Employer of record in Taiwan: costs, rules and how to hire

Use a written agreement covering the employer, the role, the work location, the pay and payment dates, the hours, rest, leave, insurance, pension, expenses, confidentiality and the employment exits. Ordinary employment is not subject to a universal written-contract formality, though specific clauses carry writing requirements, so check the required contract topics in the enforcement rules and provide terms the employee understands.

Write down the terms and identify the employer

The dispatch rule shapes the contract type before anything else. The contract between a dispatching employer and a dispatched worker must be indefinite, so a short client assignment does not justify a fixed-term contract, and what happens when an assignment ends, including reassignment and any lawful employment termination, should be agreed rather than left to the client's project calendar.

Probation and fixed-term work

Taiwan has no general statutory 90-day probation period. Employer and employee can agree a reasonable assessment period, but the labour-law protections still apply, ending employment during probation requires a lawful basis, and the relevant notice and severance duties continue. Set expectations and document performance concerns before deciding on a dismissal.

Ongoing work normally needs an indefinite contract, with fixed terms available for temporary, short-term, seasonal or specific work. Temporary and short-term work generally cannot exceed six months, seasonal work cannot exceed nine months, and specific work exceeding one year requires approval. None of those categories overrides the separate rule requiring indefinite employment for dispatched workers.

Non-competes and ownership of work

A post-employment non-compete needs a legitimate business interest, a role with access to relevant trade secrets, reasonable limits and reasonable compensation, must be written and cannot exceed two years. The enforcement rules require compensation of at least 50% of the employee's average monthly wage at departure, with further adequacy tests, so a broad unpaid restriction is not enough.

On ownership, an invention made in the employee's duties generally gives patent rights to the employer, which must provide reasonable remuneration unless an agreement provides otherwise, while for copyright the employee is generally the author of work created in employment and the employer generally holds the economic rights, subject to agreement. In an EOR arrangement, document the rights your business receives from the employing entity rather than assuming they arrive with the invoice.

Remote work and information

For remote work, set out the approved location, the equipment, the expense arrangements, the availability, the attendance records and the reporting process, keeping the normal working-time, overtime and leave controls in place. Work from another country needs a fresh immigration, tax, insurance and employment assessment, and these sources establish no statutory home-office allowance of NT$1,000 to NT$2,000.

Give employees the required information about the purpose, the data categories, the use, the recipients and their rights, using a valid legal basis and appropriate security, and note that consent is not the only possible basis because the Act also permits specified contractual and legal-duty processing. Agree what the EOR and the client can access, share and retain, and check the current commencement rules before applying the separately published 2025 amendments to incident reporting.

Misclassification risk, and the subordination question

Taiwan's test is subordination, and the consultancy agreement is the form the problem usually takes. A labour contract creates an employer and worker relationship involving subordination, so if a person works under your direction as part of your team, calling the agreement a consultancy contract does not settle their status. Source: the approved Taiwanese contractor guidance, Labour Standards Act via law.moj.gov.tw, checked 18 September 2026.

The three things to review before you choose the arrangement are how the work is controlled, the person's independence, and the allocation of business risk. Risk is the one that usually gives the honest answer: if you carry all of it and they carry none, they are not an independent business. Source: the approved Taiwanese contractor guidance, checked 18 September 2026.

What a hirer does about it: decide on those three before the engagement, and where the person will work under your direction as part of the team, employ them and enrol them. The insurance and pension enrolments are the visible trail in Taiwan, and an arrangement with none of them for a person who works like an employee is the pattern that gets noticed.

The first two rows below decide whether the arrangement works at all, and the first of them is about a step most companies take before they think about compliance: the interview.

The points to resolve before signing

Ask the provider to answer each of these against the actual role and candidate.

On the first row, a client must not interview or otherwise select a specific dispatched worker before the dispatching employer signs that worker's employment contract. If the client breaks that rule and receives the worker's services, the worker can request direct employment in writing within 90 days of starting, the client has ten days to negotiate, and a failure to negotiate or agree can create a direct employment contract under the statute.

We check selected sources monthly and review relevant changes before updating this guide, with each fact note identifying its source, review date and applicable period. A successful website fetch approves no legal claim, and the July 2026 earnings and the rules effective from January 2026 describe different periods even when reviewed on the same day.

Taiwan's employer cost is four schemes, each with its own base, share and eligibility test, so a single percentage of salary will not survive contact with a payslip. Work the example, then get the company's actual rates.

Build the employer-cost estimate

This example assumes 12 identical full months, a worker covered by each listed scheme, and NT$36,300 as both the salary and the relevant contribution base.

Actual salary brackets, eligibility, variable pay and company rates can change the result. Add occupational-accident insurance, the wage fund, any supplementary NHI, overtime, bonuses, benefits, expenses, fees and invoice taxes, asking for each item separately, because the subtotal is not a complete invoice.

