2026 Taiwan Income Tax Complete Guide: Deadlines, Deductions, Login Methods, and the 5-Step Refund Process

The deadline for individual income tax filing — May 1 to May 31 — is only days away. Every year, the National Taxation Bureau handles a pile of cases where people missed the filing deadline, used the wrong deductions, or got stuck on the login method. This guide covers the filing period, the personal exemption, the standard deduction, when to itemize, the 6 e-filing login methods, the 5 most common mistakes, and the earliest possible refund date — all framed for the 2026 (tax year 2025) Individual Income Tax return. Everything below is written for an office worker earning NT$30,000 to NT$60,000 a month, so follow along and avoid overpaying. Information current as of May 2026; defer to the official Ministry of Finance and National Taxation Bureau announcements.

2026 filing period and the basic threshold

What you file in 2026 is your 2025 income (tax year 2025). The regular filing window is May 1 to May 31, but because May 31, 2026 falls on a Sunday, the 2026 deadline is extended to June 1. The rule for whether you need to file is simple: if your annual income exceeds the combined threshold of personal exemption + standard deduction + special salary deduction, you must file.

For a single office worker, you need to file if your annual income (including salary) exceeds about NT$446,000. If you earn under roughly NT$36,000 a month, you may not owe any tax at all — but you should still file, because the salary income tax your employer withheld may be refunded.

Personal exemption and standard deduction: lock in the 2026 numbers

The personal exemption is the slice of income the government considers a baseline cost of living — not taxable. The 2026 figures:

NT$97,000 per person (yourself, your spouse, or your dependents).
For yourself, spouse, or direct ascendants aged 70 or older: NT$145,500 per person.

The standard deduction is a flat amount you can deduct without any documentation:

Single: NT$131,000.
Married couple filing jointly: NT$262,000.

For most office workers, the standard deduction is enough — unless you have large medical expenses, mortgage interest, or insurance premiums.

When does itemizing actually pay off?

Itemizing means deducting your actual expenses with receipts — worth doing only if the total exceeds the standard deduction. Common itemized items:

Insurance premiums: NHI premiums are fully deductible per person; other personal life insurance is capped at NT$24,000 per person.
Medical and maternity expenses: Receipts from MOF-recognized medical facilities are fully deductible (registration, hospitalization, surgery, etc.).
Home mortgage interest: Up to NT$300,000 per household (minus the savings-and-investment special deduction).
Donations: Donations to government, education, culture, or public-welfare organizations are capped at 20% of total gross income.
Disaster losses: Verified at actual amount, with a certificate from the local police or township office.

In practice, households with a mortgage usually come out ahead by itemizing, because interest alone often exceeds NT$100,000 a year. For renters, since tax year 2024, rental expense has moved from itemized to a “special deduction” — capped at NT$180,000 per household and stackable with the standard deduction. That’s a real win for budget-conscious workers.

What special deductions exist? Salary, savings, long-term care, and more

Special deductions can be stacked on top of either the standard or itemized deductions, so this is the section people most often miss:

Special deduction for salaries and wages: NT$218,000 per person (whichever is larger compared to actual necessary expenses).
Special deduction for savings and investments: NT$270,000 per household — bank interest income is deductible up to this amount.
Special Preschool Deduction: For children under age 6 — NT$150,000 for the first child, NT$225,000 per child from the second onward (new in tax year 2025; the wealth-exclusion clause has been removed).
Special deduction for persons with disabilities: NT$218,000 per person.
Special deduction for tuition: NT$25,000 per dependent child enrolled in junior college or above.
Special deduction for long-term care: NT$180,000 per qualified disabled person (new starting tax year 2025; raised from NT$120,000, retroactive to January 1, 2025).
Special deduction for rental expense: NT$180,000 per household for renters using the place as their primary residence (newly independent).

Many office workers only remember the salary deduction and forget that bank time-deposit interest qualifies for the NT$270,000 savings-and-investment deduction. If you help pay nursing-home fees for a family member, don’t forget to claim the long-term care deduction too.

