Where the campaign money comes from
Who may give, how much per year, when money can be accepted, and where to look it up after the vote.
This page covers rules, dates and how to look things up. It lists no candidate's figures and comments on no one.
From opening the account to publishing the books
Dates below are for prospective candidates for special municipality mayor, county/city mayor and councilor. Township representatives, mountain indigenous district representatives and village/borough chiefs start later and are marked separately.
- Done
The Control Yuan starts accepting dedicated-account applications (special municipality mayors and councilors, county/city mayors and councilors, township mayors, mountain indigenous district chiefs)
- Done
Once their account is approved, these prospective candidates may start accepting donations
- Done
Prospective candidates for township representative, mountain indigenous district representative and village/borough chief can start applying
- Done
The Central Election Commission issues the election announcement, including every district's campaign spending ceiling; representatives and village/borough chiefs may start accepting donations
- Next
Last day for all prospective candidates to accept donations (the day before voting)
-
Voting day
-
The CEC announces the winners of the mayor and councilor races
-
Election commissions calculate campaign subsidies and notify candidates to collect them (within 30 days of the winners announcement)
-
Deadline for prospective candidates to file accounting reports with the Control Yuan (three months after voting; moves to the next working day if it falls on a holiday)
- 2027
The Control Yuan publishes the accounting reports online (legal deadline: within six months after the filing deadline)
Sources: Political Donations Act Art. 12, Art. 21; Control Yuan donation calendar, Control Yuan account notice (six offices, from April), Control Yuan account notice (representatives and village chiefs); CEC election work schedule (PDF), CNA, Apr 21, 2026
Who may accept, who may give
Who may accept
- Only political parties, political associations and prospective candidates may accept political donations.
- A prospective candidate is someone who has registered, or intends to register, to run during the legal donation period.
- If a prospective candidate's spouse, children, relatives within the second degree or household members sharing finances accept donations instead, they are fined three times the amount.
Who may give
Individuals, political parties, civil associations and profit-seeking enterprises may give, except for these 11 categories:
- 1 State-owned enterprises, and private companies in which the government holds 20% or more of the capital
- 2 Contractors with a large government procurement or major public infrastructure investment contract still being performed
- 3 Profit-seeking enterprises with accumulated losses not yet made up (based on the previous year's financial statements)
- 4 Religious organizations
- 5 Other political parties, or prospective candidates in the same type of election (parties jointly nominating the same candidates are exempt)
- 6 People who do not have the right to vote
- 7 Foreign nationals, legal persons, groups or other institutions, or bodies whose principal members are foreign
- 8 People, legal persons, groups or other institutions of China (the "Mainland Area" in the law), or bodies whose principal members are from there
- 9 Hong Kong and Macau residents, legal persons, groups or other institutions, or bodies whose principal members are from Hong Kong or Macau
- 10 Businesses run or invested in by political parties
- 11 Contractors with a large procurement contract with a party-run or party-invested business still being performed
"Principal members" in items 7 to 9 means: holding the chair of a Taiwanese organization or legal person; or holding more than one third of director, supervisor and similar posts; or holding 30% or more of a company limited by shares, or making up more than one third of the shareholders or members of other companies and organizations.
Donations from foreign, Chinese, Hong Kong or Macau sources may not be returned to the donor. They must be handed to the Control Yuan for the national treasury.
Sources: Political Donations Act Art. 2, Art. 5, Art. 7, Art. 15, Art. 27
How much one donor may give in a year
Limits count per year, meaning everything given within the same calendar year. This cycle's donation window runs from April to November, all within 2026.
| Donor | To one prospective candidate | To all prospective candidates combined |
|---|---|---|
| Individual | NT$100,000 | NT$300,000 |
| Profit-seeking enterprise | NT$1,000,000 | NT$2,000,000 |
| Civil association | NT$500,000 | NT$1,000,000 |
Parties giving to their own nominees
A party's cash donations to one prospective candidate it nominates have separate limits:
- Special municipality mayor, county/city mayor
- NT$3,000,000
- Municipal and county/city councilor
- NT$500,000
- Township mayor, mountain indigenous district chief
- NT$300,000
- Township representative, indigenous district representative, village/borough chief
- NT$100,000
Donors who exceed the limits can be fined up to twice the amount given in violation.
