How to Hire Employees in Taiwan: Insurance Grades, Pension Rules and EOR Dispatch Limits
What a Taiwan hire costs once labour insurance, NHI and the 6% pension are charged on their grade tables, plus the 2027 minimum wage, the dispatch rules every EOR hire falls under, foreign work permits, leave and severance.
By Grade tables, not headline rates, set the price of a Taiwan hire
A foreign company can employ in Taiwan through a subsidiary or branch registered with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, through an employer of record, or by contracting. A representative office can hire too, but only for liaison and market research. For a first team of under ten people, an EOR is usually the right route, with one Taiwan condition: the law treats it as labour dispatch, so the contract must be open-ended and your team may not interview the candidate before the EOR signs them.
Contributions are charged on insured salary grades rather than the payslip figure. Labour and employment insurance stop at NT$45,800 a month, accident insurance at NT$72,800, the 6% labour pension at NT$150,000 and National Health Insurance (NHI) at NT$313,000. Employer cost therefore falls from about 20% of a junior salary to 11.5% of a senior one. The year-end bonus most staff expect is custom, not law, and sits outside these figures.
Employment terms and working conditions
Five of these six rules changed between May 2025 and January 2026, and the sixth is the dispatch rule that applies to every EOR hire in Taiwan and is the one foreign clients most often break.
Cost of employing someone in Taiwan
Employer cost is about 20% on junior pay and falls as each grade table reaches its ceiling, until only National Health Insurance is still rising above NT$150,000 a month.
Total NT$9,038 a month. Every scheme charges on the NT$45,800 grade, NT$800 above the real salary, because NT$45,000 sits in the band that rounds up. That grade is also the labour insurance ceiling, so a raise from here adds pension and NHI only.
Total NT$11,998 a month. Pension, NHI and accident insurance all use the NT$72,800 grade, where accident insurance stops. A customary one-month year-end bonus adds about NT$1,400 of employer supplementary NHI premium (2.11%) in the month it is paid, not included here.
Total NT$23,003 a month. Pension stops at NT$150,000, so the last NT$50,000 of salary attracts only NHI, charged on the NT$204,500 grade. NHI keeps rising with pay up to its NT$313,000 top grade, which is why the rate does not fall further.
The cards assume a Taiwan national on an open-ended contract in 2026, with contributions on the insured grade the salary falls into. Labour insurance 11.5% plus employment insurance 1%, employer share 70%, so 8.75% of insured salary up to NT$45,800 (Labor Insurance Act art. 15; Employment Insurance Act art. 40). Occupational accident insurance paid wholly by the employer on insured salary up to NT$72,800, here at 0.12%, the 0.05% industry rate for computer programming plus the 0.07% commuting rate; the national average is 0.21% and the rate follows the EOR’s own registered industry (Labor Occupational Accident Insurance Act; MOL rate table for 2025 to 2027). Wage arrears fund 0.025% of labour insurance salary (LSA art. 28). Labour pension at least 6% of the monthly contribution wage up to NT$150,000 (Labor Pension Act art. 14). NHI 5.17%, employer share 60% times 1.56 for the average 0.56 dependants, so 4.84% of the insured amount up to NT$313,000 (National Health Insurance Act art. 27). When we checked the Ministry of Labor’s grade-table notice in October 2026, only the bottom grade had moved, to NT$29,500, and the NT$45,800, NT$72,800 and NT$150,000 ceilings were unchanged. A foreign professional is outside employment insurance, so the labour insurance share drops to 8.05% and the mid-level total to NT$11,677 (16.7%); the 6% pension now applies to them as well. From 1 January 2027 the labour insurance rate rises to 13%, adding NT$160 a month at the ceiling. The year-end bonus and the employer supplementary NHI premium of 2.11% on pay above insured amounts are excluded. Run your own figures in the EOR cost calculator or compare countries in the employer payroll tax rates tool.
Price your hire, line by line
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Costs most calculators leave out
Private health cover, equipment stipend, meal or transport allowance.
Typically $0 to $2,000 depending on provider and country.
Refundable, but it ties up cash. Most providers hold one to two months.
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Total employer cost, per employee per month
Monthly breakdown
Upfront and one-time costs
EOR or your own entity
Statutory rates current as of . Exchange rates indicative as of . Contribution ceilings, regional variation, employee age and collective agreements all shift the real figure. Use this to build a budget, then validate against a written quote.
Four ways to hire in Taiwan
The route decides who files the labour insurance enrolment, who can sponsor a work permit and whether your local staff may sell at all.
