Businesses Must File Taxes on Time Even When Business applies for Temporary Suspension of Business
Business operators who issue GUI(Government Uniform Invoice) and apply for business suspension must report their sales amount, payable tax, or overpaid business tax for the current period on time, regardless of whether there is any sales revenue. Late filing will result in penalties such as late-filing fines or non-filing fines.
According to Article 35 and 49 of the Value-Added and Non-Value-Added Business Tax Act stipulates that business operators, regardless of whether there is any sales revenue, must file a tax return every two months. The return must be submitted within 15 days after the start of the next filing period, using the prescribed form and including relevant documents such as tax credit claims, to the competent tax authority, reporting the sales amount, payable tax, or overpaid business tax. Failure to file on time can result in penalties: a late-filing fine of 1% of the payable tax every 2 days (minimum NTD1,200, maximum NTD12,000), or a 30% non-filing fine if over 30 days late (minimum NTD3,000, maximum NTD30,000). If no tax is owed, fixed fines apply.
An example is illustrated as follows.
Example: A business suspended operations from April 15, 2025, and had no sales in March–April period. The operator mistakenly believed that since there were no sales in March–April 2025 and business suspension had been applied for, there was no need to file the business tax return. After receiving a notice from the tax bureau, the operator eventually filed the return on June 10, 2025. Despite no sales, it was fined NTD1,200 for late filing.
