A foreign company with no branch or office in Taiwan must register for Taiwan business tax (營業稅, Taiwan's VAT) once its sales of electronic services to individuals in Taiwan pass NT$600,000 a year. The earlier threshold, NT$480,000, was replaced on April 7, 2025 (Ministry of Finance release, April 7, 2025). Sales to Taiwanese business customers work differently: there, the buyer pays the tax.
Who the rule covers
Item 4 of Article 6 of the Value-added and Non-value-added Business Tax Act treats as a business entity "外國之事業、機關、團體、組織，在中華民國境內無固定營業場所，經由網際網路或其他數位方式銷售電子勞務予境內自然人": a foreign enterprise, institution, group or organization with no fixed place of business in Taiwan that sells electronic services to individuals in Taiwan over the internet or by other digital means. Article 2-1 makes that seller the taxpayer.
Electronic services (電子勞務) are defined in Article 4-1 of the Enforcement Rules: services downloaded and stored on a computer or mobile device, services used online without downloading, and other services supplied over the internet or digitally. The Ministry of Finance's directions on business tax for cross-border electronic services (跨境電子勞務交易課徵營業稅規範, last amended April 7, 2025; "the MOF directions" below) give online games, advertising, online video, audio broadcasts, and content such as films, TV series and music as examples. Subscription software and online courses are not named, so each service has to be checked against the definition.
Point 2 of the same directions says who counts as an individual in Taiwan (境內自然人). The basic case is a person with a domicile or residence in Taiwan. A buyer also counts if the device used for the purchase is installed in Taiwan, if the buyer's mobile number carries the country code 886, or if transaction data such as the billing address, the bank account used for payment, the IP address or the SIM card indicate an individual in Taiwan.
The NT$600,000 threshold and how to register
Article 28-1 requires an Item 4 seller whose annual sales exceed a set amount to apply for taxation registration (稅籍登記), and leaves the amount to the Ministry of Finance. The ministry raised it from NT$480,000 to NT$600,000 on April 7, 2025, and said that a seller whose annual sales had already passed NT$480,000 before that date must still register under the old figure. Only electronic-service sales to individuals in Taiwan count (MOF directions, point 3). The ministry's Q&A says registration is required once those sales exceed the threshold in either the previous year or the current year (Q11).
The application is filed online in the cross-border e-commerce section of the Ministry of Finance eTax Portal. The seller uploads proof of incorporation or registration issued by the competent authority of its home country. That document must be authenticated or notarized, for example by a local government agency, a court or a Taiwan representative office abroad, and a document in a language other than English needs an English or Chinese translation (Article 14, Regulations Governing Taxation Registration).
A seller may register and file by itself or appoint a tax agent (報稅之代理人): an individual residing in Taiwan, or an enterprise, institution, group or organization with a fixed place of business there. The appointment must be approved by the tax office where the agent is located (Article 28-1, paragraphs 1 and 2). A seller that applies on its own deals with the National Taxation Bureau of Taipei (Article 12 of the same regulations; Q&A, Q15).
Five percent, filed every two months
Article 10 sets the rate between 5% and 10%, with the actual rate fixed by the Executive Yuan, and the Ministry of Finance says the rate for electronic services is 5% (release of May 14, 2025). A seller that has to register applies that rate to its sales amount. It must file and pay every two months, within 15 days after the next period begins, whether or not it had any sales (Article 36, paragraph 3; Article 35, paragraph 1). Returns are therefore due by the 15th of January, March, May, July, September and November (Enforcement Rules, Article 38-1).
Prices for taxable services must include business tax (Article 32, paragraph 2), and the sales amount (銷售額) excludes the tax on that sale (Article 16). So if a studio in Austin sold a subscription app from its own website and collected NT$1,260,000, tax included, from users in Taiwan over a year, its sales amount would be NT$1,260,000 ÷ 1.05 = NT$1,200,000 and its output tax NT$1,200,000 × 5% = NT$60,000. With sales above the NT$600,000 threshold, the studio would have to register.
Sales priced in US dollars or another foreign currency are converted at the Bank of Taiwan's closing spot buying rate on the last day of the filing period, or at the cash buying rate if no spot rate is quoted for that currency. The tax must be paid in New Taiwan dollars, and a seller paying by remittance bears the remittance charges (Enforcement Rules, Article 32-2; MOF directions, point 5). Input tax on invoices from Taiwanese suppliers can be credited only where the purchase was used exclusively for selling electronic services to individuals in Taiwan (Enforcement Rules, Article 38-3; MOF directions, point 5).
Under Article 7-1, paragraph 2 of the Regulations Governing the Use of Uniform Invoices, an Item 4 seller must issue cloud invoices (雲端發票) to its buyers, and the eTax Portal notice says sellers had to start by January 1, 2020. The invoice may be in a foreign language, with prices and totals in a foreign currency if the currency is stated (Article 9, paragraph 1, item 5).
