Employee benefitsin Taiwan

Every employee in Taiwan is enrolled in National Health Insurance (NHI), the compulsory single-payer health insurance scheme that pays for medical treatment at contracted hospitals and clinics. Foreign employees who hold an Alien Resident Certificate and have a regular employer join from their first day of employment; Taiwanese employees enrol through their employer from the start date.

The general premium is 5.17% of the employee's monthly insured salary, which the employer reports from a national salary table running from TWD 29,500 to TWD 313,000 a month in 2026. For private-sector employees the cost is split three ways: the employee pays 30%, the employer pays 60% and the government pays 10%. The employee's share also covers enrolled dependants such as a spouse, children or parents, charged per person up to three dependants. The employer's share is calculated on the employee plus the national average of 0.56 dependants, so the employer cost is about 4.84% of the insured salary (5.17% × 60% × 1.56), whatever the employee's actual family size. A single employee pays about 1.55% of insured salary.

Employers deduct the employee premium through payroll. A separate supplementary premium of 2.11% applies to large bonuses, some other income and the employer's total payroll above reported insured salaries.

On top of the general premium, Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI), the compulsory single-payer health scheme, charges a supplementary premium of 2.11% on income that the regular premium does not capture. It is withheld at the time of payment, item by item, and capped at TWD 10 million for any single payment.

For employees, the main trigger is bonuses: once an employee's cumulative bonuses in the year exceed four times their monthly NHI insured salary, the employer withholds 2.11% from the excess. Year-end, festival and performance bonuses all count. The same rate applies to part-time wages from an employer that does not enrol the person (single payments at or above the minimum wage), and to professional fees, dividends, interest and rent of TWD 20,000 or more per payment.

Employers also pay an employer supplementary premium every month: 2.11% of the difference between total salaries paid and the total NHI insured salaries of their employees, with no upper limit. It is paid with the regular monthly premium.

Because National Health Insurance (NHI), Taiwan's compulsory national health scheme, already covers most medical treatment, employer medical insurance in Taiwan is designed as a top-up. Group policies typically pay for costs NHI does not cover in full: hospital room upgrades, inpatient daily cash benefits, surgery and treatment outside NHI pricing, outpatient co-payments and, in more generous plans, health checks. Multinational and foreign-invested employers commonly provide group medical cover, usually combined with group life and accident insurance, and often extend it to spouses and dependent children, either employer-funded or at the employee's cost.

Premiums depend on the insurer, the benefit schedule and the age profile of the workforce. Insurers project medical claims cost inflation of 9.9% for Taiwanese group plans in 2026, after 10.2% in 2025, so renewal premiums tend to rise each year.

Company-sponsored trips are a well-established Taiwanese benefit. Employers either organise an annual staff trip, in Taiwan or abroad, or give each employee a travel subsidy to use on their own trip. In a 2024–2025 employer survey by the 104 Job Bank, 65% of companies provided an employee travel benefit, with an average subsidy of TWD 11,832 per employee, the highest-value item among the cash welfare benefits measured. Trips and subsidies are often funded through the employee welfare committee.

Some Taiwanese employers fund confidential counselling or an employee assistance programme, a service giving employees access to psychological counselling and advice on personal, legal or financial issues. In a 2024–2025 employer survey by the 104 Job Bank, 16% of companies offered psychological counselling support and the same share emergency personal assistance, 36% offered health or medical consultation, and 63% provided a formal employee grievance channel.

A government mental-health support programme also funds three free counselling sessions a year for people aged 15 to 45, which employees can use independently of their employer.

Employees injured at work or commuting are protected by Labor Occupational Accident Insurance, a compulsory scheme run by the Bureau of Labor Insurance that pays medical, wage-replacement, disability and survivor benefits for work-related injury and disease. Since 2022 it covers every employee of a registered employer regardless of company size, including foreign employees.

The employer pays the whole premium; employees pay nothing. The rate has two parts: an industry rate that ranges from 0.12% to 0.96% of insured salary under the schedule in force from 1 January 2025, plus a flat 0.07% for accidents on the way to and from work. Office-based businesses sit at the low end. Larger employers have their industry rate adjusted each year according to their claims record. The insured salary follows the employee's actual monthly pay from TWD 29,500 up to a 2026 ceiling of TWD 72,800.

