Taiwan is one of the few advanced economies that taxes individuals only on income from Taiwan. Your foreign pension, dividends and gains sit outside the regular income tax, even when you live there full time. The only thing that can reach them is the alternative minimum tax, and that only bites above NT$7.5 million of income a year.
This guide covers Taiwanese personal tax for people moving to Taiwan in the 2026 tax year, from the minimum tax and the 183-day rule to NHI and the digital nomad visa.
The key question is simple. Is your income earned from work or assets in Taiwan, or from abroad? Taiwan treats the two very differently.
What's changed: for the 2026 tax year, the personal exemption rose from NT$97,000 to NT$101,000, the standard deduction from NT$131,000 to NT$136,000 and the salary deduction from NT$218,000 to NT$227,000, and every tax band was widened. The minimum tax floor stays at NT$7.5 million. Amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals took effect on 1 January 2026. Foreign professionals no longer need permanent residence to join the labour pension scheme, permanent residents can join employment insurance, and the Act now sets out the digital nomad visa, with stays extendable up to two years.
📋 Taiwan tax at a glance for 2026
Topic | Details |
|---|---|
Tax year | The calendar year. Returns for 2026 are filed in May 2027 |
Tax system | Territorial: only Taiwan-source income is in the regular income tax. Foreign income can only be reached by the alternative minimum tax |
Top income tax rate | 40% above NT$5.19 million of net income |
All-in on a US$100k salary | About 14% (NT$3.2 million, single, including labour insurance and the NHI health premium) |
Foreign income | Outside the regular tax. Counts towards the minimum tax only if it reaches NT$1 million a household, and tax is due only on basic income above NT$7.5 million, at 20% |
Dividends and gains | Taiwan dividends: 28% flat or an 8.5% credit. Gains on securities are not subject to income tax |
Crypto gains | No specific rules. Treatment depends on where the gain is sourced |
Residence at a glance | Getting in: 183 days in a calendar year if you have no household registration. Leaving: a clean break, with a return filed before you depart |
Double tax treaties | 36 comprehensive income tax agreements |
US dollar figures use NT$32 to US$1 (the US Federal Reserve's rate was NT$31.94 on 9 October 2026).
Taiwan's territorial tax and the minimum tax
Why do retirees and investors look at Taiwan? Because the Income Tax Act only taxes individuals on income from sources in Taiwan.
Image 1 — foreign income stays outside Taiwan's regular income tax
Foreign income does have one route in: the alternative minimum tax, which Taiwan calls the income basic tax. It works like this:
If your household's foreign income for the year is under NT$1 million (about US$31,000), it's left out completely.
If it's NT$1 million or more, all of it is added to your net Taiwan income, with a few other items such as gains on unlisted shares. That's your basic income.
The first NT$7.5 million (about US$234,000) of basic income is deducted. The rest is taxed at 20%.
You pay the difference only if this basic tax is higher than your regular tax. Foreign tax paid on the income can be credited.
In practice, most people with a foreign pension or a modest portfolio pay nothing on their foreign income.
Where income comes from is the key test. Pay for work you do while in Taiwan is Taiwan income, even if your employer is abroad.
👉 National Taxation Bureau of Taipei: what counts as Taiwan-source income
👉 Taxation Administration: basic income deduction amounts for 2026 (NT$7.5 million unchanged)
The foreign specialist professional regime
Taiwan also has a tax break for "foreign specialist professionals": people with special expertise in fields such as technology, finance, law, education and the arts, who hold an Employment Gold Card or were approved as specialists for their job. You qualify if you:
have no household registration in Taiwan and are approved to live there for work for the first time
spend 183 days or more in Taiwan in the tax year
earn a salary of more than NT$3 million (about US$94,000) that year
meet the further conditions set by the Ministry of Finance, and apply to the tax bureau
The benefit lasts for five years from the first year you meet the 183-day and salary tests. In each qualifying year, half of your salary above NT$3 million is left out of your taxable income, and your foreign income is left out of the minimum tax altogether.