Business customers pay the tax themselves
Where the buyer is a Taiwanese business, the buyer is the taxpayer (Article 2, item 3). Article 36, paragraph 1 says the buyer shall "於給付報酬之次期開始十五日內，就給付額依第十條所定稅率，計算營業稅額繳納之". That is, within 15 days after the start of the period following payment, the buyer calculates tax on the amount paid at the Article 10 rate and pays it. A buyer that computes its tax under Chapter 4, Section 1 of the Act and uses the service solely for its taxable business is excused from paying (same paragraph, proviso).
| Point | Sale to an individual in Taiwan | Sale to a Taiwanese business |
|---|---|---|
| Taxpayer | The foreign seller | The Taiwanese buyer |
| Seller's registration | Required above NT$600,000 a year | These sales do not count toward the threshold |
| Filing and payment | Seller, every two months | Buyer, in the first 15 days of the period after payment |
| Cloud invoice | Issued by the seller | Not required (National Taxation Bureau of the Central Area, July 10, 2026) |
Selling through an app store or another platform
Point 4 of the MOF directions turns on who collects the price from the buyer when a service with no physical place of use, such as a game or an app, is sold on a platform run by another foreign company. If the seller collects the price itself, the seller is the one that registers and files, and the commission the platform charges the seller is outside Taiwan business tax. If the platform collects the price, the platform reports and pays on the full amount it collects from the buyer, and what the seller then receives from the platform is outside Taiwan business tax.
If the seller does not register or file
As of October 2026, a seller that fails to register is told to do so by a set date and may be fined NT$3,000 to NT$30,000, with a further fine each time the deadline passes without registration (Article 45). Doing business without registration, failing to file and pay for more than 30 days after the deadline, or under-reporting or omitting sales leads to collection of the unpaid tax and a fine of up to five times the tax evaded, and the tax office may suspend the business (Article 51, paragraph 1).
A late return carries a surcharge. Within 30 days it is 1% of the tax payable for every two days of delay (minimum NT$1,200, maximum NT$12,000). Beyond 30 days it is 30% of the assessed tax (minimum NT$3,000, maximum NT$30,000) (Article 49). A tax agent that fails to file and pay on time for the seller is fined NT$3,000 to NT$30,000 (Article 49-1).
Income tax and a Taiwan office are separate questions
Income tax on Taiwan-source income from cross-border electronic services is dealt with in a separate Ministry of Finance directive (外國營利事業跨境銷售電子勞務課徵所得稅作業要點, last amended October 13, 2023). Taiwan withholding on royalties and service fees paid to US companies is discussed in U.S.–Taiwan Chip Investment: Royalties, Fees and the Treaty Gap. How Taiwan business tax is treated on a US return is a question for a US tax adviser, and state rules vary.
Once the company has a fixed place of business in Taiwan, such as a branch or an office, that establishment must register in the ordinary way before it starts business (Article 28). The company must then apply to cancel its foreign-seller registration within 15 days of completing the ordinary one (Article 17, item 3, Regulations Governing Taxation Registration). Subsidiaries and branches are compared in Entering the Taiwan Market: Key Differences Between a Subsidiary and a Branch.
If your sales to Taiwan consumers are approaching the threshold, or you are unsure whether your service is covered, you can email Hovering International Law Firm at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw with a description of the service, how payments are collected, and your Taiwan sales for the past year. This column is general information; the answer in a particular case depends on the deal structure and the tax office's assessment.
Official sources
- Value-added and Non-value-added Business Tax Act (last amended May 28, 2025), Art. 2, Art. 2-1, Art. 6, Art. 10, Art. 16, Art. 28, Art. 28-1, Art. 32, Art. 35, Art. 36, Art. 45, Art. 49, Art. 49-1, Art. 51
- Enforcement Rules of the Value-added and Non-value-added Business Tax Act (last amended December 17, 2024), Art. 4-1, Art. 32-2, Art. 38-1, Art. 38-3
- Regulations Governing Taxation Registration (稅籍登記規則, last amended August 8, 2022), Art. 12, Art. 14, Art. 17
- Regulations Governing the Use of Uniform Invoices (統一發票使用辦法, last amended December 12, 2024), Art. 7-1, Art. 9
- Ministry of Finance, 跨境電子勞務交易課徵營業稅規範 (last amended April 7, 2025) and 外國營利事業跨境銷售電子勞務課徵所得稅作業要點 (last amended October 13, 2023)
- Ministry of Finance releases: threshold raised from NT$480,000 to NT$600,000 (April 7, 2025), cloud invoices and payment by buyers (May 14, 2025), National Taxation Bureau of the Central Area notice (July 10, 2026)
- Ministry of Finance eTax Portal, Business Tax on Cross-Border Electronic Services, the Chinese-language section and its introduction page, which hosts the Q&A (updated May 14, 2025)
- Official English titles of the statutes checked at law.moj.gov.tw/ENG
Checked: October 6, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is the Taiwan registration threshold still NT$480,000?
- No. Since April 7, 2025 it has been NT$600,000 a year. The Ministry of Finance said a seller whose annual sales had already passed NT$480,000 before that date must still register under the old figure. Only sales of electronic services to individuals in Taiwan count toward the threshold.
- We sell SaaS only to Taiwanese companies. Do we have to register?
- The registration duty in Article 28-1 of the Business Tax Act covers foreign sellers of electronic services to individuals in Taiwan. Where the buyer is a Taiwanese business, Article 36, paragraph 1 makes the buyer calculate and pay the tax within 15 days after the start of the period following payment.
- Who reports the tax when we sell through an app store?
- The Ministry of Finance's rules turn on who collects the price from the buyer. If a foreign platform collects it, the platform reports and pays on the full amount collected, and what the seller receives from the platform is outside Taiwan business tax. If the seller collects the price itself, the seller is the one that registers and files.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice on any individual matter.
