Taiwan: Operating a Business

Legal Forms of Companies

Types of Companies and Capital (Max/Min)	Number of Partners/Shareholders and Liability
Limited Company is a Private Limited Company. No minimum capital	No minimum Liability is limited to the amount contributed.
Company Limited by shares is a Public Limited Company. No minimum capital	At least 2 partners. Liability is limited to the amount contributed.
Unlimited Company is a General partnership No minimum capital	Minimum 2. Liability is unlimited
Limited partnership (SCS) No minimum capital	2 types of partners: active partners and sleeping partners. Liability is unlimited for active partners and limited for sleeping partners.

Source: Doing Business.

For Further Information: Consult Doing Business Website, to know about procedures to start a Business in Taiwan.
Commerce Industrial Services Portal
The Competent Organization: MOEA.

	2010
Labor Force	11,070,000

Source: CIA - The world factbook

Employed Persons, by Occupation (% of Total Labor Force)	2007
Administration & management	3.4%
Professional	10.5%
Technician	23.4%
Servant	13.3%
Server and sales	12.7%
Agriculture	0.8%
Workers	35.7%

Working Rest Day: Every 2 weeks would include two rest days.
Paid Annual Vacation: Work for 1~3 year could have 7 days paid annual vacations.
Work for 3~5 years could have 10 days paid annual vacations.
Work for 5~10 years could have 14 days paid annual vacations.
Over 10 years, could have 1 more day each year, maximum 30 days.
More information available on Invest in Taiwan (investment guide).
Retirement Age: 65 years or work for 30 years.
Child Labor and Minimum Age For Employment: Minimum 15 years old.
Informal Labor Market: Quite important.

Minimum Wage: 17280 NTD
Average Wage: Average monthly gross earnings in Taïwan is NTD 39,522 (USD 1,200) for women and NTD 49,705 (USD 1,500) for men.
Other Forms of Pay
Pay For Overtime: Less than 2 hours: Regular wage (one hour) + 1/3 regular wage (one hour).
More than 2 hour: Regular wage (one hour) + 2/3 regular wage (one hour).
Pay For Rest Days Worked: Double regular wage (one day).

The Areas Covered: Only basic care. More information on the website of the Bureau of national health insurance and on Invest in Taiwan (investment guide).
Contributions: Contributions Paid By the Employer: 4.55%. More information on the website of the Bureau of national health insurance.
Contributions Paid By the Employee: 4.55%. More information on the website of the Bureau of national health insurance.
Competent Organization: Bureau of National health Insurance

Type of Contract: It depends on the company. In general contracts offer little protection. The open ended contract does not exist.

Breach of Contracts
Retirement: 65 years or work for 30 years. Upon retirement, an employee may currently receive benefits from two sources. One is from the
company, if he or she works for a Labor Standards Law (LSL) covered company, which may provide up to 45 months of full salary for 30 years of service. The other source is the old age benefit of the Labor Insurance (LI), which provides up to 45 months of the LI insured salary.
Dismissals: Dismissal is possible at any time but some notice is necessary. Severance pay increases with seniority.

Cases of Dispute: The labor dispute cases are decreasing since 2003. The majority of these disputes were in the following areas: wages, labor contracts, occupational hazards, retirement, labor insurance, welfare benefits, and management. More information available on Invest in Taiwan (investment guide).
Legal Framework: Information available on HG and on Invest in Taiwan (investment guide).
Procedure: Taiwan's civil litigation system is based primarily on the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, which was enacted in 1930 and has been amended 12 times since then.

Social Dialogue and Involvement of Social Partners: Unions have little power and strikes are rare.
Unions: Taïwan Confederation of Union Trade

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