According to the latest announcement from OpenAI, starting this May, Taiwanese users will face an additional 5% business tax on their ChatGPT subscriptions, sparking widespread discussion among online users.

Under Taiwan's Value-Added and Non-Value-Added Business Tax Act, OpenAI is required to charge a 5% business tax to Taiwanese users after completing tax registration. For instance, the ChatGPT Plus plan, which costs $20 per month (approximately NT$616), will rise to $21 (approximately NT$647) after tax. However, corporate users can avoid this tax by providing their uniform number, and users subscribed through the App Store or Google Play will remain unaffected as their fees already include taxes.

Recently, some netizens have discussed ways to evade this tax, such as changing their billing address to a tax-exempt overseas location. However, many have warned that this could involve tax evasion risks, suggesting it is not worth the legal trouble for saving just $1.

In fact, this business tax is essentially a consumption tax, and most subscription platforms or app stores already include the 5% tax. This adjustment is merely a result of OpenAI formally complying with Taiwan's tax regulations.