Why the Process Is Often Slower Than Expected
For foreign-invested companies in Taiwan, dividend remittance is often viewed as a routine administrative step following year-end closing and tax filings.
In practice, remittance is less about the transfer itself and more about whether the company can demonstrate readiness across corporate governance, tax compliance, and documentation. Taiwan’s regulatory framework is transparent, but banks apply a conservative, document-driven review standard. When expectations are misaligned, delays are common.
This article outlines how dividend remittance is typically reviewed in practice, and why banks may request clarification even when companies believe all requirements have been met.
Dividend Remittance Is a Review Process, Not a Transaction
From a bank’s perspective, dividend remittance is not treated as a payment instruction. It is assessed as a compliance event.
Banks are required to confirm that:
- Profits are legally distributable
- Corporate approvals are properly documented
- Applicable taxes have been assessed and addressed
- The remittance amount corresponds precisely to approved distributions
The review focuses on internal consistency. Commercial explanations or prior experience are secondary to documentary clarity.
Areas Banks Commonly Examine
Although documentation requirements vary by case, banks typically look for alignment across three areas:
Financial Position
- Financial statements supporting distributable retained earnings
- Evidence that statutory reserves have been properly appropriated
- Confirmation that distributions do not exceed available profits
Corporate Authorization
- Board or shareholder resolutions approving the dividend
- Clear identification of distribution amounts, recipients, and timing
- Consistency between resolutions, financial records, and remittance instructions
Tax Status
- Withholding tax assessment on dividend distributions
- Evidence of filing and payment, or acceptable confirmation of filing status
- No unexplained variance between declared dividends and tax documentation
When these elements are prepared independently rather than as a coordinated set, banks often request further clarification.
Why Delays Occur in Practice
Most remittance delays are not caused by substantive non-compliance. They typically arise from one or more of the following:
- Timing gaps, such as initiating remittance before tax filings are finalized
- Document inconsistency, where resolutions, financial statements, and tax records do not fully align
- Assumptions based on prior years, without confirming current-year expectations
- Incomplete beneficiary information, particularly in multi-layer ownership structures
Banks are not positioned to infer intent or resolve ambiguity. When documentation does not clearly support the remittance narrative, additional review is the default response.
Frequency and Timing Considerations
Dividend remittances are not limited to a single annual window. Companies may remit dividends at different times during the year, provided each remittance is supported by a complete and coherent documentation set.
Each remittance is reviewed independently. Documentation from prior periods is not automatically transferable.
Practical Observations
In practice, remittance proceeds more smoothly when companies treat it as a coordination exercise, rather than a downstream accounting task.
Common characteristics of smoother cases include:
- Early alignment between finance, tax, and corporate governance teams
- Clear sequencing of resolutions, filings, and remittance requests
- Standardized documentation prepared with bank review expectations in mind
Advance preparation tends to reduce follow-up inquiries and review cycles.
Co-Mastery’s Role
Co-Mastery works with foreign-invested companies in Taiwan on readiness, coordination, and execution clarity.
Our focus is not on providing tax or legal opinions, but on helping management teams ensure that:
- Corporate actions are properly sequenced
- Supporting documentation is complete and internally consistent
- Bank and regulatory expectations are anticipated before execution
In a documentation-driven system, preparation significantly affects outcomes.
Closing Note
Taiwan’s regulatory environment is generally predictable, but dividend remittance depends on how clearly a company’s records present a complete and consistent position.
When documentation, timing, and approvals are aligned, remittance becomes a repeatable process rather than an operational uncertainty.
When dividend remittance becomes uncertain, the issue is rarely a single document.
It is more often a coordination gap across finance, tax, and corporate governance.
Co-Mastery supports foreign-invested companies in Taiwan by helping teams assess readiness and align documentation before execution begins.
If you are evaluating an upcoming dividend remittance or responding to repeated bank follow-ups, you may contact us to discuss whether coordination support is appropriate.