Labour insurance, pension and health insurance

The labour-insurance rate is 11.5% and employment insurance adds 1% where the worker is covered. For ordinary company employees covered by both, the employer pays 70% and the employee 20% of each premium with the government paying the remaining 10%, which means 8.75% employer and 2.5% employee before rounding on the applicable insured salary. Eligibility and salary brackets matter, and from 2026 qualifying foreign professionals with permanent residency have employment-insurance coverage, while a standard foreign work permit alone establishes no eligibility.

Under the Labor Pension Act the employer contributes at least 6% using the applicable monthly contribution classification, as an employer expense separate from labour insurance and NHI and not deducted from the employee's salary, while covered workers can voluntarily contribute up to 6%. Use the pension contribution table rather than assuming every insurance scheme uses the same salary base.

A 2026 reform changed who is covered. From 1 January 2026, foreign professionals and specialist professionals doing professional work are included in the new labour-pension system without needing permanent residency, and qualifying employees already with the same employer could elect in writing to retain the old system by 30 June 2026. That transition deadline has passed, new hires covered by the reform use the new system, and preserved earlier service needs separate treatment.

The general NHI premium rate is 5.17%, and for ordinary company employees the employer's calculation uses a 60% share and the prescribed average 0.56 dependants, so it includes a 1.56 multiplier, while the employee pays a 30% share for themselves and up to three enrolled dependants. Use the 2026 salary bracket and the published rounded amounts, and note that supplementary NHI premiums can apply separately.

Occupational-accident insurance is paid by the employer at a rate based on the business category and the applicable experience rating, separately from ordinary labour insurance, and employers covered by the Labor Standards Act also contribute 0.025% of their total monthly insured-salary amount to the Overdue Wage Payment Fund. Use the company's actual rates and bases in a quote.

Employee income tax and withholding

For 2026 income, resident individual tax rates are 5%, 12%, 20%, 30% and 40%, applied progressively after the relevant exemptions and deductions rather than as a flat rate on gross salary. Keep the income year separate from the year in which a tax return is filed.

Resident salary withholding generally follows the monthly withholding table or the employee's choice of 5%, with the applicable thresholds and exceptions, while non-resident salary withholding is generally 18%, or 6% where the full monthly salary is no more than 1.5 times the minimum wage, NT$44,250 in 2026. Have payroll establish the person's tax residence from the actual facts and the stay period, because withholding is not a universal final resident tax rate.

Employee deductions reduce take-home pay and are separate from the employer contributions, and your own business's corporate and transaction taxes need their own assessment, because an EOR arrangement settles no tax obligation of yours.

From 1 January 2026 Taiwan's minimum wage is NT$29,500 per month or NT$196 per hour, which are different pay bases, so use the rate appropriate to the arrangement. Overtime and extra rest-day or holiday pay do not count towards the minimum for normal working hours.

Set a salary for the actual role

For context, DGBAS reports average regular monthly earnings of NT$52,528 for full-time Taiwanese-national employees in industry and services in July 2026, with a median of NT$41,397, published on 14 September 2026. That is a gross regular-pay benchmark for that population and month rather than a role-specific hiring quote or a measure of every worker in Taiwan, and bonuses and other irregular earnings are reported separately.

Experience, occupation, location, working hours and the duties of the role all affect the offer. The payroll example below illustrates contributions rather than recommending a salary, and it is not a foreign-professional work-permit salary threshold.

Agree payment dates and bonuses

The statutory default is payment at least twice a month, unless employer and employee agree otherwise or wages are paid in advance monthly, so a monthly cycle has to be agreed rather than assumed. Record the payday, pay gross wages in New Taiwan dollars, explain the lawful deductions, provide the calculation details and keep wage records for five years.

On bonuses, there is no universal statutory thirteenth salary of one month's pay, so check the contract and the bonus policy for any promised payment. Separately, Labor Standards Act Article 29 requires allowances or bonuses from remaining net profits, after the specified taxes, losses, dividends and reserves, for qualifying workers who worked the full preceding year without fault or misconduct. Do not label every year-end payment discretionary.

Working hours and overtime

The normal limit is eight working hours a day and 40 a week, and flexible schedules require the applicable statutory conditions and approvals because a contract cannot remove working-time protection. Keep attendance records to the minute and retain them for five years, and note that remote work still needs a workable process for recording hours.

Normal hours plus overtime generally cannot exceed 12 hours a day, and overtime normally cannot exceed 46 hours a month, though with the required union consent, or labour-management conference consent where there is no union, the limit can be 54 hours a month and 138 hours over three months. Employers with at least 30 workers must also notify the authority for that extension, and emergency rules differ.

Overtime is calculated in thirds rather than in decimals, which is worth setting up correctly in payroll from the start.

For a monthly-paid worker whose normal salary already covers the rest day, the additional pay is at least 4/3 of the usual hourly wage for the first two hours, 5/3 for hours three to eight and 8/3 for hours nine to twelve. Those are additional amounts for actual rest-day work rather than a rule that every Sunday carries the same premium, so identify the agreed rest day and the regular weekly day off.

Overtime pay is the starting point, and after working overtime the employee may choose compensatory leave with the employer's agreement at one hour off per overtime hour. An employer cannot impose a blanket waiver of overtime pay. Set the deadline within the permitted leave year and pay any remaining hours at the original overtime rates if the leave expires unused or employment ends.

