Services · Company formation

Company registration in Taiwan

100% foreign ownership is allowed, but you need a real office, real bookkeeping and 20% corporate tax.

What a Taiwan company gives you, and who it suits

Taiwan is not an offshore jurisdiction and not a place for a quick paper structure. It is an operating jurisdiction with 20% corporate income tax, mandatory bookkeeping from month one and a state-run electronic invoicing system. A company here makes sense when you have a real connection to the island: sourcing electronics and components, contract manufacturing, working with local suppliers and customers, hiring engineers, or building a regional hub for East Asia.

It suits:

• importers and traders who need a local entity for contracts, business tax refunds and customs clearance;
• technology companies that need a development centre or direct access to the semiconductor supply chain;
• founders who want residency through their own business: a company with paid-in capital supports a work permit for the responsible manager and an ARC;
• service and e-commerce projects with a Taiwanese audience.

Who it does not suit, said plainly. Taiwan works poorly as a purely nominee or holding structure: virtual addresses are rarely accepted, filings are mandatory even at zero turnover, and dividends to non-residents are taxed at source. If the goal is anonymity, no reporting or a fast account to receive third-country payments, choose another jurisdiction. A separate and strict case is investors from mainland China: they fall under a narrower permitted-sectors regime rather than the general negative list, and a structure whose control indirectly leads to the PRC will most likely be refused.

Requirements: capital, directors, office, documents

On paper Taiwan is fairly liberal: 100% foreign ownership is allowed in most sectors and the statutory minimum capital was abolished back in 2009. Practice is stricter than the statute.

• Entity type. Foreigners most often choose a limited company (有限公司): one shareholder and one to three directors are enough. A company limited by shares (股份有限公司) is the choice if you plan outside investors or share options: as a general rule it needs three directors and one supervisor. The alternatives are a branch of a foreign company and a representative office, which cannot carry out commercial activity.
• Capital. There is no legal minimum, but the capital must cover start-up costs and the regulator reviews the business plan. The practical thresholds are immigration-driven: around TWD 500 000 of paid-in capital is needed to obtain a work permit for a foreign responsible manager, and roughly TWD 5 million to hire foreign employees. After that revenue matters: the benchmark for renewing the responsible manager's permit is around TWD 3 million per year.
• Directors and shareholders. No nationality restrictions, and directors do not need to be residents. The exception is a branch: its manager must have domicile or residence in Taiwan.
• Office. A real address with a lease is required. Shelf companies do not exist in Taiwan, and a purely virtual office is usually rejected by the registry and the tax bureau.
• Name. A Chinese company name is mandatory and several options are submitted for clearance. The English name is mainly used for import and export registration.
• Documents and compliance. Passports and address proof for the beneficial owners, the ownership chart, a description of the business and a plan, plus articles, a register extract and an investment resolution for a corporate shareholder. One key point: Taiwan is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention. Foreign corporate documents are legalised through the Taipei representative offices (TECO/TECRO) in the issuing country; an apostille alone is not enough.

The registration process step by step

1. Name clearance and reservation, 3-7 days. We file several Chinese name options and the wording of the business scope with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and check in parallel whether the activity falls into a prohibited or restricted sector.
2. Investor package, 1-3 weeks. We collect documents for the beneficial owners and the parent company, legalise them through TECO and prepare the application and project description.
3. Foreign investment approval, from a few days to 4-6 weeks. The application is reviewed by the investment review department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Small amounts are cleared quickly at staff level; large deals, mergers and sensitive sectors go to interagency review and take considerably longer.
4. Preparatory account and capital injection, 2-4 weeks. We open an account for the company under formation and bring the capital in from abroad through exactly the route stated in the approval. The deadline for the injection is set by the approval itself.
5. Capital verification, 3-7 days. A licensed Taiwanese CPA confirms receipt of the funds and issues a verification report.
6. Company registration, 10-15 days. The Ministry of Economic Affairs enters the company in the register and you receive the certificate and corporate documents.
7. Tax registration and launch, 1-2 weeks. We obtain the unified business number, register for business tax, connect the uniform invoice system, arrange import and export registration where needed, and convert the preparatory account into an operating one.
8. Work permit and ARC, 2-4 weeks. If the founder or staff need residency, we file with the Ministry of Labor after the company is registered.