The MOF’s Individual Income Tax e-Filing and Tax Payment System supports a total of 6 login methods. Pick based on what tools you already have on hand:

Mobile-phone authentication: Your own mobile number + ID number + NHI card number. Fastest at about 30 seconds. ⚠️ The mobile number must be registered in your own name — a number under a family member’s name won’t work.
NHI card + registration password: Requires an NHI card reader; if you don’t have one, switch to mobile-phone authentication.
Citizen Digital Certificate: Requires the Ministry of the Interior certificate plus a card reader. A robust option for downloading income and deduction data, but the exact data available still depends on what the tax system has received (auto-imports withholding statements, insurance premiums, donation records).
Mobile Citizen Digital Certificate: The mobile version of the Citizen Digital Certificate — set it up once, then use fingerprint or face recognition to authenticate, no card reader needed.
Household registration number + lookup code: The lookup code can be printed for free at convenience-store KIOSKs. Quick and easy.
Financial Certificate: An electronic certificate issued by your bank or brokerage — handy if you already have one.

⚠️ The QR code on payment slips is for “paying tax,” not “logging in”: Many people mistake it for a login method. In fact, it’s a barcode on the payment slip used to pay tax by credit or debit card after scanning. You still need one of the 6 methods above to log in.

Once you’ve picked a login method, the actual filing process is straightforward — most people finish in under 20 minutes:

Prep your authentication: Pick one of the 6 methods and verify it works (the Citizen Digital Certificate is valid for 5 years; your NHI card password may need to be registered first).
Download the e-filing software and log in: From May 1, the system auto-imports your salary, interest, and withholding statements. For mobile, use the “Individual Income Tax e-Filing” app.
Confirm income and dependents: Check whether any side-gig, rental, or dividend income is missing; for dependents, confirm no one else has already claimed them.
Choose your deduction method: The software auto-compares standard vs. itemized and picks the more favorable option.
Choose payment or refund: Enter your bank account if you’re due a refund; if you owe tax, pick a lump sum or installments (over NT$30,000 splits into up to 3 installments), credit card installments, or convenience-store payment (for amounts under NT$20,000).

If you want to confirm whether your full-year salary hits the taxable threshold, use the date calculator to check your employer’s pay cycle — that way you don’t accidentally count current-year income as last year.

5 most common filing mistakes: people trip over these every year

The bureau publishes an annual error ranking. The traps office workers fall into most:

Under-reporting dividends or side income: Brokerage dividends, podcast ad revenue, Shopee stores, food-delivery work, tutoring, royalties, YouTube ad revenue — the bureau reconciles data from 8 major platforms, so don’t gamble.
Claiming rental expense without a complete contract and transfer record: Renters claiming rental expense must have a lease, proof of payment (transfer records), and proof of residency — all three.
Parents both claiming the same dependent, causing duplicate claims among siblings: Each dependent can only be claimed by one filer. Talk it through ahead of time.
Ticking “spouse separate calculation” but botching the math: The e-filing software auto-runs all three calculation methods — just pick the lowest result. Don’t calculate by hand.
Wrong account number for the refund: If the transfer fails, you have to re-apply, which can delay your refund by 1–2 months. Double-check before submitting.

Refund traps and tax-saving moves: most people don’t know these

A few details that quietly save tax:

Don’t forget to include dependents on your joint filing: Each dependent adds about NT$97,000 in extra exemption, provided they meet the dependent criteria (living with you, actual financial support, income below the exemption).
Voluntary 6% Labor Pension contribution doesn’t count toward current-year income: It’s deducted directly from taxable income — one of the most effective tax-saving tools for salary earners. At NT$40,000 monthly salary contributing 6%, NT$28,800 a year is tax-free; a 5% bracket saves NT$1,440, a 12% bracket saves NT$3,456.
Ask for electronic donation receipts: Most public-welfare organizations offer a “direct upload to your tax return” service, which saves you sorting through receipts.
Medical expenses limited to NHI-contracted facilities: Non-NHI items like cosmetic procedures or orthodontics can’t be itemized.
0% interest installments for tax payment: When the amount due is large, 0–12 month credit card installments often beat a bank loan on fees.

