One fee, three names
Riders in Taiwan usually call it the “fuel tax” (燃料稅) or “fuel fee” (燃料費). Legally it was the automobile fuel-use fee, charged under Article 27 of the Highway Act rather than under a tax law. Article 27 was amended on 19 December 2025, and on 21 May 2026 the Ministry of Transportation and Communications rewrote the implementing regulations and renamed them the Regulations on the Highway Use, Maintenance and Safety Management Fee, effective the same day.
For scooters nothing changed except the name: petrol is still charged at NT$2.5 per litre, and the fee table uses the same formula as before. If your July bill shows the long new name, it is the old fuel fee.
How it is calculated
Schedule 1 assigns each engine size an assumed monthly fuel use (15 litres a month for 51–125 cc, for example), and Schedule 2 turns that into a yearly fee:
Yearly fee = NT$2.5 × litres per month × 12, rounded
For a 125 cc scooter: 2.5 × 15 × 12 = NT$450. The last column of the table re-runs this sum for every bracket, and each result matches the official amount. When the fee is charged by the day, it is the yearly fee divided by 12 and then by 30, with fractions of a tenth of a dollar dropped (note 3 to Schedule 2).
The schedule’s scooter brackets stop at 1,800 cc, so we do not list a figure for larger engines; go by the Highway Bureau’s bill. Vehicles registered on the outlying islands pay 70%.
When you pay
Private vehicles and scooters are billed once a year, in July. That is a different month and a different table from the license tax: license tax is due in April and is zero up to 150 cc, whereas even a 50 cc scooter pays the road fee. The payment calendar puts both side by side.
Electric scooters: exempt for now
Article 4 of the regulations exempts electric vehicles, and because the Highway Act counts scooters as motor vehicles, electric scooters currently pay nothing. The amended Article 27, however, adds that “the rate for vehicles that do not use fuel shall be set separately by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in consultation with the Ministry of Finance” (our translation). The law therefore already allows a charge on electric vehicles; no rate had been set when this page was last verified. If you are buying an e-scooter, treat the exemption as something that could change and watch for announcements.
For every difference between the two kinds of scooter, see electric vs petrol.
For big bikes over 250 cc, the road fee together with license tax and insurance in every bracket is on the large heavy motorcycle costs page.