Breaks, weekly rest and night work

The usual weekly pattern provides one regular day off and one rest day in every seven days, with at least a 30-minute break after four continuous working hours subject to the law's operational exceptions. When changing rotating shifts the usual minimum rest is 11 consecutive hours, with a reduction to eight requiring the specified sector and approval conditions, and that shift-change rule is not a universal rule for every interval between workdays.

Taiwan has no universal statutory night premium for all adult employees under the Labor Standards Act, though contractual or collective terms can add one and overtime remains payable when due. The Constitutional Court invalidated Article 49(1)'s general restriction on women's night work on 20 August 2021, and separate health, pregnancy and breastfeeding protections need assessment, so do not treat the old blanket wording as current law.

Taiwanese annual leave starts early and climbs steadily, so a long-serving hire arrives with a substantial entitlement already earned with that employer.

Annual leave and public holidays

The ladder runs with completed service.

Employees generally arrange their own annual leave dates, with changes negotiated for urgent business or personal needs. Pay unused statutory leave at year-end unless both sides agree to defer it to the following year, then pay any remaining deferred balance at that year's end or when employment ends, recording the entitlement, the use and the payment and giving the employee the required written information.

Under the current holiday rules, workers covered by the Labor Standards Act have 16 general statutory holiday days, and eligible Indigenous workers have three additional days for qualifying traditional festivals, which are not three extra days for every employee. If a public holiday falls on a regular day off or rest day, arrange a substitute day by agreement, and note that voting-day entitlements follow different rules.

For work on a statutory holiday with the employee's agreement, the normal day's wage remains payable and an additional day's wage is due for work within normal daily hours, with further overtime calculated separately, while a properly agreed swap moves the holiday to the specified alternative date. Work on the regular weekly day off is restricted to the statutory emergency circumstances rather than being ordinary scheduled overtime.

Sickness and the 2026 protections

Non-hospitalised ordinary sick leave is limited to 30 days per year, while hospitalised leave, and combined hospitalised and non-hospitalised leave, are limited to one year over two years. Ordinary sick leave within 30 days in a year is generally paid at half wages, with the employer making up the difference if the relevant insurance benefit is lower, and qualifying cancer treatment and medically required pregnancy rest follow the hospitalised-leave rules.

A protection started this year that changes how absence can be treated. From 1 January 2026 an employer must not disadvantage an employee for taking up to ten days of ordinary sick leave in a year, with the employer bearing the burden of showing that an adverse measure is unrelated. Beyond ten days the assessment must consider overall performance rather than only the number of sick days, and an attendance bonus affected by ordinary sick leave must be reduced proportionately, subject to the separately protected leave categories.

Maternity, prenatal care and partner leave

Maternity leave before and after childbirth totals eight weeks, with the employer paying full wages where service is at least six months and half wages for shorter service. A miscarriage at three months or later gives four weeks under the relevant pay rule, while earlier miscarriages carry shorter leave entitlements under the Gender Equality in Employment Act, and the insurance maternity benefits are a separate calculation rather than a replacement for checking the employer's wage duty.

A pregnant employee has seven paid days for prenatal examinations, and an employee whose spouse is pregnant or gives birth has a separate combined entitlement of seven paid days for accompanying prenatal examinations and childbirth. That is one combined seven-day entitlement rather than seven partner prenatal days plus another seven birth days, so record the applicable entitlement and the agreed reporting process.

Parental leave and flexible care

After six months of service an employee can request unpaid parental leave while a child is under three, for up to two years subject to the statutory rules, and the employer does not generally pay salary during that leave. Eligible employment-insurance participants can receive a benefit and subsidy totalling 80% of average insured salary for up to six months per parent per child, so check the insurance eligibility separately from the right to leave.

From 1 January 2026 up to 30 days of parental leave per child can be taken in individual days before the child turns three, and those days count within the two-year leave entitlement rather than being 30 additional days. The usual application deadline is five days before the leave, with a one-day route for specified urgent needs and an alternative application process where needed, and benefits are paid proportionately.

An employee can take up to seven days of family-care leave a year for qualifying family vaccination, serious illness or other major care needs, unpaid and counting within the 14-day personal-leave allowance. From 2026, family-care leave and personal leave used to care for family can be taken by the hour, and these protected care absences must not reduce the attendance bonus.

Employees who need to breastfeed or express milk for a child under two have 60 minutes a day counted as working time, plus 30 minutes when overtime exceeds one hour, while for employees with a child under three, employers with at least 30 workers must provide the statutory choice of reducing work by one unpaid hour a day or adjusting hours, and smaller employers can agree those arrangements.

Other leave and extra benefits

Marriage leave is eight paid days, and paid bereavement leave is eight, six or three days depending on the family relationship. An employee who has difficulty working during menstruation can take one day per month at half pay, with the first three days in a year not counting towards ordinary sick leave while further days do. Set a clear process for requesting the correct category.

Agree any additional holiday, insurance, allowances or bonuses in the offer and the policy, stating which benefits are statutory and which your business adds, and include their actual costs in the quote.