100% foreign ownership is permitted with Taiwan company formation. A minimum of one shareholder is required for Taiwan company formation if the shareholder is a corporate body. However, if they are natural persons, a minimum of two shareholders is required.

In its 2006-2007 Network Readiness Index, the World Economic Forum ranks Taiwan highly as Asia's 3rd and the world's 13th most prepared country to benefit from Information Communication Technologies. Taiwan is also positively ranked as the 26th freest economy in the world and the 25th freest in Asia by the 2007 Index of Economic Freedom by The Heritage Foundation

According to the 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, Taiwan is positively perceived as the 34th least corrupt country in the world.

It is easy to open global corporate bank accounts to support Taiwan company formation. Healy Consultants works with internationally recognised banks such as HSBC, Standard Chartered and Citibank to provide corporate bank account services.

In its 2008 World Competitiveness Yearbook, the Switzerland-based IMD positively ranks Taiwan as the world’s 13th most competitive economy. The ranking takes into account factors including economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.

A minimum capital of NT$1 million (US$31,000) is required for Taiwan company formation. However, if the company requires employment visas for expatriate workers, the paid-up capital requirement is NT$5 million (US$158,500).

The minimum number of directors required for Taiwan company formation is three.

A Taiwanese company is liable to pay a maximum tax of 25% on all income generated in Taiwan. Taiwan has a limited network of double taxation agreements. A Taiwanese company is obliged to register for value added tax (VAT), which is levied at a regular rate of 5%. However, a zero tax rate applies to exports.

Foreign investors interested in Taiwan company formation are required to obtain foreign investment approval from the Investment Commission at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taipei. This makes Taiwan company formation a time-consuming exercise.

All documents related to Taiwan company formation are written in Chinese, so non-Chinese speaking foreign investors face translation costs.

Taiwan company formation is a relatively time consuming. According to the World Bank's Doing Business 2008 Survey, Taiwan is the world's 50th easiest place to do business.

For more information on Taiwan company formation, email email@healyconsultants.com or call us in Singapore at (+65) 6735 0120.