Separately, the Labor Standards Act makes the employer directly liable for work-injury compensation: medical expenses, continued wages while the employee cannot work, disability compensation and, on death, five months' average wages as a funeral allowance plus 40 months' average wages for survivors. Insurance benefits already paid for the same accident are deducted from the employer's liability.

Labour Insurance is Taiwan's main social insurance scheme for employees, run by the Bureau of Labor Insurance. It pays old-age benefits (a pension or lump sum), disability and death benefits, sickness and injury cash benefits, and a maternity benefit. Employees aged 15 to 65 must be enrolled by employers with five or more employees, and foreign employees are covered on the same basis; smaller employers may enrol their staff voluntarily.

The ordinary premium rate is 11.5% of the employee's monthly insured salary, which the employer reports from a 2026 table of 11 grades running from TWD 29,500 to a ceiling of TWD 45,800. The employer pays 70%, the employee 20% and the government 10%, so the employer pays 8.05% of insured salary (about TWD 3,687 a month at the ceiling) and the employee 2.3% (about TWD 1,053). For Taiwanese nationals and foreign spouses with residence, a further 1% employment insurance premium is collected with it on the same 70/20/10 split, bringing the combined rate to 12.5%.

Employers also pay 0.025% of insured salary into the Wage Arrears Payment Fund, which pays employees' unpaid wages, pension and severance if an employer closes or goes bankrupt. Employees in Labour Insurance are not enrolled in National Pension Insurance, the separate scheme for people outside employment-based insurance.

Under Taiwan's Labor Pension Act, employers must pay at least 6% of each eligible employee's monthly wage into a personal retirement account held by the Bureau of Labor Insurance. The account belongs to the employee, moves with them between jobs and is paid out from age 60: as a monthly pension with 15 or more years of contributions, otherwise as a lump sum.

Contributions are based on a monthly contribution wage taken from a 2026 classification table with a ceiling of TWD 150,000, so the minimum employer contribution is capped at TWD 9,000 a month. Employees can add voluntary contributions of up to 6% of wages, which are deducted from their taxable salary income for that year.

The scheme covers Taiwanese nationals, foreign spouses with household registration and permanent residents. Since 1 January 2026 it also covers foreign professionals doing professional work, such as holders of professional work permits or the Employment Gold Card, without needing permanent residence; foreign professionals already employed before that date could opt in writing by 30 June 2026 to stay under the old system. Other foreign employees remain under the older Labor Standards Act retirement rules, under which employers set aside 2% to 15% of wages in a reserve account and pay a lump-sum retirement benefit on eligible retirement.

Employees covered by Taiwan's Labor Pension Act can top up their personal retirement account with voluntary contributions of up to 6% of their monthly wage, on top of the employer's mandatory contribution of at least 6%. The employer deducts the amount from salary and pays it to the Bureau of Labor Insurance with its own contribution.

The main attraction is tax: voluntary contributions are excluded from taxable salary income for the year. Employees can change their contribution rate up to twice a year, with the change taking effect from the month after the employer files it. Employers may choose to contribute more than the 6% minimum, but there is no statutory matching formula.

Employment insurance protects employees who lose their job involuntarily and funds the parental leave allowance. It is compulsory for employees aged 15 to 65 who are Taiwanese nationals, or foreign or mainland Chinese spouses of Taiwanese citizens with legal residence. Other foreign employees are not covered.

The premium is 1% of monthly insured salary (capped at TWD 45,800 in 2026), collected with the Labour Insurance premium and shared 70% employer, 20% employee and 10% government: 0.7% for the employer and 0.2% for the employee.

An insured person who has at least one year of coverage in the previous three years and leaves work involuntarily, for example through redundancy or business closure, can claim unemployment benefit after registering with a public employment service office and not being placed in a job within 14 days. The benefit is 60% of the average monthly insured salary for the six months before leaving, paid for up to six months, or nine months for people aged 45 or over or with a recognised disability. Each dependent family member who does not work adds 10%, up to 20% extra. Insured people who find work early can receive half of the remaining benefit as a lump-sum re-employment incentive.

