses nationwide	2.4
		Builder-owned unsold residential houses	Within 1 year	2.0
			1–2 years	2.4
			2–4 years	3.6
			4–5 years	4.2
			More than 5 years	4.8
		Other non-owner-occupied residential houses	No more than 2 houses nationwide	3.2
			3–4 houses nationwide	3.8
			5–6 houses nationwide	4.2
			7 or more houses nationwide	4.8
		Houses used for residential purposes that fall under the following categories are taxed at a single rate and are not included in the household unit count: (1) Social housing built by private entities. (2) Public housing for residential purposes, rental housing through rental management services, labor dormitories with staff cafeterias, shared building facilities, houses exclusively used for parking, jointly owned houses, residential houses for long-term care and elderly welfare institutions, residences located in settlement heritage and cultural landscape areas, housing or dormitories built in accordance with the Act for Promotion of Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects, houses demolished within the tax year, and other cases approved by the Ministry of Finance. (Note 4) (3) Houses listed in item (2) that also meet both of the following conditions: declared rental income reaches the prescribed amounts, and the house is jointly owned and acquired through inheritance.		1.2 2.0 1.5
Non-residential	For business purposes			3.0
	Private hospitals, clinics, or freelance offices			3.0
	For non-business purposes by civic groups, etc.			2.0

Note 1. The threshold for the “specified value” is announced annually by the Taichung City Government before the base date for house tax liability.

Note 2. Houses used for self-occupancy or leased out for public welfare purposes: 1.2% tax rate. In accordance with the Standards for the Recognition of Owner-Occupied Houses and of the Status of an Individual to Lease out Premises for Public-Welfare Purposes, occupied houses must meet all of the following criteria to qualify for the preferential tax rate: (1) The house is not rented out or used for business purposes. (2) The house is used as an actual residence by the owner, his/her spouse, or immediate family members, and the household registration must be completed in the house. (3) The owner, his/her spouse, and his/her underage children collectively own no more than three properties nationwide. As for houses leased out for public welfare purposes, this refers to the situation where a landlord registered with a municipality, county, or city competent authority in accordance with the Housing Act and other related regulations leases out houses for residential purposes within a particular period of time determined by such competent authority.

Note 3. When declaring income tax, rental income must be reported for the rental period, and in the event where the annual rental income reaches the Prescribed Amounts for Residential Houses and Land” announced yearly by the Ministry of Finance. For example, in 2023, the prescribed rent ratio in Taichung City was 22% of the current house value.

Note 4. Other houses approved by the Ministry of Finance to be excluded from the household count. (1) Houses built by organizations under Article 11, Paragraph 4 of the Income Tax Act and provided free of charge for residents of disaster areas announced by the Executive Yuan for residential purposes. (2) Residential units that comply with Article 46 of the Regulations on the Use, Income, and Disposal of Land, Buildings, and Facilities in Industrial Parks, and are leased out in compliance with the methods prescribed by the competent authority under the same regulations. (3) Residential houses owned by legal entities that are either entrusted to rental housing service business or subleased by rental housing service business in accordance with the Regulations on the Management and Development of the Rental Housing Market, with lease agreements specifying a residential use period of more than one year.