Taiwan — 9 min

How to use an Employer of Record in Taiwan

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Taiwan is a technology hotbed and home to Southeast Asia’s brightest knowledge workers — developers, designers, marketers, and content creators. If you're planning to expand operations in Asia, Taiwan is a solid choice.

But there’s a lot of work that goes into hiring international employees in Taiwan. You’ll have to set up local entities, pay salaries in the local currency, offer benefits, and create a system for withholding taxes and payroll contributions. It can also be a costly and time-consuming process that can take months.

That’s where an employer of record comes in. An employer of record serves as a passthrough entity that does all the paperwork on your behalf and makes it easy to hire and onboard international employees, manage them, and most importantly, stay compliant with Taiwanese labor laws and regulations.

Jump straight to a key chapter

Six steps to hiring employees in Taiwan using an employer of record
What are the benefits of using an employer of record in Taiwan?
How much does it cost to use an EOR in Taiwan?
Hiring in Taiwan
What are the risks of employee misclassification in Taiwan?
Remote’s Taiwan employer of record services

This article will help you understand how an EOR works, the costs and benefits of using an EOR, and how to use an EOR to keep on top of employment laws in Taiwan.

Six steps to hiring employees in Taiwan using an employer of record

There are several EOR providers to choose from in the market today. How do you determine which one fits your company’s needs perfectly? Follow these six steps to find the right EOR for your business.

Step 1: Weigh the pros and cons of each potential partner

Make a list of all the features you need to hire in Taiwan or expand internationally. Some questions to think about are:

Do they own their own entities in Taiwan?
Are their services suited to managing employees and contractors alike?
Is their pricing transparent? Or their hidden costs for additional services?
Do they offer global payroll that allows you to pay employees in their local currency?
Do they offer data security to protect sensitive company and employee data?

Making a list of services required will help you vet potential providers and help you shortlist potential EOR providers that meet your needs.

Step 2: Take the time to select the most appropriate EOR service provider

Before you sign up for an EOR, confirm that they own their legal entities in the countries they operate. Some EORs use local entities owned by third parties. This means that your pricing can vary depending on partner costs, and you cannot be sure of security measures and compliance.

Learn more about the difference between owned-entity and partner-dependent global employment solutions.

Step 3: Check the reviews, testimonials, and coverage of your shortlist of providers

Use platforms like Saasworthy, G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot to gauge customer sentiment around the EOR providers you’ve shortlisted. Reviews and testimonials can help you get unbiased, unfiltered feedback that cuts through the marketing noise and gives you a healthy idea of the quality of service to expect. Via reviews and client testimonials, you can get answers to questions like:

How secure is their platform?
How quickly do employees and contractors receive payouts after you authorize payroll?
Do you see a trend of recurring issues across different reviews? How long does it take to fix bugs or get in touch with a customer rep?
Do you get a product expert to help you set up the platform and navigate it, at least, initially?
Do they have a history of abrupt price hikes?

Step 4: Ensure that the EOR solution for Australia will provide a best-in-class employee experience

The EOR hires on your behalf and acts as the face of your brand, so you’ll want to ensure that they treat your employees well. Your EOR should be able to:

Provide a seamless onboarding journey
Respond to employee queries quickly
Pay employee salaries on time
Address questions about payroll deductions or withholding taxes
Provide a positive experience at every step of their journey

Step 5: Work with your partner to make sure you always provide a fair and equitable compensation package

Figuring out salaries for international employees and remote workers is tricky. You’ll need to find an EOR that has expertise in local employment laws, and that can offer an attractive compensation based on market rates, the local cost of living in the country, and the employee’s experience and skills. Additionally, to attract and retain top talent, partner with an EOR that can offer a robust benefits package that considers statutory benefits, as well as the individual’s role and experience.

Step 6: Make sure your partner will guard your intellectual property and maintain data security for your business

An ideal employer of record should offer bullet-proof contracts that secure the rights to the IP your employees create using your company’s resources, including copyrights, patents, trade secrets, and formulas. Additionally, they should have strong measures in place to protect your company and employees’ sensitive data so that you can minimize security risks.

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Remote is the G2 top-ranked multi-country payroll software

What are the benefits of using an employer of record in Taiwan?

Setting up and maintaining a local entity abroad is no mean feat. You’ll have to spend a significant amount of time and resources to file paperwork and establish the HR systems required to hire and pay your employees or contractors in Taiwan. With an EOR, global hiring becomes simple.