Employees dismissed for business reasons or poor performance receive statutory severance pay. For service under the current pension system, which covers almost all employees hired since July 2005, severance is half a month's average wage for each full year of service, pro rata for part years, capped at six months' average wages. For service that remains under the older Labor Standards Act system, it is one month's average wage per year of service, with part years pro rated and no six-month cap. Average wage means total wages for the six months before termination divided by the number of days in that period.

Severance is due when the employer ends an open-ended contract on the grounds allowed in Article 11 of the Labor Standards Act (business closure or transfer, losses or contraction, suspension of work for more than a month through force majeure, a change in the business with no suitable role, or the employee clearly being unable to do the job), and when the employee resigns because of serious employer breaches such as unpaid wages. It is not payable on resignation or on summary dismissal for serious misconduct. The employer must pay it within 30 days of termination, together with notice pay where notice is not given.

Taiwan's Employee Welfare Fund Act requires factories, mines and other enterprises within the scope set by the labour authorities to build a dedicated fund for staff welfare. The fund is financed by setting aside 1% to 5% of capital when the business is established, 0.05% to 0.15% of monthly revenue, 20% to 40% of income from selling scrap, and a 0.5% deduction from each employee's monthly wages and allowances.

The money is managed by an employee welfare committee in which employee or union representatives hold at least two-thirds of the seats. The fund may be used only for employee welfare, and the enterprise and the union must publish its annual accounts and report them to the authority. Administrative fines for failing to set aside the required amounts are modest, at up to TWD 1,000.

Taiwanese employers commonly mark employees' life events with cash gifts, often paid through the employee welfare committee. In a 2024–2025 employer survey by the 104 Job Bank, 86% of companies gave a marriage gift averaging TWD 4,698, 79% a childbirth gift averaging TWD 4,998 and 74% a birthday gift averaging TWD 1,007. Many employers also give condolence payments on the death of a family member and gifts or subsidies for hospitalisation.

Employers that offer group insurance in Taiwan usually combine term life cover with personal accident cover, paying a lump sum on death or permanent disability. Cover is commonly set as a fixed sum or a multiple of monthly or annual salary, and it supplements the death and disability benefits of Labour Insurance and occupational accident insurance.

Employers whose staff travel for work commonly buy business travel insurance covering emergency medical treatment and evacuation abroad, personal accident, baggage and travel disruption. Taiwanese employers also often arrange group personal accident cover for employees.

Employees earn paid annual leave once they have worked for the same employer for six months. The entitlement rises with service: 3 days after six months, 7 days after one year, 10 days after two years, 14 days after three years and 15 days after five years. From 10 years, one extra day is added for each further year of service, up to a maximum of 30 days.

Employees choose when to take their leave, although the employer may consult them to adjust dates for urgent business needs. The employer must tell each employee when they become entitled and record leave taken. The leave year can follow the employee's start-date anniversary, the calendar year or another agreed period.

Untaken days must be paid out at the employee's daily wage at the end of the leave year or on termination. Employer and employee can agree to carry unused days into the next year; any carried days still unused at the end of that following year, or on termination, are then paid out. Annual leave is paid at full wages and is separate from public holidays.

Employees who need treatment or rest because of illness or a non-work injury can take ordinary sick leave of up to 30 days a year without hospitalisation. Hospitalised sick leave can extend to one year within any two-year period, and total ordinary sick leave of both kinds cannot exceed one year in two years. Outpatient treatment for cancer and for threatened miscarriage counts as hospitalised leave.

Pay is half the normal wage for up to 30 days of ordinary sick leave in a year. Where a Labour Insurance sickness cash benefit is paid for the same days and is less than half pay, the employer makes up the difference. Sick leave beyond 30 days in the year is unpaid. An employee who is still not recovered after using up sick leave and any annual leave can take unpaid suspension of up to one year. Employers can ask for supporting evidence such as a medical certificate.

From 1 January 2026, employers may not take adverse action against an employee for taking up to 10 days of ordinary sick leave in a year, and any deduction from a perfect-attendance bonus for sick days must be pro rata. Work-related injury or illness is covered separately by occupational injury leave, which lasts through treatment and recovery with wages maintained by the employer.

Employees can take up to 14 days of unpaid personal leave a year for matters they must deal with themselves. Within that allowance, up to seven days a year can be used as family care leave to look after a family member who needs a vaccination, is seriously ill or faces another major event. The employer cannot refuse family care leave.

