Taiwan VAT on Stripe Sales: Cloud Invoices and QuickBooks

A US software company can sell to consumers in Taiwan for months without owing Taiwanese VAT. Then one renewal pushes its sales to Taiwanese individuals past 600,000 New Taiwan dollars for the year, and three obligations arrive together: register with Taiwan's Ministry of Finance, file a return every two months in New Taiwan dollars, and issue a Taiwanese cloud invoice for every sale to an individual.

Stripe Tax handles the first part well. It watches the threshold and calculates the 5% tax once you're registered. The other two parts sit outside Stripe Tax, and the third one, the cloud invoice, sits outside QuickBooks as well. Taiwan is the Asia-Pacific country where "Stripe collects the tax" leaves the most work still on your desk.

This guide covers who owes Taiwan VAT on Stripe sales of digital services, what Stripe Tax does for Taiwan, the business-customer carve-out, the bimonthly return and the exchange rate it uses, cloud invoices, and how the tax reaches QuickBooks, with a worked example in dollars and New Taiwan dollars.

Acodei brings Stripe Tax amounts into QuickBooks automatically, so the Taiwan VAT you collect is already in a liability account when the return is due. Start a free trial.

Who owes Taiwan VAT on Stripe sales of digital services

Taiwan's rule applies to a foreign business with no fixed place of business in Taiwan that sells electronic services to individuals there. The Ministry of Finance calls this seller an "offshore electronic services business entity", and its cross-border Q&A on the eTax Portal gives the rate in one line: "The tax rate for an offshore electronic services business entity is 5%."

Electronic services is a broad category. The Ministry's Q&A on who the taxpayer is covers services downloaded to a device (apps, e-books), services used online without being saved (games, streaming, advertising), and other services supplied over the internet. A SaaS subscription, an online course and a mobile app all fit.

Who counts as an individual in Taiwan is also spelled out. The same Q&A treats a buyer as domestic if they live in Taiwan, or if indicators such as the device location, a mobile country code of 886, the billing address, the paying bank account or the IP address point there. A customer with a US billing address who opens your app from Taipei can still be a Taiwanese consumer.

The 600,000 NT dollar threshold

Taiwan doesn't tax a foreign seller's first sale. The Ministry's registration Q&A says registration is required once annual sales to domestic individuals exceed the threshold, which was NT$480,000 and is NT$600,000 from April 7, 2025. Stripe's Taiwan tax page uses the new figure: "Remote sellers providing digital products to customers in Taiwan are required to register if their annual sales to individuals exceed 600,000 TWD."

How far away is that? At an illustrative 32 New Taiwan dollars to the US dollar, 600,000 is about 18,750 USD a year. For a 25 USD monthly plan, that's roughly 63 Taiwanese consumers subscribed all year. Plenty of small SaaS companies cross it without noticing.

Two notes on the count. It measures sales to individuals only, so business customers don't move you toward it. And it's measured in New Taiwan dollars, so a stronger dollar can push you over the line with no change in your subscriber count.

What Stripe Tax does for Taiwan, and what stays with you

On the Taiwan page, Stripe lists the registration threshold as "600,000 TWD in calendar year", with obligations monitoring covering "B2C sales of digital products." Stripe Tax tracks your Taiwanese consumer sales against that line and flags when you need to register.

Stripe Tax collects Taiwanese VAT only on products with a digital product tax code, and only for a remote seller. Stripe's page marks "Your business location" as not supported for Taiwan, so a company located in Taiwan is on the domestic system and outside this guide.

Collection also waits for you. Stripe's registration guide says you must register with the local tax authority and add the registration to Stripe Tax before Stripe collects in that location. Until you add the Taiwanese registration in the Dashboard, Stripe Tax can tell you that you owe the tax, but it charges your customers nothing.

