A six-month sentence in Taiwan can end without a day in prison. Each day may be paid off instead.
Two conditions come first (Criminal Code Art. 41, para. 1). The offense must carry a maximum of five years' imprisonment or a lighter penalty, and the sentence must be imprisonment of six months or less, or detention (拘役). As of October 2026, each day may then be converted at NT$1,000, NT$2,000 or NT$3,000 and paid as a fine (易科罰金), unless conversion would be unlikely to correct the offender or to maintain the legal order.
What if nobody applies for conversion? Paragraph 2 offers community service (社會勞動) instead, six hours to the day, and paragraph 3 opens the same route to a sentence of six months or less that does not qualify for fine conversion. It is refused on the same two grounds, and where physical or mental health makes it clearly difficult to perform. It has to be finished within one year. For a combined sentence of more than six months on offenses that each qualify, the limit is three years (paras. 8 and 9). Serious failure to perform without a justified reason, or not finishing in time, brings back the original sentence or, in a paragraph 2 case, the fine conversion.
Fines imposed as the sentence itself are due within two months after the judgment becomes final, and unpaid fines are collected by compulsory execution. If the person is unable to pay, the fine is converted into labor (易服勞役) at one of the same three daily rates, for no more than one year. Under Art. 42, someone whose economic or credit situation rules out payment within the two months may be allowed installments within one year after that period ends. Miss one installment, or pay it short, and the balance is enforced or converted into labor. Where enforcement confirms there is no property at all, the conversion may be made directly.
Probation (緩刑) is another route, set out in Art. 74. It is open to a person sentenced to imprisonment of up to two years, detention or a fine who has never been sentenced to imprisonment or more for an intentional offense, or who, having been, has not been so sentenced again within five years after serving that sentence or being pardoned. If the court finds it appropriate not to enforce the sentence for now, it may suspend it for two to five years from the day the judgment becomes final.
Conditions can come attached. The court may order, among other things, an apology, a written statement of repentance, compensation to the victim, a payment to the public treasury, 40 to 240 hours of service to a designated public or public-interest body (義務勞務), and treatment or counseling. The compensation and treasury items may serve as a title for civil compulsory execution. Probation does not extend to supplementary penalties, security measures (保安處分) or confiscation.
Revocation is mandatory in one situation. If an intentional offense, committed during probation or before it, brings a sentence of more than six months' imprisonment that becomes final during the probation period, Art. 75 leaves no discretion. Art. 75-1 lists lighter grounds: a sentence of six months or less, detention or a fine for such an intentional offense, or a prison sentence for a negligent offense committed during probation, each final within the probation period; or a serious breach of an attached condition. On those grounds probation may be revoked only where it is unlikely to achieve its expected effect and the sentence needs to be enforced.
When the ground is a later judgment, the application to revoke must be made within six months after that judgment becomes final. If the period ends without revocation, the sentence loses its effect, except where probation is revoked on an application under that six-month rule (Art. 76).
None of these articles mentions nationality. Article 95 does. A foreigner sentenced to imprisonment or more may be deported (驅逐出境) after the sentence has been served or pardoned. May, not must.
Before a forced removal, the National Immigration Agency must give the person a chance to state their views and, for a holder of a residence or permanent-residence permit, convene a review committee. Where a court has pronounced deportation in its judgment and that is final, the agency may remove the person without the committee (Immigration Act Art. 36, para. 4, item 2).
How courts decide to add deportation, and what happens to a foreign probationer's residence status, was not confirmed. A non-confidential outline, with the judgment and the date it became final, can be sent to Hovering International Law Firm at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw. The two months for a fine and the probation period both run from that date.
Official sources
- Criminal Code of the Republic of China (中華民國刑法), Laws and Regulations Database of the Ministry of Justice: Articles 41, 42, 74, 75, 75-1, 76, 95
- Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), Article 36
- Criminal Code, amendment history: the most recent amendment, promulgated July 22, 2026, concerns Article 80 only and none of the articles cited here
- Immigration Act, amendment history: the current Article 36 was promulgated June 28, 2023 and took effect March 1, 2024
Checked: October 12, 2026
This article is general information based on Taiwan statutes checked on October 12, 2026. It is not legal advice on any individual case.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can a Taiwan prison sentence of up to six months be paid off with a fine?
- Where the offense carries a maximum of five years' imprisonment or a lighter penalty, a sentence of imprisonment of six months or less, or of detention, may be converted at NT$1,000, NT$2,000 or NT$3,000 per day. Conversion is not available if it would be unlikely to correct the offender or to maintain the legal order (Criminal Code Art. 41, para. 1). Based on the statute as of October 2026.
- Is a foreigner sentenced in Taiwan always deported?
- No. Criminal Code Art. 95 says a foreigner sentenced to imprisonment or more may be deported after the sentence has been served or pardoned. Where a court has pronounced deportation in its judgment and that has become final, the immigration agency may remove the person without convening its review committee (Immigration Act Art. 36, para. 4, item 2).
This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual matter.