At US$100k the salary break saves only about NT$20,000. The bigger prize is for wealthy hires, whose large foreign gains go untaxed for five years.
👉 National Taxation Bureau of Taipei: tax reduction for foreign specialist professionals
When you become tax resident in Taiwan
If you have no household registration in Taiwan, which is the case for most foreigners, you're resident for a calendar year when you stay in Taiwan for 183 days or more in that year.
People with household registration, usually Taiwanese nationals, are resident from 31 days, or fewer if their centre of life is in Taiwan.
Below 183 days you're non-resident, and your Taiwan income is taxed by withholding at flat rates. Two day counts matter:
90 days or fewer in a year: pay from a foreign employer for work done in Taiwan isn't Taiwan income, so it isn't taxed.
More than 90 days: that pay becomes Taiwan income. If you're still non-resident, you report it and pay tax before you leave.
How you stop being resident
Residence is tested each calendar year, so a year with fewer than 183 days in Taiwan makes you non-resident if you have no household registration. If you leave part-way through a year, you file that year's return before you depart. There's no exit tax.
👉 National Taxation Bureau of Taipei: residents and non-residents
Income tax rates for 2026
Residents are taxed on net income after exemptions and deductions, on this scale:
Taiwan income tax rates for 2026
Net taxable income | Rate |
|---|---|
Up to NT$610,000 | 5% |
NT$610,001 to NT$1,380,000 | 12% |
NT$1,380,001 to NT$2,770,000 | 20% |
NT$2,770,001 to NT$5,190,000 | 30% |
Over NT$5,190,000 | 40% |
Source: Ministry of Finance amounts for the 2026 tax year, announced 27 November 2025.
For 2026 you deduct a personal exemption of NT$101,000 for yourself, your spouse and each dependant, and a standard deduction of NT$136,000 (NT$272,000 for a married couple), or itemised deductions instead. Each salary earner also gets a special deduction of up to NT$227,000.
Worked example
You're single, resident in Taiwan for 2026 and earn NT$3.2 million (about US$100k).
After the NT$101,000 exemption, the NT$136,000 standard deduction and the NT$227,000 salary deduction, your net taxable income is NT$2,736,000.
Your income tax is NT$394,100, or 12.3% of your salary.
Labour insurance adds about NT$12,600 and the NHI health premium about NT$51,000 (on the NT$273,000 insured salary grade for 2026), taking the all-in cost to about NT$458,000, or 14%. If you qualify as a foreign specialist professional, the income tax falls by NT$20,000.
👉 National Taxation Bureau of Taipei: tax rates and bands for 2026 (in Chinese)
👉 Ministry of Finance: 2026 exemption, deduction and band amounts (in Chinese)
Freelancing in Taiwan
Freelance fees for work you do in Taiwan are Taiwan income, even when your clients are abroad. They're taxed on the same scale as a salary, after deducting your business expenses, but you don't get the salary deduction.
The bigger cost is health insurance. Self-employed professionals pay the whole 5.17% NHI premium on their income, up to the top of the NHI scale, where employees pay 30% of it. On US$100k of fees with no expenses, that's about 19% all-in.
Check your immigration status first, because you need permission to work. The Employment Gold Card is an open work permit, so it's the usual route for foreigners who want to take on varied work.
👉 National Health Insurance Administration: how premiums are calculated
Crypto, investments and pensions
How is crypto taxed in Taiwan? There are no crypto-specific rules in the income tax law, and the tax authorities haven't published English guidance on it. Gains on selling property are normally taxable property transaction income, but where a crypto gain is sourced isn't settled.
A gain made through a foreign exchange is likely to be foreign income, so it only matters for the minimum tax, above NT$7.5 million.
If a gain is treated as Taiwan income, it's taxed on the normal scale. A US$100k gain on its own would cost about 14%.