Since 1 January 2026, family care leave and personal leave taken to care for family members can be taken in hours, and employers may not reduce a perfect-attendance bonus because of it. Both types of leave are unpaid unless the employer's policy is more generous.

Employees receive eight days of paid marriage leave. Bereavement leave is also paid at full wages: eight days on the death of a parent, adoptive parent, step-parent or spouse; six days for a grandparent, child, parent-in-law or step-parent-in-law; and three days for a great-grandparent, sibling or grandparent-in-law.

Employees are also entitled to paid official leave for duties required by law, such as military reservist training, for as long as the duty requires. Employers may not treat marriage, bereavement or official leave as absence when paying a perfect-attendance bonus.

Female employees who have difficulty working during menstruation can take one day of menstrual leave each month. The first three days in a year do not count towards sick leave; any further days are counted as sick leave. All menstrual leave days are paid at half the regular wage, and the employer cannot refuse the request or penalise the employee in attendance bonuses or appraisals.

A woman giving birth is entitled to eight weeks of maternity leave, which can start before the birth and continue afterwards; the employer must stop her working during this period. Leave after a miscarriage is four weeks after more than three months of pregnancy, one week between two and three months, and five days before two months.

The employer pays maternity leave: full regular wages if she has worked for the employer for at least six months, and half wages if she has worked there for less. In addition, an employee insured under Labour Insurance for at least 280 days before the birth (181 days for a premature birth) receives a lump-sum maternity benefit from the Bureau of Labor Insurance equal to 60 days of her average monthly insured salary, increased proportionately for twins or more.

Pregnant employees can ask to move to lighter work without a pay cut, may not be assigned night work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and receive seven days of paid pregnancy check-up leave. After returning, employees feeding or expressing milk for a child under two get 60 minutes a day of paid nursing time, plus 30 minutes on days with an hour or more of overtime.

Pregnant employees are entitled to seven days of pregnancy check-up leave during their pregnancy, paid at full regular wages. The leave is separate from maternity leave and sick leave and the employer cannot refuse it or treat it as absence when awarding attendance bonuses or appraisals.

The employer pays the wages but can apply to the Ministry of Labor, through the Bureau of Labor Insurance, for a subsidy covering the days beyond the first five.

An employee whose spouse is pregnant receives seven days of combined pregnancy check-up accompaniment and paternity leave, paid at full regular wages. The days can be used to go with the spouse to prenatal check-ups or around the birth. The employer cannot refuse the leave or reduce attendance bonuses because of it.

The employer pays the wages and can apply to the Ministry of Labor, through the Bureau of Labor Insurance, for a subsidy covering the days beyond the first five. Longer time off for childcare is available through unpaid parental leave with a government allowance.

After six months with their employer, each parent can take unpaid parental leave for each child until the child turns three, for up to two years per child. Both parents can take leave at the same time. When raising two or more young children, the leave periods are combined and limited to two years counted on the youngest child. Leave is normally requested for at least six months at a time, with shorter blocks of 30 days or more allowed twice; since 1 January 2026 up to 30 days can also be taken as single days, with five days' notice or one day in an emergency. The employer cannot refuse the request and must reinstate the employee afterwards except in limited, authority-approved business circumstances.

During leave the employee can stay in social insurance: the employer's share of premiums is waived and the employee's share can be deferred for three years.

Employees covered by employment insurance for at least one year receive a parental leave allowance from the Bureau of Labor Insurance of 60% of their average monthly insured salary for the six months before leave, plus a government wage subsidy of 20%, so 80% in total, for up to six months per parent per child. At the 2026 insured salary ceiling of TWD 45,800 this is about TWD 36,640 a month. Employment insurance covers Taiwanese nationals and resident foreign spouses, so most other foreign employees can take the leave but do not receive the allowance.

Separately, employees of employers with 30 or more staff who are raising a child under three can ask to work one hour less a day (unpaid) or to adjust their working hours.

Employers with 100 or more employees must provide a breastfeeding room and either childcare facilities or suitable childcare measures, such as contracted places at a childcare centre or a childcare allowance. Government subsidies are available to employers of any size that set these up, covering breastfeeding rooms, new or existing childcare centres and employer-paid childcare allowances.

