Email Consultation
When Someone Who Lived Abroad Dies Holding Assets in Taiwan
← Back to InsightsLegal Information

When Someone Who Lived Abroad Dies Holding Assets in Taiwan

6 min read

A relative has died outside Taiwan, and the family is looking at a Taipei flat, a bank account, or shares in a Taiwan company. Who inherits is one question. Whether Taiwan wants an estate-tax return, on which assets, and by when, is another. This note deals with the tax question.

Who the heirs are, whether civil liability stops at the estate, and the period for renouncing are in Taiwan inheritance and custody. Which law governs the succession, and what a foreign heir must do with restricted land, is in which law governs a Taiwan estate. A return filed with a tax office at home does not take the place of the Taiwan return.

When is only property in Taiwan taxed?

Article 1 of the Estate and Gift Tax Act draws the line. A national of the Republic of China who habitually resided in Taiwan is taxed on the worldwide estate. A national who habitually resided outside Taiwan, and a person who was not a national, are taxed on property situated in Taiwan. The test is nationality, not the passport. If the deceased was not a national, only property in Taiwan is taxed however long they lived here, and the deduction limits (Article 17, paragraph 2) and the filing office (Article 23, paragraph 2) are the same as for a national living abroad. For a national, habitual residence decides whether the worldwide estate is taxed, which deductions survive, and which office receives the return.

Article 4 defines the test. "Habitually residing in the Republic of China" means either of two things. The person had a domicile in Taiwan at some point in the two years before the death. Or the person had no domicile but did have a residence, and the days spent in Taiwan in those two years add up to more than 365. A person engaged by the government of the Republic of China to work, with a specified period of stay, is outside that second limb however long the stay ran. Anyone who fits neither limb is habitually resident abroad.

The statute says "domicile" (住所). The Ministry of Finance tax portal's explanation reads that word as household registration; that reading comes from the portal, not from the text of the Act. Count the days two years back from the death. The 183-day test belongs to income tax, a different statute, explained in Taiwan income-tax residency.

Which assets count as being in Taiwan?

Article 9 locates property as of the date of death. Real property is situated where it sits. A deposit or an item left with a financial institution is situated where that institution has its office. A claim is situated where the debtor habitually resides or has an office. Government bonds, corporate bonds, shares, and capital contributions are situated where the issuer, or the business that was invested in, has its head office. Shares in a company whose head office is in Taiwan are Taiwan-situs property even when the certificate, or the heir, is abroad.

Ships, vehicles, aircraft, patents, trademarks and copyrights have their own lines in the same article. If an item does not fit, the Ministry of Finance decides.

Who files, by when, and at which office?

Article 6(1) names the heirs and legatees as taxpayers. If there is no heir, the administrator is the taxpayer. The duty to pay is limited to the estate. Where property has already been transferred or lost, the duty follows its market value at death. An executor named in the will may file, pay, and apply for review on behalf of those taxpayers. That limit sits in the tax Act. The civil-law rules on liability and renunciation are in the inheritance note linked above. If someone has renounced, say so when you ask who should sign, and take the papers with you. For gifts added to the estate under Article 15(1), Article 6(3) instead makes the recipient liable for the tax attributable to that gift, limited to the gifted property.

Article 23 gives six months, counted from the day after the death. Where the office has asked the court to appoint an administrator under Article 6, paragraph 2, the six months run from the day after that appointment. Property that a final judgment, or a document with the same effect, later confirms as the deceased's is reported in a supplemental return, within six months from the day after the judgment becomes final or the document is made.

The same article sends a national who habitually resided abroad, and a person who was not a national, to the competent authority at the seat of the central government, if either left property in Taiwan. The portal's filing-office answer names the National Taxation Bureau of Taipei, at its head office or one of its branches or offices. It also says that a person who voluntarily gave up nationality within the two years before death files at the office of the former household registration. Under Article 3-1, that person is still taxed under the rules for ROC nationals. People from the Mainland Area are on a separate line of that page, which was last marked updated on 27 April 2023, so confirm the counter before you file. The portal's introduction also describes a cross-office counter for cases that meet a separate guideline. Filing at another office's counter does not change the six-month deadline.