Keep records of every trade, and take advice before a large sale.
Other investments are taxed like this:
Taiwan shares: gains on securities have been outside income tax since 1990, and losses can't be deducted. A securities transaction tax is charged on sales instead.
Taiwan dividends: either add them to your income with an 8.5% credit, capped at NT$80,000 a household, or pay a flat 28% separately.
Foreign pensions, dividends, interest and gains: outside the regular tax, and only counted in the minimum tax.
Taiwan has no wealth tax. Estate tax is charged at 10%, 15% and 20%. If you're not a Taiwanese national, it only applies to your property in Taiwan, whatever your residence. Taiwanese nationals who regularly live in Taiwan are taxed on their worldwide estate.
👉 Income Tax Act: securities gains (article 4-1) and dividends (article 15) (in Chinese)
👉 Estate and Gift Tax Act: who is taxed (article 1) and the rates (article 13) (in Chinese)
Social security: NHI, labour insurance and pensions
Three schemes apply to employees in Taiwan:
National Health Insurance (NHI): the premium rate is 5.17% of your insured salary. Employees pay 30%, employers 60% and the government 10%. Foreigners with a residence permit join from their first day of work. Without a job, you join once you've lived in Taiwan for six months, and pay a flat NT$826 a month as a member of the general public.
Labour insurance: the ordinary rate is 11.5% of an insured salary of up to NT$45,800 a month. You pay 20%, your employer 70% and the government 10%. Employment insurance, at a further 1%, applies to foreign professionals once they have permanent residence.
Labour pension: your employer pays at least 6% of your monthly wage into a personal pension account, and you can add up to 6% of your own. From 1 January 2026, foreign professionals are covered without needing permanent residence.
Taiwan also charges a 2.11% supplementary NHI premium on some other income, such as bonuses above four times your monthly insured salary, dividends, interest and rent, deducted by the payer when it pays you.
👉 Bureau of Labor Insurance: labour insurance and employment insurance premiums
👉 Labor Insurance Act, article 15: who pays the premium (in Chinese)
👉 National Development Council: the labour pension for foreign professionals
👉 National Health Insurance Act, article 9: when foreign residents join (in Chinese)
Double tax treaties
Does Taiwan have double tax treaties? Yes. The Ministry of Finance lists 36 comprehensive income tax agreements, including with the UK, Japan, Australia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Singapore, India, Canada and New Zealand. A renewed agreement with Singapore entered into force on 13 February 2026 and takes effect from 1 January 2027.
There's no comprehensive agreement with the United States, only one for international transport income. Treaties matter most for Taiwan income that your home country also taxes.
👉 Ministry of Finance: Taiwan's tax treaty network
The digital nomad visa and the Gold Card
Taiwan offers a digital nomad visitor visa for remote workers who work for employers or clients outside Taiwan. You need:
a passport from a country whose nationals can visit Taiwan without a visa
an annual income of at least US$40,000 in either of the last two years, or US$20,000 if you're aged 20 to 29 (or a nomad visa already issued by another country)
bank balances averaging at least US$10,000 a month over the last six months
health and full hospitalisation insurance for your whole stay
The visa gives a six-month stay, which you can extend in six-month steps up to two years. There's no tax exemption: after 90 days in a year, pay for work done in Taiwan is Taiwan income, and after 183 days you're resident.
For a longer move, the Employment Gold Card combines an open work permit, resident visa, residence permit and re-entry permit for one to three years. It's for specialists in twelve fields, and it leads into the tax break above.
👉 Bureau of Consular Affairs: digital nomad visitor visa requirements
👉 National Development Council: Taiwan digital nomad visa questions and answers
👉 Taiwan Gold Card Office: the Employment Gold Card
Who is Taiwan good for?
How does Taiwan compare for different kinds of mover? Ratings are relative to the 150+ countries TaxPilot covers, based on the 2026 tax year and the all-in cost including labour insurance and NHI. They assume your pension and portfolio are held abroad.