An employer of record can help you:

Set up local entities, bank accounts, and sort out paperwork for the required labor permits.
Pay salaries and invoices in Taiwanese Dollars or whatever currency your employee prefers,
Create a system for withholding taxes and making payroll contributions from your employees' paychecks and remitting them to the appropriate authorities.
Offer a range of benefits such as disability and life insurance, paid vacations, and parental leave.
Stay compliant with local employment regulations.
Enter into enforceable contracts with your employees that can protect your intellectual property and clearly state what your Taiwanese workers can expect by way of salaries, benefits, notice periods, holidays, leave entitlement, etc.

An employer of record like Remote can lighten the load for you and make it quick, easy, and safe to hire employees in Taiwan and beyond.

How much does it cost to use an EOR in Taiwan?

EOR costs depend on the services or features provided, the number of workers you want to hire, and their location. In general, larger EORs can charge enterprise rates which can go up to $2,000 per employee per month. Smaller EORs tend to charge less, but it’s typically because they don’t offer a full-stack employer of record platform.

Remote offers a full stack EOR service at an affordable, flat fee. Our global HR platform gives you everything you need to hire, onboard, pay, and manage your employees — responsive support, legal guidance from our employment experts, compensation and benefits management, global payroll, security, and compliance.

Compare Remote to other EORs and see how our services offer the best value for money.

Hiring in Taiwan

This section is a recap of our guide to hiring in Taiwan. It explores what the island’s local employment rules look like, such as the minimum wage, mandatory benefits, leave entitlements, and the conditions under which employees can be dismissed.

Employment contracts and agreements in Taiwan

Taiwanese labor contracts can either be temporary (i.e. fixed-term) or permanent. Employment contracts should include a job description, salary, benefits, overtime pay, and the provisions that will be met before a worker is dismissed.

Labor law compliance in Taiwan

Taiwan’s Labor Standards Act protects workers' rights, regulates working hours, and lays out workers’ mandatory benefits and entitlements such as paid annual leave and sick leave.

Payroll and payroll taxes in Taiwan

Salaries are paid monthly, usually on the 15th day of the month. Income tax rates range from 5% to 40%

Taiwan employee benefits and compensation

Up to 30 days of paid annual vacation, 15 public holidays, 30 days paid sick leave, and paid parental leave. Employees can also take time off work to perform civil duty, get married, mourn a loved one’s death, or attend to their personal affairs.

Severance pay and employee terminations in Taiwan

Employees are entitled to 10 to 30 days prior notice, depending on their tenure, and an employee is entitled to a severance package equal to half a month’s wages for every year they’ve been employed. Probation usually lasts three to six months and can be negotiated by both parties.

Benefits & Leave —

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What are the risks of employee misclassification in Taiwan?

You have to be careful about classifying your workers correctly in Taiwan. Otherwise, you might have to face serious repercussions including fines, penalties, and legal issues.

In Taiwan, an employee who is wrongly classified as a freelancer can bring a civil action against your business, claiming all the statutory entitlements for the period they reckon they were misclassified. The court doesn’t even need to prove intent — it’s often assumed that you’re guilty if a contractor exceeds their scope and manages other workers or does the bulk of their work for your business exclusively.

Remote’s employer of record services in Taiwan can help you mitigate misclassification risks. Our team of employment experts has an in-depth understanding of Taiwanese laws and can help you avoid misclassification and stay compliant with local laws.

Remote’s Taiwan employer of record services

International hiring doesn’t have to be a hassle. Using a trusted EOR like Remote can help you expand globally without the headache of filing endless paperwork or flying between continents to meet regulators. An EOR does all the legal legwork for you, ensures compliance, and makes it quick and easy for you to hire and pay workers abroad.

Remote offers a modern, all-in-one global HR platform where you can:

Create comprehensive employment contracts compliant with local laws
Set up a seamless onboarding procedure
Pay employees and contractors on time, in local currencies
Withhold payroll taxes, contributions, and levies and remit them to the authorities
Protect your intellectual property, patents, and copyrights with detailed contracts
Offer your employees localized benefits they can access wherever they’re located — health insurance, retirement savings pensions, PTO, stock options, and life insurance
Avoid compliance risks by keeping up with headaches with legal entities in 100+ countries

Learn more about how Remote’s employer of record services can help you hire, onboard, pay, and manage employees in Taiwan or globally with a few clicks. If you’re ready to hire talent in Taiwan, get started with Remote and take your business to the next level.

Employer of Record & PEO —

20 min