You may like to know how to register a company in Taiwan, especially private limited company or branch office? Over the past several years Taiwan has greatly emerged as one of the front runners for being the most suitable countries to do business inside Asia. Foreign companies and potential foreign investors have been eyeing up Taiwan and have taken a great number of steps to enter the Taiwan market. They have established their business there and are greatly enjoying the benefits.

There are several types of business entities that a foreign investor or a foreign organization can own in Taiwan. These include

• Public Limited Company or otherwise known as Company or corporation in Taiwan.
• Limited Liability Company
• Branch Office
• Representative Office

In most cases, foreign investors or international companies will enter Taiwan and try to establish Limited Liability Companies. These are the most famous types of companies in the country. However, if your business goal is to just sell products in Taiwan and avoid the unnecessary expense of paying 20% tax on repatriation tax on profits then the wisest thing would be to open up a Branch Office. One can also open a Representative Office in Taiwan too. This is most likely for people who are more focused into developing products rather than selling them in the country.

No matter the type of company all of them will require by law to be registered. Without incorporation of the companies they will not be able to operate legally. Listed below are some of the most basic requirements for all types of companies when they are applying for registration

• Preparing all the documents, notarizing and certifying. These documents should contain all the information for both the domestic and foreign companies in question.
• The business address of the company. Keep in mind that this should be the permanent area of residence and not a temporary one.
• Pick your business items.
• Pick out the company name and reserve it. The company name is very crucial in Taiwan. More often than not, proposed names get rejected because there are other companies who are already using that name. So it is wise to select a name, get it approved and reserve it.
• Prepare the company seal. This seal should contain the name of the company as well as the logo. This seal will be used in every business transaction in the future.
• Open the First Company Bank Account. This account should contain the initial capital needed to start the business. In other words, this is the basic amount of capital needed to finance the company.
• Pick a responsible person. He or she shall be in charge of controlling the day to day activities of the company and overlook everything.

Since most of the foreign investors and international companies prefer to start a branch office in Taiwan, it is essential to know the steps and procedure of registering a Branch Office in this country. While the general steps have been covered earlier, the following steps are exclusive when it comes to opening a Branch office.

• Preparing all the foreign documents. This may include the application form that needs to be submitted to the Ministry. It should also include all sorts of Articles of Association and the Articles of memorandum.
• Branch names have a slight variation to the parent company name. So it is also vital to ensure that you apply for the branch name as well. This may include the location of the said Branch Office among other things.
• Certain kinds of business activities require special permissions or business permits. Based on your type of business, you may or may not require such a permit. If your branch office falls under such businesses then you will need to acquire that specific type of permit.
• A special form of recognition of the foreign head office should also be submitted. Keep in mind that the Branch Office that you are opening in Taiwan is just a sub part of the parent company. So you will need to provide statement and special documents from the main Head Office which is located in your country.
• Provide the proofs of the MOEA. This is the Remittance Papers which will indicate that you have actually sent the money. After showing these, your company will be issued a tax number which will come into use later on.
• File an application to the City Government. This shall be done to register the Branch Office as a Tax-paying unit in the country. Unless and until you do so, you cannot avoid the 20% tax charged on corporations.
• Apply for the Health and Labor Insurance. This is done for the safe keeping of the employees. It is a basic rule for all sorts of companies no matter if they are local or foreign.