Legal Services

Legal Services Department

All human social activities are closely related to law, and now thanks to the rapid economic development, accounting has in particular become increasingly inseparable from law. In response to this trend, Grant Thornton Taiwan has established a legal services department that provides clients with all-around professional services through close collaboration between accounting and legal professionals.

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  I.Summary of Service Categories
  • 1.Administrative remedies 　In recent years, as access to administrative remedies has become more and more popular, people now expect administrative behaviors to follow fair, open, and democratic procedures and to ensure principles of a law-based administration to protect civil rights and interests. In the event of illegal or improper administrative decisions or an administrative authority’s failure to take such actions, administrative remedies may implemented to protect relevant parties’ rights. Members of our legal services department continually update their theory and practice in the field of administrative law. They also spare no efforts in their continuing exhaustive study of administrative remedies. Bearing our clients' greatest benefit in mind, we analyze cases in an in-depth but accessible way, maintaining great familiarity with legal procedures and a solid grasp of key points in legal disputes. In doing so, we work out incisive arguments that win over judicial authorities and administrative courts. Our extremely high winning rate demonstrates these clearly outstanding results.
  • 2.Corporate legal consulting　The value of the law lies in achieving justice and regulating social guidelines for civil life. As human society evolves and becomes more and more complex, it is inevitable that there will be some conflicts between individuals. For this reason, the law plays an indispensable role in offering legitimate and reasonable resolution channels. Our legal services department provides advice on these legal issues. Through legal syllogism, we apply inflexible legal texts to explain actual cases in a flexible manner. We provide clients with a guiding light via accessible textual interpretations, so that our clients will not get lost in law vernacular and miss opportunities to protect their rights.
  • 3.Bankruptcy and restructuring　In line with growing attention to bankruptcy-related laws and regulations in Taiwan, our legal services division always pays close attention to the progress of studies by relevant government departments regarding amendments to bankruptcy law and the integration of restructuring and bankruptcy regulations. In addition, we often study and discuss current bankruptcy-related regulations with our partners at GT Singapore and GT Hong Kong in order to provide clients with the most appropriate and up to date international legal services and advice.
  • 4.Company dissolutions and liquidations　Once a company of any type is dissolved, unless its dissolution is caused by a merger, split-off, or bankruptcy, it shall be liquidated, terminate its legal relationships, and allocate its assets. Where a company is to undergo liquidation, liquidator(s) shall be appointed to process legally-stipulated procedures. The assigned liquidator(s) shall implement all relevant duties required by law to ensure the termination of the company’s legal entity after the liquidation is complete. Our legal services department is familiar with the procedures of dissolution and liquidation and the duties of a liquidator. As such, they understand that the corporate legal entity of a company is not eliminated after being dissolved, despite its settlement and liquidation having been declared, if its liquidation is not completed in accordance with the Company Act and other relevant regulations. Tax collection agencies may still be entitled to recover the company’s payable taxes, and the company’s responsible person may also receive an official letter from the taxation authorities restricting him/her from going abroad. Therefore, our legal services department may appoint liquidators, who will do their utmost to fulfill their duties and complete dissolution and liquidation with care.
  • 5.Supplier and employee background investigations　Business operations usually involve risks, whether current or potential. It is human nature to avoid risks and pursue interests. For a company, it is even more imperative to avoid and control possible risks as much as possible, as the reputation and performance of a company is achieved over a long period of time and cannot afford to be tarnished in any way. Regarding business dealings and employment, our legal services department provides supplier and employee background investigation services. By investigating suppliers’ and employees’ conduct and credit status, companies can avoid awkward situations with suppliers and employees, and achieve the ultimate goal of protecting the company.
  • 6.Legal attest letter drafting service　Conflicts and misunderstandings among individuals and groups are difficult to avoid in a modern industrialized and commercial society. A “legal attest letter” serves the functions of giving notice and maintaining evidence, which can be a key factor in subsequent ligation procedures. “Evidence” is the criteria for judicial verdict, whether in civil or criminal litigation. Because of their convenience and effectiveness, legal attest letters are a widely adopted method of evidence collection today. Our legal attest letter drafting service aims to protect clients’ interests by providing concise and incisive legal attest letters.
  • 7.Preparation and review of agreements in Chinese and English　An agreement, as the name suggests, refers to a mutual consent for relevant matters between two or more parties involved, which becomes effective by converting the spoken word into writing. An agreement need not always be written down in black and white, as an agreement can come into existence in oral form, so long as the parties agree; but if there is only oral agreement, this may cause difficulty in collecting evidence in the event of disputes. Our legal services seek our clients’ best interests in agreements, by conscientiously reviewing the entire formulation of the agreement and any particular details in the agreement that are disadvantageous to our clients.
  • 8.Lifting restrictions on going abroad　Restrictions on going overseas may be imposed during the following situations: (1) a taxpayer, whose overdue taxes exceed a certain amount, receives such restrictions from the National Immigration Agency as required through a Ministry of Finance official letter; or (2) an employer receives such a restriction pursuant to the Act for Worker Protection of Mass Redundancy for overdue labor pensions, severance payments, or wages. Requests for lifting such restrictions may be made in the following conditions: (1) the persons involved has fully paid any overdue taxes, fines, labor pensions, severance, or wages; (2) he/she has furnished a bond sufficient to secure the full payment of the outstanding taxes, fines, labor pensions, severance, or wages; or (3) the business entity has been liquidated in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and there are no residual assets for distribution or liquidation.
  • 9.Labor law compliance and labor-management negotiation　Since the introduction of the “one fixed day off and one flexible rest day” policy on December 21, 2016, the Labor Standards Act has undergone several amendments. Meanwhile, municipal labor departments have also enhanced inspections on corporate labor management. In addition to compliance with the aforesaid policy, categories of inspection also include labor agreements, service regulations, labor safety and health codes, establishment of sexual harassment control mechanisms, and the legality of labor-management meetings. We provide our corporate clients with consulting on labor laws as well as assistance with the planning and establishment of relevant regulations and systems. In addition, we also offer advice and report services for dismissals, lay-offs, staff re-positioning, and other labor-management issues. For labor disputes that have already occurred, we also offer advice for labor-management negotiations and can attend mediations on behalf of employers.
  • 10.Inheritance, inheritance tax, family business, and personal asset planning　In recent years, legal disputes have frequently occurred in partnerships and family businesses. It is often seen that, in enterprises created through peaceful collaboration among members of the first generation, there follows infighting among members of the second generation, which may include a falling out and unwillingness to compromise for the inheritance and corporate control. Even when the second generation maintain peaceful relationships, they are nonetheless troubled by many tax issues that come about. In order to lay the groundwork for both the next generation and the corporation's sustainability, business operators need to plan ahead.
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• II.Overall Advantages

Grant Thornton Taiwan is the Taiwan member firm of Grant Thornton International, and benefits from valuable international experience, on the basis of which we move forward and improve our services in Taiwan. Supported by the sizable international corporate organization, Grant Thornton Taiwan provides services that align with international standards and keep up with international trends. Our legal services not only include careful study of legal cases, but also professional opinions on accounting matters from our CPAs. Benefiting from different disciplinary perspectives as well as from our own professional and academic knowledge, we have built a solid and powerful service team that provide clients with satisfactory solutions to cases of every nature and scale.

Contact Person:

Margaret Lin

02-2789 0887 Ext. 203
margaret.lin@tw.gt.com