All employers must give nursing employees 60 minutes a day of paid time to feed a child under two or to express milk.

Taiwan has no statutory 13th-month salary. The year-end bonus that most employees expect is set by the employer, the employment contract or the company's work rules rather than fixed by law.

The Labor Standards Act contains a general profit-sharing principle: after the annual accounts close and taxes, prior losses, dividends and legal reserves are covered, a business with remaining net profit is to pay a bonus or allowance to employees who worked the whole year without fault or misconduct. The Act sets no amount or formula. Once a bonus is promised in a contract or work rules it becomes an enforceable term, and bonuses paid regularly as part of remuneration count as wages when calculating severance and other entitlements.

Taiwanese companies must share part of their profits with employees through a mechanism known as employees' compensation. The Company Act requires every company limited by shares, and limited companies by extension, to state in its articles of incorporation a fixed amount or percentage of each year's profit to be distributed to employees, after accumulated losses have been covered.

The board of directors decides each year whether to pay the compensation in cash or in company shares, by a majority of directors at a meeting attended by at least two-thirds of the board, and reports the distribution to the shareholders' meeting. The articles can extend eligibility to employees of parent or subsidiary companies that meet set conditions. The law leaves the percentage to each company, so the amount ranges from a token share to a major part of pay; at listed technology manufacturers it is a substantial element of total compensation.

A year-end bonus, often called the 13th-month bonus, is the most important variable payment in Taiwanese employment. It is usually paid before Lunar New Year in January or February, and employees treat it as part of their expected annual pay even though no law sets the amount.

Official earnings statistics put the average year-end bonus across industry and service employees at 1.7 months of regular monthly pay (about TWD 82,800) for the 2025 bonus season paid between December 2025 and February 2026, slightly below 1.72 months a year earlier. Technology manufacturing pays the most: computer, electronic and optical products averaged 3.54 months (about TWD 191,200) and electronic components 2.97 months. For budgeting, one month's base salary is a common baseline for professional staff.

The amount usually depends on company results and individual performance. Once a bonus amount or formula is written into the employment contract or work rules, it becomes enforceable.

Alongside the year-end bonus, most Taiwanese employers give small cash gifts or bonuses for the main traditional festivals. In a 2024–2025 pay and benefits survey of Taiwanese employers by the 104 Job Bank, 90% of companies gave a Mid-Autumn Festival gift, averaging TWD 1,675, and 85% a Dragon Boat Festival gift, averaging TWD 1,620. Fewer paid a separate Lunar New Year gift (52%, averaging TWD 1,628), because the year-end bonus usually serves that purpose, and 42% paid a Labour Day bonus averaging TWD 1,029.

Festival gifts are often paid in cash, vouchers or gift boxes, and in many companies are funded through the employee welfare committee. Like other bonuses, cash festival gifts are taxable salary and count towards the cumulative bonus total for the National Health Insurance supplementary premium.

Many employers pay performance bonuses on top of the year-end bonus, linked to individual appraisal, team targets or company results, and sales staff commonly earn commission. In Taiwan's technology and semiconductor industries, profit-based pay is a large part of total compensation: alongside the statutory employees' compensation that companies distribute from profits in cash or shares, leading manufacturers pay quarterly or annual profit-sharing bonuses that can exceed base salary in strong years. Hsinchu Science Park employers in particular weight pay towards bonuses and profit sharing.

Outside these sectors, bonus design varies widely and is usually discretionary. Performance bonuses set out in a contract or bonus plan are enforceable on their terms.

Employers can provide meals or a fixed meal allowance free of income tax for the employee up to TWD 3,000 per employee per month, including meals for overtime. The limit has applied since 1 January 2023. Any amount above the limit is treated as taxable salary, and the employer must keep a signed record of employees who receive the meals or allowance.

The rule sets a tax ceiling, not an obligation: Taiwanese law does not require employers to pay a meal allowance.

A monthly meal allowance is a standard component of Taiwanese pay packages. Employers usually pay it as a fixed amount with salary, set at or below the TWD 3,000 a month that can be paid free of income tax, or provide subsidised meals or a staff canteen instead. Employers often structure the allowance to use the tax-free limit, because amounts above it are taxed as salary.

