Tw Company Formation

---
name: tw-company-formation
description: "Source-cited draft: company formation & entity choice for Taiwan (tax year 2025) — rates, thresholds and rules with primary-source citations. Unverified; pending local-accountant review."
license: "AGPL-3.0-or-later (code) / OpenAccountants Guide License v1.0 (content)"
metadata:
  source: openaccountants
  openaccountants_url: "https://www.openaccountants.com/skills/tw-company-formation"
  jurisdiction: "TW"
  tax_year: "2025"
  last_updated: "2026-07-13"
---

# Taiwan Company Formation & Entity Choice

## Common entity types

- **Common entity types overview** — Foreign and local investors most commonly use a company limited by shares or a limited company under the Company Act; foreign companies may also operate via a branch or representative office. Foreign-owned entities must clear the Investment Commission (MOEA).
- **Company limited by shares (股份有限公司)** — Most common vehicle for larger/foreign-invested businesses; shareholders' liability limited to share capital; requires at least one shareholder (corporate) or two natural-person shareholders and directors ((approx — confirm director/shareholder minimums))  _(Company Act — https://taiwan.acclime.com/guides/how-to-register-company/)_
- **Limited company (有限公司)** — Simpler form for SMEs; one or more members with liability limited to capital contributions; at least one director  _(Company Act — https://taiwan.acclime.com/guides/how-to-register-company/)_
- **Branch of a foreign company** — An extension of the foreign parent (not a separate legal entity); branch profits are not subject to the undistributed-earnings surtax  _(Company Act — https://taiwan.acclime.com/guides/how-to-register-company/)_

## Capital, process and timeline

- **Capital, process and timeline overview** — There is no statutory minimum capital for most domestic businesses, but foreign-investment cases and work-permit-sponsoring entities face practical capital expectations, and paid-in capital must be CPA-verified.
- **Minimum share capital** — No statutory minimum for most companies; capital must be sufficient for operations and is CPA-verified. Foreign-investment / work-permit cases often expect capital around NT$500,000 or more in practice TWD ((approx — confirm work-permit capital expectation)) TWD  _(Company Act — https://taiwan.acclime.com/guides/how-to-register-company/)_
- **Foreign investment approval** — Foreign investors must obtain Foreign Investment Approval from the Investment Commission (Department of Investment Review), MOEA, before incorporation  _(Statute for Investment by Foreign Nationals — https://taiwan.acclime.com/guides/how-to-register-company/)_
- **Core incorporation steps** — 1) reserve company name & business scope; 2) FIA approval (foreign investors); 3) open preparatory bank account & inject capital; 4) CPA capital verification; 5) company registration with MOEA; 6) tax & employer (labor/health insurance) registration  _(Company Act — https://taiwan.acclime.com/guides/how-to-register-company/)_
- **Typical incorporation timeline** — Approximately 4–8 weeks for a foreign-invested entity, depending on investment approval and capital verification ((approx — confirm))  _(Company Act — https://taiwan.acclime.com/guides/how-to-register-company/)_
- **Indicative professional/setup cost** — Government fees are modest; professional fees for a foreign-invested company commonly range from roughly NT$60,000 to NT$150,000+ TWD ((approx — confirm; varies by provider)) TWD  _(Company Act — https://taiwan.acclime.com/guides/how-to-register-company/)_

## Core annual compliance

- **Core annual compliance overview** — Incorporated entities must keep statutory books, file annual tax returns and maintain their MOEA registration.
- **Annual corporate income tax return** — File the profit-seeking enterprise income tax return by 31 May following the fiscal year-end  _(Income Tax Act — https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/taiwan/corporate/tax-administration)_
- **Bimonthly VAT returns** — File business (VAT) returns every two months by the 15th of the following month  _(Value-added and Non-value-added Business Tax Act — https://www.etax.nat.gov.tw/etwmain/en/cbec-tax-area/business-tax)_
- **Company registration upkeep** — Changes to directors, capital, address or business scope must be filed with the MOEA; companies must maintain a Taiwan-resident responsible person/representative  _(Company Act — https://taiwan.acclime.com/guides/how-to-register-company/)_

## Today's figures and who stands behind this skill

This file is an AI skill (tax rules your AI follows) from OpenAccountants, copied on 2026-07-13. Rates, thresholds and deadlines change. For the current version of this skill, its official sources and the named accountant (if any) who stands behind it, call `get_skill` with slug `tw-company-formation` on the OpenAccountants connector (https://www.openaccountants.com/connect), or read https://www.openaccountants.com/skills/tw-company-formation. If neither is available, confirm every figure against the official source pages cited above before relying on it.