Anonymous gifts, cash and receipts
- You may not donate in someone else's name.
- An anonymous donation may not exceed NT$10,000.
- Anonymous donations may not add up to more than 30% of a prospective candidate's total reported income; the excess goes to the national treasury.
- Cash donations over NT$100,000 must be made by check or bank transfer. Bequests are exempt.
- Money received must be deposited in the dedicated account within 15 days.
- Receipts must be issued, except for anonymous gifts and bequests.
Sources: Political Donations Act Art. 10, Art. 11, Art. 14, Art. 15
Open a dedicated account, get approval, then accept
- A prospective candidate must open one political donation account at a financial institution and get Control Yuan approval before accepting any money. The Control Yuan announces each approval.
- Only one account is allowed, and it cannot be changed or closed without the Control Yuan's consent.
- The account name follows a fixed format that states the year, the office and the prospective candidate.
- Applications can be filed online with a citizen digital certificate, or on paper by post. The Control Yuan advises against opening the account too early, so that no money arrives before the window opens.
- Accepting donations without an approved account carries up to three years in prison, with an optional fine of NT$200,000 to NT$1,000,000.
Before you give, check the account
On the Control Yuan's Sunshine Act website (Chinese), open "Political donation account announcements", choose "prospective candidate" and an election type for ROC year 115 (2026) to see approved accounts.
Sources: Political Donations Act Art. 10, Art. 26; Control Yuan account notice (six offices, from April), Control Yuan account notice (representatives and village chiefs), Control Yuan account announcements
Can donations be deducted from tax?
- Individuals: an itemized income tax deduction, up to 20% of the household's gross consolidated income for the year and no more than NT$200,000.
- Profit-seeking enterprises: can be booked as an expense or loss for the year, up to 10% of taxable income and no more than NT$500,000.
- No deduction if there is no receipt, the donation broke the law, the money was returned or paid to the treasury, or the recipient never registered as a candidate or had the candidacy revoked (unless the prospective candidate died after receiving it).
Sources: Political Donations Act Art. 19
Campaign spending ceilings by district
The Central Election Commission's election announcement of August 20, 2026 lists a campaign spending ceiling for every district. The tables below cover special municipality mayors and county/city mayors.
How it is calculated
For executive races: 70% of the district's population, times NT$20, plus a fixed amount. The fixed amount is NT$50 million for special municipality mayors and NT$30 million for county/city mayors. Population is the household-registration count at the end of the sixth month before the voting month, and any remainder under NT$1,000 counts as NT$1,000.
What the ceiling is used for
The law uses it in two places. Campaign spending within the ceiling, minus donations and government subsidies, can be itemized as an income tax deduction. The election subsidy also may not exceed it.
| District | Ceiling (NT$) |
|---|---|
| Taipei City 臺北市 | 83,986,000 |
| New Taipei City 新北市 | 106,551,000 |
| Taoyuan City 桃園市 | 82,989,000 |
| Taichung City 臺中市 | 90,149,000 |
| Tainan City 臺南市 | 75,886,000 |
| Kaohsiung City 高雄市 | 87,960,000 |
| District | Ceiling (NT$) |
|---|---|
| Hsinchu County 新竹縣 | 38,376,000 |
| Miaoli County 苗栗縣 | 37,420,000 |
| Changhua County 彰化縣 | 46,865,000 |
| Nantou County 南投縣 | 36,543,000 |
| Yunlin County 雲林縣 | 39,074,000 |
| Chiayi County 嘉義縣 | 36,592,000 |
| Pingtung County 屏東縣 | 40,915,000 |
| Yilan County 宜蘭縣 | 36,282,000 |
| Hualien County 花蓮縣 | 34,360,000 |
| Taitung County 臺東縣 | 32,912,000 |
| Penghu County 澎湖縣 | 31,494,000 |
| Kinmen County 金門縣 | 31,933,000 |
| Lienchiang County 連江縣 | 30,192,000 |
| Keelung City 基隆市 | 35,024,000 |
| Hsinchu City 新竹市 | 36,382,000 |
| Chiayi City 嘉義市 | 33,662,000 |
Ceilings for every municipal and county/city councilor district are listed in the same announcement. Township mayors, township representatives, mountain indigenous district chiefs and representatives, and village/borough chiefs are announced by local election commissions; the CEC website collects those announcements on one page.