Most Taiwanese employers expect staff to work mainly in the office, and remote work is concentrated in larger companies, electronics and information technology, and knowledge-intensive services. In a 2023 HR survey by the 104 Job Bank, 38.9% of companies offered hybrid working for some roles in 2022 and 18.4% fully remote work for some roles, but only 16.2% planned to offer home working in 2023. A Ministry of Labor survey found that after the pandemic only 4.1% of companies let employees apply to work remotely, up from 2.4% before it, even though about 70% had used remote work during the pandemic.

Taiwanese law gives no general right to request remote work. Employees working from home keep all their statutory rights, and the employer remains responsible for recording working time and paying overtime.

Employers recruiting from abroad often support the move to Taiwan. Typical packages cover flights, temporary accommodation on arrival, shipping of belongings, work permit and residence formalities and, for senior hires, help with housing and schooling. Expatriates generally receive the same statutory benefits as local employees, with health insurance and travel allowances provided for the duration of the assignment where agreed.

Taiwanese employment protections apply to workers hired under a labour contract, which the Labor Standards Act defines as an agreement establishing an employment relationship with subordination to the employer's authority. In deciding whether someone is an employee, the authorities and courts look at personal subordination (the employer directs how, when and where work is done), economic subordination (the person works for the employer's business rather than their own account) and organisational integration into the employer's operations.

Independent contractors engaged under service or commission agreements fall outside the Labor Standards Act, so they have no statutory entitlement to minimum wage, overtime pay, leave, severance or employer pension and insurance contributions. If a contractor is in substance an employee, the business can be ordered to pay the missed entitlements and back premiums for Labour Insurance, National Health Insurance and pension contributions, and faces administrative fines.

Before employing staff in Taiwan, a business needs a local registered entity and tax registration, and must enrol each employee from their first day of work in Labour Insurance (compulsory for employers with five or more employees), employment insurance (for Taiwanese nationals and resident foreign spouses), occupational accident insurance, National Health Insurance (the compulsory national health scheme) and the Labour Pension individual account scheme. Labour Insurance, employment insurance and occupational accident insurance are administered together by the Bureau of Labor Insurance, which also collects pension contributions.

Premiums for each month are due by the end of the following month, with a 15-day grace period; late payment attracts a daily surcharge of 0.1% (0.2% for occupational accident premiums) up to 20% of the amount owed. Income tax withheld from salaries must be paid to the national treasury by the 10th day of the following month. Employers with more than 30 employees must also adopt written work rules and file them with the labour authority.

Employment for continuing work must be on an open-ended contract. Fixed-term contracts are allowed only for temporary work (up to six months), short-term work (up to six months), seasonal work (up to nine months) and specific projects; a specific-project contract longer than one year must be filed with the labour authority. A fixed-term contract becomes open-ended if the employee keeps working without objection after it ends, or if successive contracts together exceed 90 days with a gap of 30 days or less.

The Labor Standards Act does not require a written contract for most employees, but the agreed terms must cover the matters listed in its Enforcement Rules, including the workplace and duties, working hours, rest days, holidays and leave, how wages are set and paid, termination and retirement, severance and bonuses, and welfare and safety. Written contracts are standard practice and are needed to support work-permit applications for foreign employees.

A post-employment non-compete clause is valid only if the employer has a legitimate interest, the employee had access to trade secrets, the scope is reasonable and the employer pays reasonable compensation; it cannot last more than two years. A minimum service commitment is valid only in return for employer-funded professional training or reasonable compensation. Employers may not discriminate against applicants or employees on grounds including race, religion, political affiliation, place of origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, appearance, disability and former union membership, and may not keep employees' identity documents or demand deposits.

Wages must be paid in New Taiwan dollars, in full and directly to the employee. The Labor Standards Act requires payment at least twice a month unless the parties agree otherwise or wages are paid monthly in advance; in practice most salaried employees are paid monthly by agreement, often around the 5th, the 10th or the 15th of the following month or at the end of the month.

Each payment must come with the details of how wages were calculated, typically itemising base pay, allowances, overtime, deductions for Labour Insurance, National Health Insurance and income tax, and payment for unused leave. Employers must keep a payroll register showing wages, the calculation and amounts paid for at least five years, and record each year's annual leave dates and any untaken-leave payments.