☑️ Who is Taiwan good for? Tax ratings for expats in 2026
Expat profile | Taiwan rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
Employees | Good | About 14% all-in on a US$100k salary (NT$3.2 million): 12.3% income tax plus labour insurance and NHI. The foreign specialist professional break (about 13.6%) only covers approved specialists, so it isn't counted. |
Freelancers (self-employed) | Good | About 19% all-in on US$100k of fees with no expenses claimed: 14.3% income tax plus the full NHI premium. That's close to the 20% line. |
Retirees | Good | About 0.5% on a US$40k foreign pension plus US$20k of foreign investment income: no income tax, just the flat NHI premium. Estate tax only reaches a foreigner's property in Taiwan, but the spouse and children deductions don't apply to foreigners, so your family can pay 10% to 20% on Taiwan assets above the basic exemption. |
Crypto gains | Good | No crypto-specific rules. A gain through a foreign exchange is likely foreign income, untaxed below the minimum tax floor. As Taiwan income, a US$100k gain on its own costs about 14%. |
Investment income | Good | About 0.4% on a US$1m foreign portfolio. Its income and gains (about NT$2.6 million a year) fall well under the NT$7.5 million minimum tax floor, so no income tax is due. But the flat NHI premium of NT$826 a month still applies, so it isn't untaxed. |
Digital nomad visa | Good | A nomad visitor visa for remote workers earning US$40,000 a year (US$20,000 if aged 20 to 29), for up to two years. No tax break after 90 days. |
Filing and deadlines
Residents file their return for the previous calendar year between 1 May and 31 May, so the 2026 return is due by 31 May 2027. If 31 May falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline moves to the next working day. Employers withhold tax from salaries during the year.
If you're leaving Taiwan for good part-way through a year, you file for that year's income before you depart. Non-residents who stayed more than 90 days report pay from abroad for work in Taiwan before they leave.
👉 National Taxation Bureau of Taipei: when foreigners must file
Frequently asked questions
Does Taiwan tax foreign income?
Not in the regular income tax, which only covers Taiwan-source income. Foreign income counts towards the alternative minimum tax if your household has NT$1 million or more of it, but tax is only due on basic income above NT$7.5 million, at 20%.
How many days make you tax resident in Taiwan?
If you have no household registration in Taiwan, you're resident for a calendar year when you stay 183 days or more. People with household registration are resident at 31 days, or less if their centre of life is in Taiwan.
What are the income tax rates in Taiwan for 2026?
Rates rise from 5% on the first NT$610,000 of net income to 40% above NT$5.19 million. Residents first deduct a NT$101,000 exemption, a NT$136,000 standard deduction and up to NT$227,000 for salary.
What is the tax break for foreign professionals in Taiwan?
Foreign specialist professionals, including Gold Card holders, can leave out half of their salary above NT$3 million for five years if they stay 183 days a year. Their foreign income is also left out of the minimum tax.
How is crypto taxed in Taiwan?
Taiwan has no crypto-specific tax rules. Gains through a foreign exchange are likely foreign income, which only counts for the minimum tax. If a gain is Taiwan income, it's taxed on the normal 5% to 40% scale.
Does Taiwan have a digital nomad visa?
Yes. Remote workers earning at least US$40,000 a year, or US$20,000 if aged 20 to 29, can get a six-month visitor visa, extendable up to two years. Pay for work done in Taiwan is taxed after 90 days in a year.
Where to go next
👉 Countries that don't tax foreign income
Important information
This article is general information and does not constitute tax, legal, immigration or financial advice, and does not create a client relationship. Tax outcomes depend on travel history, income sources, treaty status and the law applying to the relevant year. Rates, thresholds and regimes change, and some measures described may be proposed rather than enacted; this article reflects our understanding as at the date of publication. Obtain advice from a suitably qualified professional before acting or refraining from action.
