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Jurisdiction Monitor / Asia-Pacific / Taiwan

Taiwan [TW]

Corporate tax, FATF status, sanctions exposure, data-protection law and arbitration enforceability for Taiwan — the facts a founder or counsel checks before incorporating or signing cross-border. Jurisdiction table checked 2026-08-14.

Corporate tax rate
20%
FATF status
compliant
Sanctions exposure
No
EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions
not listed
Data-protection law
PDPA
New York Convention
No
Apostille Convention (1961)
No
Foreign ownership
Yes
Local director requirement
Yes

What has changed here

Tracked since 2026-08-03

No changes recorded for this jurisdiction since tracking began. Every review pass so far has confirmed the figures above.

All changes across the dataset →

Corporate tax rate in Taiwan

The headline corporate income tax rate in Taiwan is 20%. Free zones, small-business reliefs and participation exemptions can change the effective rate — treat this as the starting point.

What is this? Corporate tax rate →

FATF status in Taiwan

Taiwan is FATF-compliant and not on the grey list, which generally means smoother bank onboarding.

What is this? FATF status →
Source: FATF — High-risk and other monitored jurisdictions

Sanctions exposure in Taiwan

Taiwan is not subject to broad sectoral sanctions programs in our dataset.

What is this? Sanctions exposure →
Sources: OFAC — sanctions programs by country (United States) · European Commission — sanctions and restrictive measures · The UK Sanctions List (single source since 28 January 2026) · UN Security Council — Consolidated List

EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in Taiwan

Taiwan appears in neither annex of the EU list as at the current revision.

Data-protection law in Taiwan

The applicable data-protection statute is PDPA (in force since 2023). If you process EU/UK personal data you also need a valid transfer mechanism into Taiwan.

What is this? Data-protection law →
Source: PDPC Singapore — Personal Data Protection Act

New York Convention in Taiwan

Taiwan is NOT a party to the 1958 New York Convention — enforcing a foreign arbitral award here is materially harder. Factor this into any dispute-resolution clause.

What is this? New York Convention →
Source: UNCITRAL — status of the 1958 New York Convention

Apostille Convention (1961) in Taiwan

Taiwan is not a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. Documents issued here for use abroad (and foreign documents used here) require full consular legalisation — a slower, multi-step, costlier process. Budget extra time for any cross-border filing.

What is this? Apostille Convention (1961) →
Source: HCCH — status table, 1961 Apostille Convention

Foreign ownership in Taiwan

Foreigners may generally own 100% of a local company in Taiwan.

What is this? Foreign ownership →

Local director requirement in Taiwan

Taiwan requires a resident/local director. This adds real cost and a governance dependency — include it in the structure.

What is this? Local director requirement →

Company forms available here

5 forms

The entity types actually used in cross-border practice, with the name each one carries in its own register.

  • Company limited by shares (Co., Ltd.)
    股份有限公司
  • Limited company (Ltd.)
    有限公司
  • Branch of a foreign company
    外國公司台灣分公司
  • Sole proprietorship
    獨資
  • Partnership
    合夥

Names are given as the register uses them and are deliberately not translated — a form is called what it is called. The list covers what is commonly used, not everything the statute allows, and availability to a foreign founder can depend on activity, licensing and residency.

Calculators for this jurisdiction

3

Free, no sign-up, computed in your browser.

  • Apostille or full consular legalisation
    →
  • Structure screen: what the joints cost
    →
  • What the paying country withholds
    →
Non-financial professions: what FATF assessed

Lawyers, accountants, corporate and trust providers, real-estate agents, dealers in precious metals and casinos carry anti-money-laundering duties of their own. FATF rates how well a country's law meets three of its recommendations on them.

R.22 — customer due diligence by these professions
PC — partially compliant
R.23 — other AML duties on them
LC — largely compliant
R.28 — their regulation and supervision
PC — partially compliant
Assessed by: APG · report of 2019-10 (MER) · methodology 2013 · This assessment is more than five years old — the law may have moved since.

This rates the quality of the legislation, not whether you personally must run these checks, and not how the law is enforced in practice — FATF measures enforcement on a separate scale that is not in this dataset.

Reports from 2025 onwards use the 2022 methodology; everything earlier uses the 2013 one. Ratings from the two are not directly comparable, which is why the methodology is always shown.

Primary source · tables updated: 24 August 2026 / 14 August 2026
Draft a contract under Taiwan law

forma. generates NDAs, service, supply and corporate documents wired to this jurisdiction — from lawyer-built templates, processed privately on your device.

About forma. →
Structure your business in Taiwan

Ignito Advisory designs cross-border holdings, IP routing, banking onboarding and regulatory strategy. First assessment is free.

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Informational resource curated by the Ignito legal practice and cross-checked against primary sources. This is not legal advice and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Rules change — verify against the primary source before you sign or file. Terms of Use · ← Back to the monitor

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