The six-month rule above follows Article 23 as amended and promulgated on 11 September 2026 (amendment history). The tax portal pages were last updated before that amendment, and the estate-tax introduction still says six months "from the date of death". Count the deadline from the day after the death, as the current Article 23 says.

Article 26 is the extension in the Act. A taxpayer who has a legitimate reason applies in writing before the deadline. The extension is limited to three months. For force majeure or another special circumstance, the office may approve a period that fits the facts. The Act does not list accepted reasons. Payment after an assessment is a later step, in Article 30.

Article 18 gives these decedents an exemption by the same statutory rule as a habitually resident national. The Ministry announces the figure, and it follows the date of death, so read the portal for that year. Article 17, paragraph 2 then narrows the deductions. Items 1 through 7 of paragraph 1 do not apply. Items 8 through 11 — taxes, administrative fines and criminal fines owed before death, debts that can be proved, funeral expenses, and the direct and necessary costs of executing the will and administering the estate — apply only so far as they arose in Taiwan. The amounts in those items, and any later announcement, belong on the official page for the year of death.

Why must the land office and the company wait?

Article 8 says that until the estate tax is paid, the estate may not be divided, a legacy may not be delivered, and a transfer may not be registered. The same bar covers a gift until gift tax is paid. The exception is where the tax office, on an application made in advance, has issued a certificate consenting to the transfer, or has issued an exemption certificate or a certificate that the property is not counted in the estate or gift total. Once the tax is paid, the tax office issues a tax-payment certificate (稅款繳清證明書).

Article 42 tells the land office, other agencies, and public and private enterprises to ask for a copy of the payment certificate or of one of those other certificates. Without it, they do not register. For a flat, that is the land office. For shares, it is the company or the registrar. Governing law and restricted land are in the inheritance note linked above.

What if the transfer was a gift?

A lifetime gift is a different return. Article 3, paragraph 2 taxes a national who habitually resided abroad, and a person who was not a national, on a gift of property in Taiwan. Article 24 requires a return within 30 days after the gift that takes the year's gifts over the exemption. The current exemption is on the tax portal. Those donors file at the competent authority at the seat of the central government. The portal's gift-tax office answer names the National Taxation Bureau of Taipei. The donor is the taxpayer under Article 7, unless one of the listed cases shifts the duty to the donee. Property that passes on death belongs on the estate return. Article 15 also includes gifts made in the two years before death to the spouse, statutory heirs, or those heirs' spouses in the estate total.

What to put in the first email

This is general information from the Act and the tax portal, and it is not advice on a particular estate. Write to Attorney Wei Tseng (曾雋崴) at Hovering International Law Firm. She will need the deceased's nationality, any Taiwan household registration, and the date of death. Say where they lived in the two years before the death, and roughly how many days they spent in Taiwan. List the Taiwan assets: the address, the company name, the bank. Name the heirs and legatees and where they live, and say whether anyone has renounced. Mention any gift of Taiwan property and any executor or court-appointed administrator.

Email wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw. The office is at 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103, Taiwan (103 臺北市大同區承德路一段35號7樓之2). Ask how to send passports and the death certificate.

Official sources

Checked: September 29, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Taiwan estate tax cover a house the deceased owned in another country?
For a person who was not a national of the Republic of China, and for a national who was not habitually resident in Taiwan, the Estate and Gift Tax Act taxes property situated in Taiwan. A house situated abroad falls outside that rule. Article 9 decides which assets count as situated in Taiwan, including shares in a business whose head office is in Taiwan.
Is habitual residence the same as staying 183 days?
The estate-tax test looks at the two years before the death. A person with no domicile, who had a residence in Taiwan and stayed more than 365 days in those two years, can be habitually resident. A person engaged by the Taiwan government for a fixed period of stay is outside that 365-day limb. The test matters only if the deceased was a national of the Republic of China, or gave up that nationality within the two years before death (Article 3-1). The 183-day figure belongs to income tax, which is a different statute.
Can the family transfer the Taipei flat before filing?
Article 8 bars division of the estate, delivery of a legacy, and transfer registration until the estate tax is paid, unless the tax office has issued an exemption certificate, a certificate excluding the property, or advance consent to transfer. Article 42 requires a tax-payment certificate or one of the alternative certificates above before transfer registration.

This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual matter.

Related reading