Viewpoints

Under Taiwan’s new unified real estate system, what is the best way to arrange the inheritance of real estate?   Transferring a house to children through a gift allows the use of the announced current value to calculate the gift amount, and there is a tax exemption available to save on taxes. However, if children sell the house later, they will face a huge unified real estate tax because the profit is calculated based on the announced current value at the time of the gift (which is about 30% of the market price, much lower) minus the actual selling price, resulting in a significant profit and a hefty unified real estate tax. If the transfer is done through a sale, the children need to come up with funds close to the actual market price to purchase it; otherwise, the Taiwan National Taxation Bureau might consider it a sham transaction that […]

According to the regulations of Company Law in Taiwan, the term of office for director and supervisor of a Taiwanese corporation is maximum of three years, and elections must be held at the end of each term. However, if the directors and supervisors elected in each election are the same as the previous one, they may be re-elected consecutively.   When the term of office for director and supervisor expires but there is no time for re-election, the term of office may be extended until the director is re-elected and takes office. The definition of failure to re-elect is based on whether the company has elected new directors upon the expiration of the term of the directors and supervisors. As for the reasons, the Taiwan Economic Department will not conduct further inspections. However, the Taiwan Economic Department has the authority to order the company to conduct elections within a specified […]

If a Taiwan company operates in international trade, requiring the import or export of goods, it must register with the Taiwan Bureau of Foreign Trade for an import/export business registration after the company registration is completed.   The first step in applying for an import or export business registration is to conduct a preliminary search for the company’s English name to check whether the intended English name has already been registered by another company or if there is an existing registered trademark. If there are no such issues and the name passes the review, it can be reserved. This English name can be reserved for up to six months.   The second step involves proceeding with the import/export business registration. Once the registration is approved, the registration information will be uploaded to the internet for public display and transmitted to customs, at which point the company’s import/export registration is considered […]

To curb the phenomenon of flipping properties in Taiwan, the new Income Tax Act is revised the taxation regulations toward to selling estates (abbreviated as “House and Land Transactions Income Tax” hereafter), which was implemented on January 1st, 2016. The taxation brackets are as varied as the holding period, the longer you hold, the lower the tax rate is. This aims to encourage the owner to hold his/her properties as long as possible as well as to curb the property flipped. However, a lot of owners still try to get around the rule to avoid the taxation, so the specific taxation model of house and land transactions income tax was added on July 1st, 2021, which is abbreviated as special shareholdings transactions:   Pre-sale houses and situated foundations. Direct or indirect transactions of holding shares or capital amount is more than a majority of domestic or foreign profit-seeking enterprises. The […]

Taiwan Business Certificate is an IC card used by limited companies, branch offices, limited partnerships, and other businesses registered under Taiwan’s Company Law and Commercial Law for online identity verification. Recently, companies can directly use this certificate to apply for various electronic related businesses online, without being restricted by the time and location of case submissions, which can simplify the overall application process and improve application efficiency. After receiving the main card of the Business Certificate, companies can apply for additional cards based on internal management needs or business requirements, and these cards can be obtained within approximately 14 working days.   Applying for a Business Certificate offers many benefits, as it allows for the online application of many services to speed up the process, including:   Handling company tax filings and shareholder reports; Electronification of company utility and electricity bill accounting; Enrollment and changes in employee labor insurance and […]

No matter foreigners or Taiwanese to be the responsible person of Taiwan company, the tax regulations will be varied as different as the country of tax residents.   Residency and holding the household registration in Taiwan within 1 to 31 days (with Taiwan labour insurance, health insurance, national pension, or spouse and children in Taiwan). Such as overseas Chinese (if the period of residency is less than 31 days, it is defined as non-tax residents.) Residency and holding the household registration in Taiwan more than 31 days (with Taiwan labour insurance, health insurance, national pension, or spouse and children in Taiwan). Such as Taiwan citizens, Taiwanese on foreign business trips. Without household registration in Taiwan but staying in Taiwan more than 183 days. Such as foreign workers in Taiwan (with tax liability shall proceed the annual income tax return in May each year.)   Here is the comparison for Taiwan […]

Taiwan’s Migrant Worker Retention Scheme, which has already approved the transition of over 4,000 migrant workers to mid-level positions, is currently being amended by Taiwan’s labor department to further relax regulations. New additions include mid-level technical jobs in slaughterhouses and an increase in the number of hours for in-house training courses provided by manufacturing and slaughterhouse businesses to 80 hours as a technical qualification. Furthermore, the scheme now allows the spouse, direct blood relatives, and collateral blood relatives within the third degree of kinship to employ as migrant caregivers who have worked for 11.5 years and have already left the country.   The slaughterhouse industry in Taiwan has been open to migrant workers for six years. To retain experienced migrant workers in the slaughterhouse industry for mid-level technical positions, considering the increasing demand for meat consumption and the yearly increase in the number of slaughterhouses, there’s a need for mid-level […]

When Taiwan companies declare employees’ annual salary income from the previous year, including various income and exemption certificates, if an employee has participated in voluntary pension contributions during that year, the amount of the contribution should be deducted in full of the total salary income to avoid overpaying taxes.   According to Taiwan’s “Enforcement Rules of the Labor Pension Act,” the amount of voluntary pension contributions within 6% of the monthly salary is not included in the taxable income for the year of contribution. Therefore, when Taiwan companies file the “Withholding and Non-withholding Tax”, they should correctly report the amount of voluntary contributions made by the employee in the “Amount of Voluntary Contributions under the Labor Pension Act” field, and the total payment amount must deduct the voluntary contribution amount in full.   For example:   In 2023, the employee’s total monthly salary is NT$43,000 (the salary classified for contribution […]