Three situations make it a crime in Taiwan to let someone else use a bank account: payment was promised or received, three or more accounts were handed over, or it happens again within five years of a police ruling (Money Laundering Control Act, Article 22, paragraph 3). The penalty runs up to three years in prison or short-term detention, a fine of up to NT$1 million, or both.
Outside those situations, a breach draws a formal warning (告誡) from the city or county police (paragraph 2), and in the first two situations the police issue that warning alongside the criminal case (paragraph 4). The breach itself is defined in paragraph 1: giving another person the use of an account, unless it fits ordinary business or financial practice, rests on trust between relatives or friends, or has some other legitimate reason.
Now the nominee version. A friend who spends most of the year abroad asks you to be the director of a small Taipei trading company, and keeps the seal, the bank account and the online banking credentials (an invented example). Paragraph 1 speaks of accounts opened by "oneself or another person," and leaves unstated how it treats a company's own account kept by the person who runs the business.
The questions behind a laundering case
Laundering itself is a heavier offense. Article 2 of the same Act, rewritten in full on July 31, 2024, lists four forms: hiding the proceeds of specified crimes or disguising where they came from, obstructing the state's efforts to investigate, seize or confiscate them, receiving, holding or using someone else's criminal proceeds, and dealing with one's own (Article 2).
Article 19, paragraph 1 sets the penalty by amount. Under NT$100 million laundered, the term is six months to five years. A fine of up to NT$50 million comes with it. From NT$100 million up, the term is three to ten years, and the fine can reach NT$100 million.
Accessory liability is the route by which a nominee can be drawn in. Helping another person commit a crime makes you one under Criminal Code Article 30, and the court can set the sentence below the principal's.
Intent is where most of the argument goes. Article 13, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code treats someone who foresaw that the facts of a crime would occur, and did not mind if they did, as acting intentionally. That question gets argued through small facts: why the friend could not put his own name on the company, whether you were asked to do the same for a second company, whether anyone ever showed you a contract, an invoice or a customer.
Article 23, paragraph 1 of the Money Laundering Control Act brings the company itself in. When a representative, agent or employee commits an offense under Articles 19 to 22 in the course of business, the company is fined up to ten times the fine provided for that offense, on top of the individual's punishment, unless its representative made every effort to prevent the offense. Paragraph 3 of the same article holds the confession rule: a defendant who confesses during the investigation and at every trial and, if there were proceeds, voluntarily hands all of them over receives a lower sentence.
When the summons arrives
Questioning comes with rules. Before a defendant is questioned, Article 95 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires that they be told the suspected offenses, that they may stay silent, that they may choose a lawyer, and that they may ask for favorable evidence to be examined. A defendant without a lawyer who says one has been retained must not be questioned further unless they agree. Article 99 provides an interpreter for a defendant who cannot follow the language, and applies that rule to others being questioned. Through all of it, Article 154 presumes the defendant innocent until a conviction becomes final; neither suspicion nor an indictment changes that.
Court-ordered travel restrictions are a separate feature of criminal cases; One Defendant, Two Answers looks at how Taiwan courts handle a foreign defendant's request to travel home.
The Company Act, the friend and the nominee
On paper, the person answerable for a limited company (有限公司) or a company limited by shares (股份有限公司) is its director (Company Act, Article 8, paragraph 1). Paragraph 3 reaches the friend in the example. A non-director who in substance performs a director's work, or controls the company's personnel, finances or operations and directs the directors, carries the same civil, criminal and administrative liability as a director. The nominee is still the director that comparison is measured against.
Outsiders harmed by the business can rely on Article 23, paragraph 2 of the Company Act: a responsible person who breaks the law in conducting the company's business and causes damage is jointly liable with the company. Fraud victims have a second route in Civil Code Article 185, which makes joint wrongdoers jointly liable and counts helpers among them. Your Taiwan Account Was Used in a Scam: Can the Victim Make You Pay? takes that claim from the account holder's side, and Taiwan company responsible persons: duties to the company and joint liability to others covers the general duties.
In a limited company the nominee's name appears twice, as director and as investor, because directors there must be chosen from shareholders with legal capacity (Company Act, Article 108, paragraph 1). Whatever the company type, a false capital filing also lands on the responsible person. If capital shown as paid was never paid, or went back to shareholders after registration, Article 9 exposes each responsible person to up to five years' imprisonment or detention, a fine of NT$500,000 to NT$2.5 million, or both, and to joint liability with those shareholders for the losses.
Unpaid company tax and the airport
An exit ban over company tax has formal limits. The Ministry of Finance must notify the person in writing, giving reasons and the available remedies, and the ban cannot run more than five years from the day the National Immigration Agency imposes it (Tax Collection Act, Article 24, paragraph 3).