Taiwan sets a single national minimum wage under the Minimum Wage Act, reviewed each year by a tripartite committee and approved by the Executive Yuan, the cabinet. From 1 January 2026 the minimum is TWD 29,500 a month for monthly paid employees and TWD 196 an hour for hourly paid employees.

The Executive Yuan approved the next increase on 1 October 2026: from 1 January 2027 the minimum rises to TWD 30,900 a month and TWD 205 an hour, a 4.745% increase and the eleventh consecutive annual rise. Probationary employees are covered in full, and any agreement to pay less is void. The monthly minimum also sets the lowest grade for Labour Insurance and National Health Insurance contributions.

Overtime requires the consent of a union, or of a labour-management conference where there is no union. Normal hours plus overtime cannot exceed 12 hours in a day, and overtime is capped at 46 hours a month. With union or conference approval the cap can be raised to 54 hours in a single month and 138 hours over any three months. Employers with more than 30 employees must file extended-overtime arrangements with the local labour authority.

On a working day, the first two hours of overtime are paid at least one and one-third times the regular hourly wage (about 134%) and the next two hours at least one and two-thirds times (about 167%). On a rest day, the first two hours earn at least an extra one and one-third (about 234% in total) and later hours at least an extra one and two-thirds (about 267%). Work on a public holiday or annual leave day with the employee's consent is paid at double the daily wage, and emergency work on a regular day off is paid double with a replacement day off.

An employee can choose compensatory time off instead of overtime pay, with the employer's agreement, at one hour off per hour worked. Compensatory time not used by the agreed deadline or by termination must be paid at the overtime rate.

Normal working time is limited to 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. Employees must have two days off in every seven: one regular day off, which cannot be worked except in emergencies such as natural disasters, and one rest day, which can be worked as paid overtime with the employee's agreement. After four consecutive hours of work, employees get a break of at least 30 minutes, and shift workers must have at least 11 consecutive hours off between shifts.

With the consent of a union, or of a labour-management conference where there is no union, employers in designated industries can spread normal hours across two-, four- or eight-week periods, within daily and weekly limits. Employers may allow up to an hour of flexibility in start and finish times for family care. Supervisory staff, professionals with designated responsibilities and certain other roles approved by the Ministry of Labor can agree different hours in writing, filed with the local authority.

Women may work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. only with union or labour-management conference consent and suitable safety measures and transport; pregnant and breastfeeding employees cannot be required to work at night. Employers must keep attendance records to the minute for five years.

Taiwanese labour law does not define a probationary period. Employer and employee can agree a reasonable probation period based on the job, but the employee has full legal protection from day one: minimum wage, overtime pay, leave, Labour Insurance, National Health Insurance and pension contributions all apply as for any other employee, and agreements to the contrary are void.

Probation does not create a right to dismiss at will. An employer that ends employment during or at the end of probation needs one of the statutory grounds, most often that the employee is clearly unable to perform the job, and must give the statutory notice, paid job-hunting time and severance pay for the service completed. Probation cannot be extended without the employee's agreement, and service counts from the first day of employment.

Employers cannot dismiss at will. With notice, an employer can end an open-ended contract only for the reasons listed in Article 11 of the Labor Standards Act: business suspension or transfer, operating losses or contraction, suspension of work for more than a month through force majeure, a change in the business that removes the role with no suitable alternative, or the employee being clearly unable to do the job. Minimum notice is 10 days after more than three months' service, 20 days after more than one year and 30 days after more than three years. During notice the employee can take up to two paid working days a week to look for a job. An employer that does not give notice must pay wages for the notice period, and severance is due within 30 days.

Summary dismissal without notice or severance is allowed only for serious misconduct listed in Article 12, such as violence, serious breach of the contract or work rules, deliberate damage, a prison sentence, or unexcused absence for three consecutive days or six days in a month, and must happen within 30 days of the employer learning of it. Employees who resign from an open-ended contract give the same 10, 20 or 30 days' notice.

For redundancies, the employer must send a list of departing employees to the local labour authority and public employment service at least 10 days before they leave. When a foreign employee's contract ends, the employer must notify the labour, immigration and police authorities in writing within three days. Unused annual leave is paid out on termination.

