The Taipei High Administrative Court threw out the appeals by Chen Hsing-yu and Chao Chien-ming against a decision by the Ministry of Finance which upheld the tax administration's fine against them.

The court said the tax administration's decision was justified in light of the fact that the couple paid up their personal income taxes in full only after the administration discovered that they had not declared all of their income on their tax returns.

The high court's ruling can be appealed.

The case arose from a probe in 2006 by law enforcement officials into the couple's income after it was reported that Chao Chien-ming had engaged in insider trading of stocks of Taiwan Development Corporation in 2005.

The authorities found that the couple, who filed joint tax returns, failed report income from their advertising work for a private cord blood bank in 2002 and 2005.

The Taipei National Tax Administration therefore imposed a fine of NT$876,000 (US$26,610) on Chen Hsing-yu, in addition to requiring that she pay outstanding income taxes of NT$1.43 million. Her husband was fined NT$1.01 million and his outstanding income taxes were calculated at NT$1.7 million.

Taking issue with the administration's decision, the couple appealed to the Ministry of Finance then later to the Taipei High Administrative court.