Leading online travel agency Agoda has been fined by Taiwanese authorities for not legally registering itself as a business in the country.
The National Taxation Bureau of Taipei (NTBT) hit the company with a fine of NT$20 million (about $620,000) for violating the Business Tax Law and the Tax Collection Act and for failing to issue unified invoices.
Singapore-based Agoda had set up an office in Taiwan under the name of an affiliate company.
NTBT officials decided Agoda had hired local employees and was conducting core business functions, such as contracting with hoteliers, and therefore should have been legally registered at a taxation bureau.
Companies violating the business tax law could be liable to pay up to five times the amount of tax due or closed down indefinitely.
The agency also said Agoda must collect ‘input documentary evidence’ from hotel partners, and issue invoices to the hotels showing the commission it is paid.