Private employers with 67 or more employees must employ people with disabilities who are able to work, equal to at least 1% of their total workforce and no fewer than one person. Headcounts are taken from Labour Insurance and other social insurance enrolment on the first day of each month, and an employee with a severe disability counts as two.

An employer that falls short pays a monthly shortfall contribution to the local Employment Fund for People with Disabilities, equal to the number of missing employees multiplied by the monthly minimum wage, currently TWD 29,500 per missing position.

An employer's statutory on-costs in Taiwan come from six items, each calculated on its own insured salary or contribution wage rather than on gross pay:

- Labour Insurance ordinary premium: 8.05% of insured salary, capped at TWD 45,800 a month in 2026.
- Employment insurance: 0.7% on the same base, for Taiwanese nationals and resident foreign spouses only.
- Occupational accident insurance: 0.12% to 0.96% by industry plus 0.07% for commuting accidents, on insured salary up to TWD 72,800.
- Wage Arrears Payment Fund: 0.025% of Labour Insurance insured salary.
- National Health Insurance, the compulsory national health scheme: about 4.84% of insured salary, up to TWD 313,000, plus a 2.11% supplementary premium on payroll above reported insured salaries.
- Labour Pension: at least 6% of the contribution wage, up to TWD 150,000.

For a Taiwanese employee earning up to about TWD 45,800 a month in an office business, the total is roughly 20% of salary. Because the insurance bases are capped, the percentage falls as pay rises: on a TWD 100,000 monthly salary the statutory cost is around TWD 15,000, or about 15%. Year-end and festival bonuses add to the cost through the pension and supplementary premium bases. Employer cost estimates in comparison sources range from about 14% to 23%, depending on salary level and whether bonuses and service fees are included.

Taiwan taxes residents on Taiwan-source income at progressive rates. For income earned in 2026 (filed in May 2027), the bands on net taxable income are 5% up to TWD 610,000, 12% up to TWD 1,380,000, 20% up to TWD 2,770,000, 30% up to TWD 5,190,000 and 40% above that. Before tax, each person deducts a personal exemption of TWD 101,000 (TWD 151,500 from age 70), a standard deduction of TWD 136,000 (TWD 272,000 for a married couple) or itemised deductions, and a salary income special deduction of up to TWD 227,000. A separate alternative minimum tax of 20% applies where a high earner's basic income, after a large indexed exemption, produces more tax than the regular calculation.

A foreign employee is a tax resident in a calendar year if present in Taiwan for more than 183 days. Employers withhold tax from residents' salaries each month using official withholding tables or a flat 5%, and pay it over by the 10th day of the following month. For non-residents, employers withhold 18% of salary as a final tax, or 6% where monthly salary does not exceed 1.5 times the minimum wage (TWD 44,250 in 2026).

Some benefits receive favourable treatment: meal allowances up to TWD 3,000 a month are tax free, and voluntary employee pension contributions of up to 6% of wages are excluded from taxable salary income. Most other cash allowances and bonuses are taxable salary.

Employers with more than 30 employees must adopt written work rules covering hours, rest and leave, wage standards and pay day, overtime, allowances and bonuses, discipline and other employment terms, file them with the labour authority for approval and display them at the workplace.

Many flexible-working arrangements need collective consent. Spreading normal hours over several weeks, extending overtime beyond 46 hours a month, changing rest periods between shifts and allowing women to work at night all require the agreement of a union or, where there is no union, approval by a labour-management conference, a joint body of employer and elected employee representatives. Sector-wide collective bargaining is limited, so most terms are set by the Labor Standards Act, individual contracts and company work rules.

The Employment Gold Card, administered with the National Development Council, combines an open work permit, a resident visa, an Alien Resident Certificate (Taiwan's residence card) and a re-entry permit in a single document for qualifying foreign professionals in fields such as technology, science, finance, education, culture and the arts. Because the work permit is open, the holder can work for any employer, change jobs or freelance without the employer applying for a permit.

Cards are issued for up to three years and can be renewed, and family members can join the holder. Gold Card holders doing professional work are covered by the Labour Pension individual account scheme from 1 January 2026, and high earners can qualify for income tax benefits on salaries above a set threshold during their first years in Taiwan.