Combined homes, single household registration: Tax break eligibility questioned

Taiwanese homeowners who combine adjacent properties for a single residence may face scrutiny regarding their eligibility for preferential land value tax rates.

A recent query highlighted a scenario where a taxpayer purchased two neighboring houses, merged them for unified use, but registered them under their name and their spouse's name separately. Crucially, household registration was only established in one of the properties.

This arrangement raises a critical question: Can both properties benefit from the self-use residential preferential tax rate, which is significantly lower than the standard rate? The tax law typically requires that the property be used as the taxpayer's primary residence and that household registration be established there.

Authorities are expected to provide clarification on how such combined-use, separately registered properties are assessed, particularly when household registration is not uniformly established across all merged units. This situation could impact homeowners who have undertaken similar property consolidation projects.