NT$2 million. Once a Taiwan company's final, overdue tax and fines reach that figure, the Ministry of Finance may ask the National Immigration Agency to stop the company's responsible person (負責人) from leaving Taiwan. While the assessment is still under appeal, the figure is NT$3 million. A chairman sent from a US or Vietnamese parent is covered as well. As of October 2026, though, a final debt below NT$20 million needs one more condition.
Two thresholds and a precondition
Paragraph 3 of Article 24 of the Tax Collection Act sets the test. An enterprise in Taiwan (在中華民國境內之營利事業) must have failed to pay final tax by the statutory deadline, and the unpaid tax and final administrative fines (罰鍰), separately or together, must be NT$2 million or more. Before the administrative appeal process ends, the threshold is NT$3 million. The person barred is the enterprise's responsible person.
The same paragraph has two carve-outs: adequate security already given, or no prior preservation measure by the tax office, meaning an order barring transfer of the taxpayer's property (paragraph 1, item 1, first clause) or a court provisional attachment (item 2). The Ministry's directions on restricting and lifting exit bans for tax debtors (限制及解除欠稅人或欠稅營利事業負責人出境規範, last amended August 19, 2022; "the directions" below) repeat this in point 2. Point 3, paragraph 3 adds that no ban is considered where property equal to the tax is already under a transfer ban.
What goes into the amount? For final cases: the principal tax, late-payment surcharges (滯納金), interest, late-filing and non-filing surcharges, other levies collected with the tax, and final fines. For cases under appeal, fines and the interest added during the appeal are left out (directions, point 5, item 1). Unpaid provisional income tax payments (暫繳稅款) are no exception, according to a Ministry ruling.
Below NT$20 million, the debt alone does not trigger a ban
Since January 1, 2015, the amount alone has been enough only at the top of the scale, as the Ministry's eTax Portal Q&A 0320 explains. The table attached to point 4 of the directions sorts an enterprise's debt into three bands (amounts in NT$).
| Final debt | Debt under appeal | Condition for a ban |
|---|---|---|
| 2M to under 6M | 3M to under 9M | Signs of hiding or moving assets to avoid enforcement |
| 6M to under 20M | 9M to under 30M | Any one of: abnormal business status; the responsible person's frequent travel, long stay abroad or unknown whereabouts; signs of hiding or moving assets |
| 20M or more | 30M or more | No further condition |
Frequent travel means the responsible person left Taiwan eight times or more in the two years before the tax office processes the ban, counting trips to mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. A long stay abroad means 183 consecutive days outside Taiwan within the previous year. Neither applies if the person shows the tax office a proper reason, such as the death of a spouse or lineal relative abroad (directions, point 5, items 2 and 3).
A subsidiary owes NT$8 million in final tax, and its chairman has flown home to Hanoi nine times in two years (an invented example). That is the second band. Frequent travel alone can satisfy the condition.
Who counts as the responsible person
A 1979 Ministry of Finance ruling limits the target to the enterprise's legal representative: for a company, a chairman of the board duly authorized by the board or the shareholders' meeting, or a shareholder who represents the company. A 2007 ruling adds that where a corporation sits on the board as a director, that corporation's own responsible person cannot be barred on this basis.
For foreign nationals, Article 21 of the Immigration Act requires the agency to bar departure once the finance and tax authorities or another competent authority give notice under the law. At the departure check, its officers hand the person a written notice on the spot and state the reason.
Notice, five years, and how a ban ends
When the Ministry asks the agency to impose a ban, it must at the same time serve the person with a written notice stating the reasons and the available remedies (Article 24, paragraph 3, item 1). A ban may not last more than five years from the date the agency imposes it (item 2).
Paragraph 4 of the same article lists six grounds for lifting a ban:
- Five years have passed.
- All the tax and fines have been paid, or adequate security has been given to the tax office.
- A petition decision or court judgment has finally revoked the assessment and required a new one, unless the part left standing still meets the threshold or there are signs of hidden assets.
- After appeals and penalty proceedings end, the final tax and fines fall below the threshold.
- The company has been dissolved and liquidated with no assets left to pay the debt.
- Distribution in a composition or bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy Act is complete.
Liquidation deadlines are covered in Closing a Taiwan Subsidiary or Branch.
Does a partial payment help? Generally not. A 2010 ruling says every amount listed for the ban must be paid. "All" covers only the tax and fines reported for the ban (2009 ruling).
Tax under re-examination has one more route out. Where the ban was imposed on a case that had to go to enforcement after the re-examination decision, it is lifted once the company pays one third of the re-examined tax or gives adequate security. Cases already sent for enforcement on or before December 18, 2021 need half. This route is closed where there are signs of hiding or moving assets (directions, point 6, paragraph 2). Re-examination deadlines and the one-third payment are explained in Disputing a Taiwan Tax Assessment.
After the debt goes to enforcement
Tax still unpaid 30 days after the payment period ends is sent for compulsory enforcement; filing for re-examination suspends the transfer (Tax Collection Act, Article 39, paragraph 1). Under Article 17 of the Administrative Execution Act, on listed grounds such as a clear risk of flight or the hiding of assets, the enforcement branch may order security and payment by a deadline and restrict the obligor's residence (限制住居). It may not do so where the total arrears are below NT$100,000, unless the obligor has already left the country twice. Article 24, item 4 of that act extends these rules to a company's responsible person.