Everything after checkout stays with you:

1. Registration. You register on the Ministry's eTax Portal yourself or through a tax agent. The registration Q&A says an agent is optional. It lists what you'll enter: your business name and responsible person, domain name and IP address, service start date, home-country registration details, contact details and a bank account.
2. Cloud invoices. Taiwan requires an electronic invoice for each sale to an individual. Stripe Tax doesn't issue them. More on this below.
3. The return. Stripe produces the data. You or your agent file it on the eTax Portal.
4. Payment. The Ministry's filing Q&A describes two routes: a bank remittance to a designated National Taxation Bureau of Taipei account at the Bank of Taiwan, with the remittance fees paid by you, or a barcode bill printed from the eTax Portal and paid at a bank.
5. Changes. Changes to your registered details must be reported "within 15days from the occurrence of the facts", per the registration Q&A.

Business customers and the Taiwanese VAT number

Stripe's Taiwan page is short on this point: "No tax is charged on sales to business customers who provide their tax identification number."

In Stripe, that number is a customer tax ID of type tw_vat. Stripe's customer tax ID list shows it as "Taiwanese VAT", in an eight-digit format like 12345678, and marks it as one that affects tax calculation. Stripe adds a detail that matters for Taiwan: Stripe Tax applies the reverse charge or zero rate "when the tax ID has the required number format, regardless of the government verification result." Format, not verification, is what removes the tax. If a customer types a valid-looking number that isn't theirs, Stripe won't catch it.

In practice:

• A Taiwanese customer with a tw_vat on file pays no Taiwanese VAT, and the sale doesn't count toward the 600,000 threshold.
• A Taiwanese customer without one is treated as an individual and charged 5%.
• A company that checks out without entering its number is charged as a consumer.

If you sell to Taiwanese companies, turn on tax ID collection in Stripe Checkout so the number is captured before the first invoice. For how this works across countries, see our glossary entry on the reverse charge.

Filing Taiwan VAT: six returns a year and the Bank of Taiwan rate

Taiwan's return cycle is the part sellers coming from other countries find most surprising. The Ministry's filing Q&A says returns are bimonthly, due by the 15th of the month after each two-month period, and must be filed "even with no sales." That is six returns a year:

Period	Covers	File between
1-2	January and February	March 1 and 15
3-4	March and April	May 1 and 15
5-6	May and June	July 1 and 15
7-8	July and August	September 1 and 15
9-10	September and October	November 1 and 15
11-12	November and December	January 1 and 15 of the next year

Note the "even with no sales" line. A quiet period still needs a zero return. Six missed deadlines a year is easy for a team that thinks of tax as a quarterly job.

Input tax barely matters here. The filing Q&A allows a deduction only for input documents from domestic Taiwanese businesses that relate to your sales to Taiwanese individuals. A US company paying US vendors usually has nothing to deduct.

The exchange rate Taiwan uses is not the one in your Stripe export

Returns are filed in New Taiwan dollars, so foreign-currency sales have to be converted. Taiwan sets the method. Per the filing Q&A, you convert at the Bank of Taiwan closing spot buying rate on the last day of the taxable period, or the cash buying rate if no spot rate is available. If the last day is a Sunday or a holiday, you use the next day's rate. If it's a Saturday, you use the following Monday's. For periods 1-2, the reference date is the last day of February.

Stripe converts differently. Its tax reporting documentation says that when your pricing currency differs from the filing currency, "Stripe Tax converts amounts using available exchange rates at the time of the transaction." Each line in the itemized export carries its own filing_exchange_rate, so adding up filing_tax_amount gives a New Taiwan dollar figure built from dozens of daily rates.

Taiwan wants one rate for the whole two months. Start from the USD totals in Stripe's export, filtered to Taiwan, and convert them once at the Bank of Taiwan rate for the period's last day. Don't sum Stripe's New Taiwan dollar column. Our glossary entry on the Stripe Tax filing currency walks through those export columns.

Cloud invoices: Taiwan's eGUI rule for remote sellers

This is where Taiwan differs from every other Asia-Pacific country Stripe Tax covers. Taiwan runs a government uniform invoice system (GUI), and foreign sellers of electronic services are part of it. The National Taxation Bureau of Taipei puts it directly: under Article 7-1 of the Uniform Invoice Regulations, "overseas e-commerce operators selling electronic services to individuals in Taiwan must issue cloud invoices." That comes from a March 2026 notice from the Bureau.