A realistic timeline from start to a working company with an account is two to three months, assuming a simple ownership structure and documents already in hand. Fitting it into a month is rare. A detailed walkthrough is in our article on how to register a company in Taiwan in 2026.

How much company registration in Taiwan costs

Every service is priced separately below, so you can assemble exactly what you need: formation only, formation with a bank account, or a full package with accounting and an office.

Government fees are billed separately and are not part of our fee: the name clearance charge is around TWD 150 and the registration fee is 1/4000 of the stated capital with a minimum of roughly TWD 1 000. Legalisation through TECO, translations, notarisation and bank tariffs are also charged separately.

Prices are indicative and cover our work on a typical case. We confirm the exact quote in writing after a short call - you know the final number before we start.

Taxes and ongoing filings

Corporate income tax is 20%. Profits not distributed by the end of the following year attract an additional 5% tax, so simply parking profit inside the company is not free. Dividends to non-residents are subject to 21% withholding tax unless a tax treaty applies. That rate is exactly why a branch is sometimes more efficient than a subsidiary: a branch remits after-tax profit to its head office without withholding tax, although a branch has no separate legal personality and the parent's own limitations still apply.

Business tax (Taiwan's VAT) is 5%. Returns are filed every two months, by the 15th. Invoices are issued through the government uniform invoice system; documents drafted freely are not accepted by the tax bureau.

The annual calendar: the corporate income tax return is due by 31 May, and a provisional payment falls in September, normally 50% of the previous year's tax. A CPA audit is mandatory once paid-in capital reaches TWD 30 million, annual sales reach TWD 100 million, headcount reaches 100 employees, or there is a bank loan of TWD 30 million or more. A company with staff also takes on employer duties: labour insurance, health insurance and pension contributions. For an overview of everything else we handle, see our services.

Risks and the usual reasons applications fail

• Banking is the real bottleneck. Some Taiwanese banks refuse a preparatory account to companies with a foreign owner or a foreign chairman, and some look at the beneficial owner's nationality. An in-person branch visit is almost always required. Plan the trip and a backup bank in advance.
• A sector on the negative list. Some sectors are fully closed (defence, certain broadcasting and manufacturing activities) and others are capped by shareholding or require a separate licence. Check before filing, not after a refusal.
• Mainland China in the ownership chain. If any beneficial owner or controlling person is a mainland China resident, a separate and much narrower regime applies, and indirect control is examined closely. Hiding it behind intermediate companies is the fastest route to refusal and to problems later.
• Documents with only an apostille. An apostille alone does not work for Taiwan; legalisation through TECO is required. We regularly meet clients who have already paid for an apostille and lost two weeks.
• Understated capital. Register a token amount and six months later you discover the founder cannot get a work permit. Increasing capital is possible, but it means another approval, another remittance and another verification.
• Missed post-approval deadlines. Capital must be injected and verified within the set deadlines. Miss them and the approval lapses, so the whole procedure has to be repeated.
• A dormant company still costs money. Even with no turnover you keep paying rent, accounting, nil business tax returns and the annual filing. Late penalties almost always cost more than the service.

We give no guarantees on timelines or on decisions by the regulator or a bank: those decisions are not ours to make. What we do guarantee is telling you about the risks before you pay.

How we work

We run the whole process: name, investment approval, document legalisation, capital injection and verification, registration, tax registration, the bank account and, where needed, the work permit and residence card. After that we stay on for maintenance: accounting, filings and advance reminders about deadlines.

1. Consultation. We look at the task: why the company, expected volumes, payment geography. Sometimes the honest answer is that you need a different jurisdiction, and we say so upfront.
2. Quote and documents. The price is fixed in writing; you collect documents against a checklist.
3. Formation. We file and manage the process; you receive the full corporate document set.
4. Maintenance. We remind you about renewals and filings in advance: late penalties almost always cost more than the service.

See also: business account · personal account · investment property · startup visa for Taiwan · all country programs

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