Sources: CEC election announcement, Aug 20, 2026, Announcement text (PDF); Civil Servants Election and Recall Act Art. 41, Art. 42, Art. 43; CEC: announcements for the other five races
Enough votes earn NT$30 per vote
- Single-seat districts (such as mayors): at least one third of the winner's vote count.
- Multi-seat districts (such as councils): at least half of the lowest winning vote count. If the lowest winner took a reserved seat for women, the vote count of the winner ranked just above is used instead.
- Qualifying candidates receive NT$30 per vote, capped at the district's campaign spending ceiling.
- Election commissions calculate the amount within 30 days of the winners announcement and notify candidates to collect it within three months.
For example, a qualifying candidate with 100,000 votes receives NT$3,000,000.
Sources: Civil Servants Election and Recall Act Art. 43; CEC election work schedule (PDF)
File within three months, published within six more
- Prospective candidates must file accounting reports with the Control Yuan within three months after voting day. For this cycle the deadline is February 28, 2027; if that falls on a holiday it moves to the next working day.
- Anyone who received NT$10 million or more must have the report audited by a certified public accountant within 70 days after voting day.
- Reports list income and spending by category, with full details for every counterparty above NT$30,000.
- The Control Yuan must publish the reports online within six months after the filing deadline, including the income-and-expense summary and itemized lists of donations and spending. Individuals' ID numbers and registered and mailing addresses are withheld or only partly shown.
How long it took last time
For the 2022 local elections, the Control Yuan published the reports in three batches the following year:
- County/city mayors, special municipality mayors, mountain indigenous district representatives
- Township mayors and township representatives
- Municipal and county/city councilors, village/borough chiefs, mountain indigenous district chiefs
At that pace, the 2026 reports would come online in stages around mid-2027. The Control Yuan platform will announce the exact dates.
Sources: Political Donations Act Art. 20, Art. 21; Regulations on Disclosure and Inspection of Political Donation Accounting Reports, Control Yuan donation calendar, Platform notices
Look it up yourself
During the campaign the books are not public yet. What you can check now is which accounts have been approved. Once the reports are out, use the two sites below together.
Available now: approved accounts
Control Yuan Sunshine Act websiteCheck that the person you want to support has an approved account.
- 1 Open "Political donation account announcements" (政治獻金專戶公告資料) on the Sunshine Act website.
- 2 Set the account type to "prospective candidate" (擬參選人).
- 3 Pick an election type for ROC year 115, such as "115年縣(市)長選舉", and search.
Control Yuan political donations platform
ardata.cy.gov.twLaunched on August 14, 2019. The official records live here and can be downloaded as spreadsheets.
- 1 On your first visit, enter the verification code shown and click "Agree" (同意) after reading the terms.
- 2 For a whole election, use "Election search" (選舉查詢) and pick the election. For a specific person or company, use "General search" (一般查詢) and search by prospective candidate, donor or payee.
- 3 Advanced search narrows results by election year, county or city, transaction date, amount range, or only items above NT$30,000.
- 4 Download from the election or account search results to get a zip file with income details, spending details and a summary. Open the CSV files with Excel's text import so names like "7-11" are not turned into dates.
Under the platform terms, the data may not be used for profit, credit investigation or other improper purposes.
g0v money flow (金流百科)
g0v-money-flow.github.ioA visualization site built by Taiwan's civic tech community g0v, turning Control Yuan records into comparison charts.
- 1 Open the site, pick an election such as "2018 縣市長選舉" (2018 mayoral races), then a county or city.
- 2 The district page lines up each candidate's votes, vote share, total income and total spending.
- 3 Scroll down for income and spending comparison charts across the district.
- 4 For individual donations, go back to the Control Yuan platform and download the details.
The site covers the 2014, 2016 and 2018 elections, and its code was last updated in April 2020. Data for 2022 and 2026 is not there for now.
When will the 2026 data be available?
The filing deadline is February 28, 2027, and the law gives the Control Yuan six months after that to publish. Last time, the reports went online in three batches between May and July of the year after the vote.
Sources: Control Yuan account announcements, Platform user guide (PDF), Control Yuan press release, Aug 14, 2019, g0v money flow, Source repository
Linked sources are in Chinese.