When does the refund land? As early as late July

The 2026 refund lands in three batches:

Batch 1: July 31, 2026 (filers who submitted between May 1 and May 10, error-free).
Batch 2: October 31, 2026 (filers who submitted between May 11 and May 31).
Batch 3: January 20, 2027 (supplemental documents, manual review, late filers).

Per past bureau data, the average Batch 1 refund is about NT$15,000–16,000, and Batch 3 averages around NT$11,000 (varies by batch and year). The simplest way to land your refund early: file online before May 10 and choose direct deposit — it can hit your account as early as the end of July.

Creator and platform income: check whether it must be reported

Platform and creator income is increasingly being reconciled by the tax authority. If you earned income from streaming, podcasts, affiliate links, sponsorships, or platform sales, check whether it must be reported and whether any voluntary correction program applies.

⚠️ If your annual sales approach the NT$100,000 per month for goods / NT$50,000 per month for services ceiling for personal sellers (the 2026 threshold), you may also need to register for business tax — that’s a separate regulation.

FAQ

Q1: My monthly salary is NT$35,000 and my employer withholds tax. Do I still need to file?

Yes. Even if your annual income doesn’t reach the taxable threshold, the only way to recover the tax your employer already withheld is to file. Skipping the filing is essentially giving the money to the government.

Q2: Can I use both the standard deduction and itemized deductions at the same time?

No. You pick one or the other. Special deductions, however, stack on top of either one. So after choosing the standard deduction, you can still claim salary, savings, rental, and other special deductions.

Q3: I forgot to file last year. Will I be fined? How do I fix it?

Under Article 110 of the Income Tax Act, an individual who fails to file individual income tax with tax payable faces a fine of up to 3× the under-reported tax, on top of paying the back tax. If you filed but under-reported, the cap is 2×. But if you voluntarily file and pay the make-up before any complaint or audit, Article 48-1 of the Tax Collection Act lets you avoid the penalty — you only owe interest. Late tax payment carries a 1% surcharge for every 3 days overdue. ⚠️ Note: Articles often misapply the “10% late-filing fee / 20% non-filing fee” rules — those are corporate income tax rules. Individual income tax has no late-filing or non-filing fees, only the penalties above.

Q4: How do I report dividend income? Is combined or separate taxation better?

Dividends can go through “combined taxation” (which grants an 8.5% tax credit, capped at NT$80,000 per household) or “separate taxation at 28%”. For office workers in the 20% bracket or lower, combined taxation almost always wins. The e-filing software auto-compares — just follow its recommendation.

The top recommendation is the Mobile Citizen Digital Certificate (mobile app + fingerprint or face recognition): set it up once, reuse it every year, no card reader needed. If you haven’t applied for a Citizen Digital Certificate yet, mobile-phone authentication is the fastest path (number must be in your own name) and requires no extra credentials. If your mobile number is in a family member’s name, fall back to “household registration number + lookup code” (printed at convenience stores).

Looking ahead: thresholds adjust with inflation

Under Article 5 of the Income Tax Act, when the cumulative CPI increase reaches 3% or more, the personal exemption, standard deduction, and special salary deduction are adjusted upward. This means the personal exemption, standard deduction, special salary deduction, and disability special deduction can rise in future filing years once the inflation threshold is met. For the exact figures that apply to a given filing year, defer to the official Ministry of Finance and National Taxation Bureau announcements.

Worth flagging: the long-term care special deduction increase from NT$120,000 to NT$180,000 is already retroactive to tax year 2025 (so it applies for this May 2026 filing) — you don’t have to wait until 2027.

Bottom line: most deductions for this May 2026 filing didn’t change, but if you support a disabled family member, make sure to use the new NT$180,000 long-term care deduction. If you had platform-creator income in 2025, check whether it must be reported. From next year, all office workers will benefit from higher exemption and deduction thresholds — expect a smaller tax bill.

If you need to combine multiple withholding-statement photos into one PDF for upload, the PDF Merge Tool handles it; if you need to compress receipt photos to meet upload limits, the Image Compression Tool batches them in one pass. Before filing, also worth reading the Tax Refund Money Management Guide — think through the smartest way to allocate the money before it lands.