The trigger is the company's debt. Once a business entity's finalized unpaid tax and fines reach NT$2 million, or NT$3 million while administrative remedies are pending, the ministry may ask the agency to bar the company's responsible person from leaving Taiwan. No ban is possible where adequate security has been provided, or where the tax office has not first taken the asset-preservation measures set out in paragraph 1 of the same article (a freeze on transferring property, or a provisional attachment). When a Taiwan Subsidiary Owes Tax: Exit Bans on Its Chairman and Criminal Liability explains how a ban is lifted. Tax prosecutions follow their own rule: where the company's responsible person in name differs from the person actually running the business, Article 47, paragraph 2 applies the criminal provisions to the latter.
Taking your name off the register
The register runs on its own clock. A change in registered matters must be filed within 15 days (Regulations Governing Company Registration, Article 4), and according to the Administration of Commerce's registration FAQ, a director's resignation is filed by the responsible person who represents the company, with the application, the proof of resignation and the change forms (MOEA registration FAQ, in Chinese). That representative risks a fine of NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 for missing the deadline (Company Act, Article 387). Ignore an order to correct, and fines of NT$20,000 to NT$100,000 follow each time until the filing is made.
Your part is the resignation itself, and you can send it whenever you choose. For a company limited by shares, the company–director relationship is governed by the Civil Code rules on mandate (Company Act, Article 192, paragraph 5), and Civil Code Article 549 lets either side end a mandate at any time. Leaving at a moment that hurts the other side can cost damages, unless a reason not attributable to you forced it.
Courts are the fallback. You can ask a court to declare that the mandate has ended, though Code of Civil Procedure Article 247 allows that kind of action only where you have a legal interest in an immediate declaration.
Until the entry changes, third parties may keep relying on it: under Company Act Article 12, an unregistered change cannot be asserted against them. If you were the only director, there is also no obvious person to file until a new director is chosen.
What a Taiwan lawyer can do
A Taiwan lawyer can run two files in parallel. One is criminal: sitting in on police or prosecutor interviews and, if there is an indictment, the defense at trial, with any civil claims from victims handled in the same file. The other is the register, where the work is a resignation sent with proof of delivery, a written demand that the company file, and the declaratory action if it will not. Consultations with an English-speaking lawyer in Taipei are available; see criminal defense and investment and company matters. Email wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw. Hovering International Law Firm (昊鼎國際法律事務所), Taipei office: 7F-2, No. 35, Sec. 1, Chengde Rd., Datong Dist., Taipei City 103 (臺北市大同區承德路一段35號7樓之2).
A police warning under Article 22 is not a conviction. A second breach within five years of it is a crime in its own right.
Sources
Checked October 28, 2026.
- Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), Articles 2, 19, 22, 23 (numbering after the July 31, 2024 full revision)
- Criminal Code (中華民國刑法), Articles 13, 30
- Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), Articles 95, 99, 154
- Company Act (公司法), Articles 8, 9, 12, 23, 108, 192, 387
- Civil Code (民法), Articles 185, 549
- Tax Collection Act (稅捐稽徵法), Articles 24, 47
- Regulations Governing Company Registration (公司登記辦法), Article 4
- Ministry of Economic Affairs, Administration of Commerce, registration FAQ on director resignations (posted April 10, 2023; in Chinese)
- Code of Civil Procedure (民事訴訟法), Article 247
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between a police warning and a criminal charge for handing over an account in Taiwan?
- A crime arises only in the three situations listed in Article 22, paragraph 3 of the Money Laundering Control Act: payment was promised or received, three or more accounts were handed over, or the breach is repeated within five years of a police ruling. The penalty is up to three years' imprisonment or short-term detention, a fine of up to NT$1 million, or both. Any other breach of paragraph 1, which bars giving another person the use of a financial account without a legitimate reason, draws a warning (告誡) from the city or county police. Where payment or three or more accounts are involved, the police issue that warning as well (paragraph 4). How the article treats a company's own account kept by the person running the business is not stated in its text.
- My friend says the company register will be updated later. Is there a deadline?
- Yes. A change in registered matters must be filed within 15 days of the change (Regulations Governing Company Registration, Article 4), and the Ministry of Economic Affairs registration FAQ says the responsible person who represents the company files a director's resignation. A representative who misses the deadline can be fined NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 (Company Act Article 387). Until the change is registered, it cannot be asserted against third parties (Company Act Article 12).
- Can the company itself be punished if its account was used for laundering?
- Yes. When a representative, agent or employee commits an offense under Articles 19 to 22 of the Money Laundering Control Act in the course of business, Article 23, paragraph 1 of that Act punishes the individual and also fines the company up to ten times the fine provided for the offense. The company is not fined if its representative made every effort to prevent the offense. Every individual suspect remains presumed innocent until a conviction is final (Code of Criminal Procedure Article 154).
This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual matter.