When unpaid tax becomes a crime
Article 41 of the Tax Collection Act punishes a taxpayer who evades tax by fraud or other improper means with up to five years in prison plus a fine of up to NT$10 million. Heavier penalties apply once an enterprise evades NT$50 million or more (NT$10 million for an individual). The prison term is then one to seven years. The fine becomes NT$10 million to NT$100 million.
Where a withholding agent by fraud or other improper means fails to withhold or under-withholds, or embezzles tax already withheld, Article 42 provides up to five years, short-term detention, or a fine of up to NT$60,000, or both prison and fine. Abetting or aiding either offense carries up to three years plus up to NT$1 million, increased by up to one half for tax officials, lawyers, CPAs and other agents (Article 43).
Who goes to court? Article 47 applies these penalties to the company's responsible person as defined in the Company Act, and where someone else actually runs the business, to that person. Company Act Article 8 makes the directors of a company limited by shares its responsible persons, and treats managers as responsible persons within the scope of their duties. That circle is wider than the exit-ban target. A 2007 ruling confirms that the company's business-tax fine and the responsible person's criminal penalty for the same act can both be imposed.
Coming forward before an investigation
Article 48-1 rewards voluntary disclosure. If no one has reported the case and no investigation by the tax office or a Ministry-designated investigator has begun, a taxpayer who files the missing return and pays the tax escapes the penalties in Articles 41 to 45 and the evasion penalties in each tax law. Criminal punishment may also be waived. Interest runs from the day after the original deadline until payment, daily, at the Post Office one-year fixed deposit rate on January 1 of each year.
Checking your status before a flight
The agency's service page says foreign nationals can check whether they are barred from leaving at any of its city and county service stations, in person or through an authorized agent, with the required documents. The check is free. Without the person's consent and authorization, no one else, HR included, can look it up (NIA service page). Preservation measures on the company's property are released, to that extent, once the taxpayer or a third party gives adequate security (Article 24, paragraph 2, item 1). How a guarantee from a US parent is treated on the US side is a question for a US tax adviser.
If you have received an exit-ban notice or a tax assessment, you can email a copy and a list of the unpaid taxes to Hovering International Law Firm at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw. We would begin with the lifting grounds and the time left to appeal.
Five years is the outer limit. Paying the listed tax and fines in full, or posting security, ends the ban sooner.
Official sources
- Tax Collection Act (稅捐稽徵法, last amended December 17, 2021), Art. 24, Art. 39, Art. 41, Art. 42, Art. 43, Art. 47, Art. 48-1
- Administrative Execution Act (行政執行法, last amended February 3, 2010), Art. 17, Art. 24
- Immigration Act (入出國及移民法, last amended June 28, 2023), Art. 21
- Company Act (公司法, last amended December 26, 2025), Art. 8
- Ministry of Finance, 限制及解除欠稅人或欠稅營利事業負責人出境規範 (last amended August 19, 2022) and its point 4 table
- Ministry of Finance eTax Portal, Q&A 0320 on exit bans for tax debtors (updated November 8, 2022)
- Ministry of Finance rulings database, Tax Collection Act compilation (113年版): July 18, 1979, February 22, 1985 and September 4, 2015, April 11, 2007, May 22, 2007, June 11, 2009, September 1, 2010
- National Immigration Agency, checking whether you are barred from leaving (updated July 8, 2022)
Checked: October 7, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can a foreign executive be stopped from leaving Taiwan because the Taiwan subsidiary owes tax?
- Yes. Article 24, paragraph 3 of the Tax Collection Act lets the Ministry of Finance ask the National Immigration Agency to restrict the departure of a Taiwan enterprise's responsible person when the enterprise owes NT$2 million or more in final tax and fines, or NT$3 million or more while an appeal is pending. Article 21 of the Immigration Act requires the agency to bar a foreign national once the tax authorities give notice under the law. A Ministry ruling limits the responsible person to the company's legal representative, such as a duly authorized chairman. Below NT$20 million of final debt, an extra condition such as frequent travel is also needed.
- Will paying part of the debt lift the exit ban?
- Generally not. Article 24, paragraph 4 lifts the ban once all the tax and fines are paid or adequate security is given, and a 2010 Ministry ruling says every amount listed for the ban must be paid. One exception applies where the ban was imposed on a case due for enforcement after a re-examination decision: paying one third of the re-examined tax, or giving adequate security, lifts it. Cases already sent for enforcement on or before December 18, 2021 need half, and the exception does not apply if assets are being hidden.
- Is failing to pay tax a crime for the chairman?
- Article 41 of the Tax Collection Act punishes evading tax by fraud or other improper means, with up to five years in prison plus a fine of up to NT$10 million. Where an enterprise evades NT$50 million or more, the range is one to seven years plus NT$10 million to NT$100 million. Embezzling tax that was withheld is covered by Article 42. Article 47 applies these penalties to the company's responsible person under the Company Act, or to the person who actually runs the business if that is someone else.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual matter.