Misclassification risk. Taiwan defines a labour contract by subordination (LSA art. 2(6)), and courts weigh personal, economic and organisational dependence over the contract label, the approach the Constitutional Court applied to insurance agents in Interpretation No. 740. A reclassified contractor is owed back labour insurance, NHI and 6% pension contributions, plus notice and severance on exit, and a foreign national working without a permit exposes the employer to fines of NT$150,000 to NT$750,000 under the Employment Service Act. Read what misclassification costs by country.
Statutory leave and benefits
Annual leave starts at just 3 days after six months and climbs to 30 with long service. Paid family leave is short, 8 weeks for mothers and 7 days for fathers, and longer parental leave is unpaid by the employer.
Family care leave is unpaid, but employers may not deduct attendance bonuses for it. Sources: Labor Standards Act arts. 37 to 39 (holidays and annual leave) and 50 (maternity); Implementation Act on Memorial Days and Holidays as amended in force from 28 May 2025; Rules of Leave-Taking of Workers (sick, marriage, bereavement and personal leave); Gender Equality in Employment Act arts. 14 to 16 and 20 (menstrual, prenatal, paternity, parental and family care leave), with the day and hour options in force from 1 January 2026; Labor Insurance Act childbirth benefit of 60 days’ average insured salary; Employment Insurance Act parental leave allowance of 60% plus the 20% government top-up; LSA Enforcement Rules art. 10 on the year-end bonus. See how Taiwan’s bonus custom compares in our 13th month pay by country tool.
Termination and offboarding
Employment is not at will: an employer may dismiss only for a reason listed in Labor Standards Act art. 11 or 12, and which article applies decides whether notice and severance are owed.
Notice follows LSA art. 16 and applies only after 3 months of service; during notice the employee may take up to 2 paid days a week to look for work. Severance for anyone on the labour pension new system, which covers every hire since 1 July 2005, is half a month’s average wage per year of service up to 6 months, prorated for part years and paid within 30 days (Labor Pension Act art. 12). The 1 month per year often quoted applies only to old-system service (LSA art. 17). Summary dismissal must happen within 30 days of the employer learning of the misconduct (LSA art. 12). The employer must report the departing employee to the local authority and public employment service at least 10 days before the last day (Employment Service Act art. 33), and give a service certificate on request (LSA art. 19). Unused annual leave is paid out on exit (LSA art. 38). Dismissal is barred during maternity leave and occupational injury treatment except where the business closes (LSA art. 13). Fixed-term contracts end without severance only when the work was genuinely temporary, short-term, seasonal or specific (LSA art. 9). Collective redundancies above the thresholds in the Act for Worker Protection of Mass Redundancy need a plan filed 60 days ahead.
Work permits and foreign hires
Foreign nationals need a Ministry of Labor work permit unless they hold a Gold Card, and an EOR’s Taiwan entity can apply as the employer if it passes the capital or turnover test.
From decision to first payroll in 4 weeks
A Taiwan national can be on an EOR’s payroll in about four weeks, and a foreign hire without a Gold Card adds the work permit and resident visa on top.
Set the package
Price the salary against the insured grade it lands in, decide whether to promise a year-end bonus, and check pay clears NT$29,500 now and NT$30,900 from January 2027 if approved.
Sign the EOR
Agree the fee and any deposit, and ask how the EOR handles LSA art. 17-1, because your team interviewing or naming the candidate first lets them later claim a direct contract with you.
Issue the contract
The EOR issues an open-ended contract, since dispatch contracts cannot be fixed-term, covering hours, pay day, leave and the work rules that apply. For a foreign hire, the work permit is filed now.
Enrol on day one
On the start date the EOR enrols the employee in labour, employment and accident insurance, the 6% labour pension and NHI. If enrolment is missed, the employer must pay any benefit the insurance would have paid.
Run first payroll
Pay with a written breakdown of the wage. Income tax withheld is due by the 10th of the next month, and the insurance and pension bills are paid by the end of the following month.
Best EOR providers in Taiwan
Four providers we have reviewed that employ in Taiwan. Full scoring and the ranked list sit on the Taiwan EOR page.
Lowest published price of the four, and says 90% of its employees sit on Pebl-owned entities. Ask whether Taiwan is one of them and how it handles the interview rule.
Lists $599 a month, second highest of the four after Papaya Global, across 130+ EOR countries. Confirm whether Taiwan runs on its own entity before you sign.
Lists its own Taipei entity, Multiplier Technologies Taiwan. $459 applies on an annual contract and $499 month to month, and about 11% of countries carry adjusted prices.