A cloud invoice isn't a PDF you email. It's a record registered with Taiwan's e-invoice platform, tied to a carrier that identifies the buyer. The Bureau notes that "many platforms use the email address entered during the transaction as the invoice carrier." Consumers care about this, because Taiwan's uniform invoices are lottery tickets. If a buyer links their email carrier to a mobile barcode before the draw, a winning invoice pays out "without requiring an additional claim process." A wrong email address at checkout costs your customer a lottery entry, so expect support tickets about it.

Stripe's Taiwan page describes the obligation as needing to "issue e-invoices through Taiwan's eGUI system", and suggests "partnering with a certified service provider to manage the e-invoicing process for you." It names one on the Stripe App Marketplace, Billit, which "automatically converts your Stripe invoices into the eGUI format, sends them to your customers, reports them to the tax administration."

Two practical points follow:

• Read Stripe's wording closely. Billit converts "Stripe invoices." If you sell through Stripe Checkout one-off payments with no invoice object, confirm with any provider that it handles those payments before you rely on it.
• The eGUI record lives outside your books. Your cloud invoice numbers sit with your e-invoicing provider and Taiwan's platform, not in QuickBooks. Keep the provider's export with your Stripe tax export for each period, so the cloud invoices for each two-month period match the sales on the return.

A worked example: one bimonthly period of Taiwanese SaaS sales

Take a US company that crossed the 600,000 threshold last year and is registered. It sells a 25 USD monthly plan, priced tax-exclusive in USD. The New Taiwan dollar figures use an illustrative rate of 32. That is not a real rate. Use the Bank of Taiwan buying rate for the last day of February when you file.

In January and February, its Taiwanese sales through Stripe are:

Customers	Subscription months	Sales (USD)	VAT charged (USD)
Individuals, no tax ID	160 (80 customers × 2)	4,000	200
Companies with a tw_vat	20 (10 customers × 2)	500	0

The return. For periods 1-2, filed between March 1 and 15, the sales to individuals are 4,000 USD. At the illustrative rate of 32, that's a tax base of 128,000 New Taiwan dollars and 6,400 New Taiwan dollars of VAT payable. The 500 USD of sales to Taiwanese companies carries no VAT you owe.

The cloud invoices. The 160 consumer payments each need a cloud invoice issued to the buyer's carrier. The Bureau's notice covers sales to individuals, so ask your provider what it issues for the 20 business payments.

The threshold. Those 160 consumer months are 4,000 USD, about 128,000 New Taiwan dollars at the illustrative rate. Sales at that pace come to roughly 768,000 a year, so this company stays registered.

The payment. On the QuickBooks side, the liability account picked up 200 USD for these sales. You pay Taiwan in New Taiwan dollars by remittance, and the dollars that leave your bank depend on the rate on the day you pay, plus the remittance fees. Clear the 200 USD from the liability account, post the bank fee as an expense, and post any rate difference to an exchange gain or loss account.

How Taiwan VAT from Stripe reaches QuickBooks

For a US QuickBooks company, the workable Acodei tax method is usually the Tax Product. QuickBooks' Sales Tax Center doesn't let third parties create official tax rates for US companies, so the tax goes to a product line instead:

1. In QuickBooks, create a non-inventory product such as "Sales Tax" and map it to a liability account.
2. In Acodei's Stripe Tax settings, choose Tax Product and select that product.
3. Each synced sale gets one line for its total Stripe Tax amount on the QuickBooks invoice or sales receipt.

It requires Stripe Tax enabled with Stripe Invoice or Stripe Checkout. You then file from Stripe's tax reports and pay from the liability account.

In the example, each Taiwanese consumer's 25 USD charge reaches QuickBooks as 25 USD of revenue and a 1.25 USD tax line in the liability account. A Taiwanese company's sale with a tw_vat carries no Taiwanese VAT in Stripe, so it adds nothing to the liability account.

The Tax Product puts every Stripe Tax amount in one account. If you also collect US sales tax, Korean VAT or Japanese Consumption Tax, the Taiwanese share is mixed in. The liability balance tells you what you hold in total. The Taiwan figure comes from Stripe's itemized export, filtered to Taiwan. Our guide to South Korea VAT on Stripe sales shows the same split for a country with no threshold at all, and the Japanese Consumption Tax guide covers a third Asia-Pacific case.