Payroll-first platform with the highest starting price here. Papaya does not publish which countries run on its own entities, so ask who employs in Taiwan.
Some links are referral links. We may earn a fee if you sign up, at no cost to you. It never changes our rankings.
All guides for hiring in Taiwan
Hiring guides for other countries
Compare employer costs, dismissal rules and EOR options in 14 more countries. Each guide is checked against official sources.
FranceHiring guide, 41.5% employer cost
GermanyHiring guide, 22.5% employer cost
NetherlandsHiring guide, 27.4% employer cost
SpainHiring guide, 54.2% employer cost
United KingdomHiring guide, 15.9% employer cost
AustraliaHiring guide, 20.3% employer cost
IndiaHiring guide, 5.7% employer cost
PhilippinesHiring guide, 17.1% employer cost
SingaporeHiring guide, 17.2% employer cost
Questions employers ask about hiring in Taiwan
Published Taiwan advice most often goes stale on the 2027 wage, the 2026 pension change for foreign staff, severance under the new pension system and the dispatch rules behind every EOR hire.
Is Taiwan’s minimum wage going up in 2027?
Almost certainly. On 24 September 2026 the Minimum Wage Review Committee agreed NT$30,900 a month and NT$205 an hour from 1 January 2027, up from NT$29,500 and NT$196. The rise still needs Executive Yuan approval, which had not been published when we checked on 24 October 2026. The bottom grades of the labour insurance, accident insurance and pension tables will move up with it, so the cost of a minimum-wage hire rises by more than the wage alone. Our minimum wage in Taiwan guide tracks the decision.
Do I pay labour pension for a foreign employee?
Yes, for foreign professionals hired from 1 January 2026. The amended Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals moved them into the new labour pension system whether or not they hold permanent residence, so the employer pays 6% of the monthly contribution wage, capped at NT$150,000. Staff hired before 2026 could keep the old system by saying so in writing by 30 June 2026; silence counted as choosing the new one, with contributions backdated to 1 January. Guides that say a foreigner needs permanent residence first are out of date.
Is a year-end bonus compulsory in Taiwan?
No. The year-end bonus is a strong custom, usually paid before Lunar New Year, but no law requires it. The LSA Enforcement Rules art. 10 exclude it from wages, so it does not raise the average wage used for severance. It becomes owed if the contract or work rules promise a fixed amount. In the month it is paid, budget for the employer’s 2.11% supplementary NHI premium on pay above the insured amount.
Can our team interview a candidate the EOR will employ?
Not before the EOR signs the employment contract. Most Taiwan EOR set-ups count as labour dispatch, and LSA art. 17-1 bars the client from interviewing or naming a specific dispatched worker before that point. If it does, the employee can ask in writing, within 90 days of starting, for a direct contract with you. If you do not negotiate within 10 days, a contract with you is deemed formed on their existing terms. Ask the EOR how it orders selection and signature.
Can I hire on a fixed-term contract through an EOR?
No. LSA art. 9 requires a dispatching employer’s contract with a dispatched worker to be open-ended. Outside dispatch, fixed terms are still allowed only for temporary, short-term, seasonal or specific work, and a contract for continuing work is treated as open-ended whatever it says. Plan any exit on the notice and severance rules in the termination section instead.
How much severance do I owe?
Half a month’s average wage per year of service, capped at 6 months, for anyone on the labour pension new system, which covers every hire since 1 July 2005 (Labor Pension Act art. 12). Part years are prorated. The 1 month per year in many older guides is the old-system rule under LSA art. 17. Severance is due for an art. 11 dismissal and when the employee quits over an employer breach under art. 14, not for summary dismissal or a normal resignation, and it must be paid within 30 days.
Does probation let me dismiss without severance?
No. The Labor Standards Act has no probation clause, so a probation period in the contract does not change the dismissal rules. Ending employment during probation still needs a reason under art. 11 or 12, and an art. 11 dismissal still carries prorated severance of half a month per year. Notice applies only after 3 months of service, which is the one practical difference a short probation makes.
Can an EOR sponsor a work permit in Taiwan?
Yes, when the EOR’s Taiwan entity meets the employer test: NT$5 million paid-in capital if under a year old, or NT$10 million annual turnover. The candidate needs a degree plus 2 years’ relevant experience, or a master’s, and at least NT$47,971 a month. A Gold Card holder needs no sponsor at all, which makes them the quickest foreign hire through an EOR. Read how EOR visa sponsorship works.
Ready to hire in Taiwan?
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