Price Taiwanese plans in USD

Stripe's currencies page lists the New Taiwan dollar as a special case: "Stripe treats TWD as a zero-decimal currency for payouts, even though you can charge two-decimal amounts." A manual TWD payout has to be a whole number of New Taiwan dollars, so a balance of TWD 800.45 can only pay out TWD 800.

Acodei supports decimal-based currencies only, and zero-decimal currencies are not supported. The New Taiwan dollar is two-decimal at checkout and zero-decimal at payout, so the simple setup is to keep your Taiwanese prices in USD. Stripe Tax still calculates the 5% on a USD price, and the New Taiwan dollar figures you need only exist on the return, built from your Stripe export and the Bank of Taiwan rate. If you need to run other currencies through Stripe and QuickBooks, start with our guide to Stripe multicurrency in QuickBooks.

Common mistakes with Stripe and Taiwan VAT

• Assuming Stripe Tax covers e-invoicing. It calculates and reports the tax. Cloud invoices need an eGUI provider or your own integration.
• Filing quarterly. Taiwan's returns are bimonthly, six a year, with a zero return for a period with no sales.
• Filing from Stripe's New Taiwan dollar column. Taiwan wants one Bank of Taiwan rate per period. Convert the USD totals once.
• Counting business sales toward the threshold. Only sales to individuals count, and only in New Taiwan dollars.
• Trusting any eight digits. Stripe drops the tax on a correctly formatted tw_vat whether or not it's real.
• Collecting before you add the registration. Stripe charges Taiwanese VAT only once the registration is in Stripe Tax.
• Pricing in New Taiwan dollars without checking your sync. Acodei supports decimal-based currencies only. Keep Taiwanese plans in USD.

For how Stripe's threshold monitoring works in every country, see our guide to Stripe Tax registration thresholds.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Taiwan VAT registration threshold for foreign SaaS companies?

NT$600,000 a year in sales to individuals in Taiwan, up from NT$480,000 on April 7, 2025, per Taiwan's Ministry of Finance. Stripe Tax uses the same 600,000 TWD figure for its threshold monitoring. Sales to business customers who provide a Taiwanese tax ID don't count. Once you cross it, you register on the eTax Portal, yourself or through an optional tax agent.

Do I charge Taiwan VAT to business customers?

No, if they give you their tax ID. Stripe's Taiwan page says no tax is charged on sales to business customers who provide their tax identification number. In Stripe, that's a tw_vat tax ID on the customer, and Stripe Tax drops the tax when the number has the right format, whether or not it's verified. Without one, the customer is charged 5% as an individual.

Does Stripe issue Taiwanese cloud invoices (eGUI)?

No. Stripe Tax calculates the tax, but Stripe's Taiwan page says remote sellers must issue e-invoices through Taiwan's eGUI system, usually through a certified provider. It names Billit on the Stripe App Marketplace, which converts Stripe invoices into eGUI format and reports them. Taiwan's rule, Article 7-1 of the Uniform Invoice Regulations, covers sales to individuals.

How often do foreign sellers file Taiwan VAT returns?

Every two months, six times a year. Taiwan's Ministry of Finance says returns are due by the 15th of the month after each bimonthly period: March 15 for January and February, May 15 for March and April, and so on. You file even with no sales. Returns are in New Taiwan dollars, converted at the Bank of Taiwan buying rate on the period's last day.

Can I sync New Taiwan dollar Stripe sales to QuickBooks with Acodei?

Price in USD instead. Acodei supports decimal-based currencies only, and Stripe treats the New Taiwan dollar as zero-decimal for payouts. With USD prices, Stripe Tax still calculates the 5% Taiwanese VAT, and Acodei syncs the USD sale and its tax line to QuickBooks. The New Taiwan dollar figures for the return come from your Stripe export and the Bank of Taiwan rate.

Acodei syncs Stripe Tax into QuickBooks automatically, so each bimonthly Taiwan return starts from a liability account that already holds what you collected. Start a free trial.