The Cost of Withdrawing from an Overseas Broker to Taiwan: Firstrade, IBKR and Schwab Wire Fees, Intermediary Banks and Taiwanese Bank Incoming Fees

When you withdraw from an overseas broker to Taiwan, the money leaves the U.S. broker, passes through one or two intermediary banks and ends up at a bank in Taiwan, and each stage may charge a fee. There are four amounts to add up: the broker’s outgoing wire fee, intermediary bank fees, the Taiwanese bank’s incoming remittance fee, and the spread when you convert back to NT dollars.

The short answer: according to the official pages checked on 17 October 2026, IBKR gives you the first two withdrawals each calendar month free, Firstrade charges US$25 per international wire, and Schwab charges US$15 per wire requested online. For receiving U.S. dollars, Taiwanese banks charge anything from LINE Bank’s promotional NT$50 per transfer up to a maximum of NT$800 at traditional banks. Taking a withdrawal of US$10,000 and assuming intermediary banks deduct US$15, the three brokers plus the Taiwan-side fees come to roughly NT$700 to NT$1,500, and converting back to NT dollars adds a spread of about NT$750.

This post is a summary of information, not investment, tax or legal advice, and it does not recommend any broker or bank. The fees were checked against the brokers’ and banks’ official pages on 17 October 2026. Promotions expire and fee schedules change, so check the broker’s and bank’s current notices before you withdraw. The intermediary bank fee in the examples is an assumption; the actual amount depends on the route the wire takes.

The parts of the cost of withdrawing to Taiwan

A USD wire from a U.S. broker back to Taiwan incurs fees in four places, in this order:

1. The broker’s withdrawal fee: what the broker charges to send the wire for you. It varies a lot between the three; see the next section.
2. Intermediary bank fees: the U.S. bank does not always deal directly with your Taiwanese bank, and the banks in between may deduct money from the amount sent.
3. The Taiwanese bank’s incoming remittance fee: what the bank in Taiwan charges to release the funds and credit your account. Some charge a percentage of the amount, others a flat fee per transfer.
4. The conversion spread: if you convert U.S. dollars to NT dollars, the bank buys your dollars at its “spot buying rate”. If you keep the money in a U.S. dollar account, this part does not apply.

This post covers the cost of bringing money back from a broker. The cost in the other direction (wiring money from Taiwan to a U.S. broker) is covered in “The real cost of wiring money to a U.S. broker”.

How Firstrade, IBKR and Schwab handle withdrawals, and what they charge

For clients in Taiwan, all three mainly pay out by USD wire. The fees in the table were checked on each broker’s official pages on 17 October 2026.

IBKR: two free withdrawals a month, charges from the third

IBKR’s fee page says you get two free withdrawals each calendar month. Every withdrawal after the second is charged whatever the method, and a USD wire costs US$10. The month is counted in New York time, not Taiwan time, so take care when you request a withdrawal around the end or start of a month.

IBKR also states that its withdrawal fee does not include third-party fees: anything charged by the receiving bank or intermediary banks is borne by the account holder and may be deducted directly from the amount sent.

Schwab: cheaper online, send U.S. dollars directly

Schwab’s April 2026 pricing guide lists a wire withdrawal at US$25, or US$15 when requested online. The guide also has one waiver: households with US$100,000 or more in assets get three free “online domestic wires” each quarter. It says domestic wires, and the guide does not say whether international wires to Taiwan qualify.

The same pricing guide says that when U.S. dollars are exchanged for a foreign currency or vice versa, Schwab charges a markup of up to 3% of the principal. If you send U.S. dollars straight to Taiwan and decide at the Taiwanese bank whether to convert, you avoid this cost.

Firstrade: US$25 per international wire

Firstrade’s guide to international account withdrawals says wire is the preferred withdrawal method for international clients, at US$25 per international wire. Its wire fee page also warns that intermediary banks may charge additional fees under their own rules.

Account opening rules, interest on idle cash and other fees at the three brokers are compared in “Firstrade vs IBKR vs Schwab International”.

Intermediary bank fees: why less arrives than you requested

A wire leaves from a U.S. bank. If that bank does not deal directly with your Taiwanese bank, the money passes through one or two intermediary banks (correspondent banks), and each may deduct an amount from the money sent. Wise puts it at about US$15 to US$50 per intermediary bank per transfer (Wise, 17 September 2024).

Which intermediary banks the wire passes through, and how much each deducts, depends on the route between the broker’s sending bank and your receiving bank, and it is hard to know precisely in advance. All three brokers’ official pages warn that intermediary banks may charge, and IBKR goes further, stating that these fees are borne by the account holder. So if you withdraw US$10,000 and between ten and several tens of U.S. dollars less arrives in Taiwan, it was most likely deducted by intermediary banks, not overcharged by the broker.

Once the Taiwanese bank receives the money, its incoming fee may also be deducted straight from the funds. Cathay United Bank’s fee page states that the fee is deducted from the incoming funds.

Comparing Taiwanese banks’ fees for receiving U.S. dollars

The table shows the official fees several Taiwanese banks charge for incoming foreign currency remittances, all checked on 17 October 2026.

What percentage-based banks charge on US$10,000

The 0.05% at Bank of Taiwan, Mega Bank and E.SUN Bank is calculated on the incoming amount converted to NT dollars. At Bank of Taiwan’s USD spot buying rate of 32.245 on 17 October 2026, US$10,000 is about NT$322,450, and 0.05% of that is about NT$161, which is below the minimum fee. So Bank of Taiwan and Mega Bank charge NT$200. At E.SUN Bank, releasing the funds through online or mobile banking has a promotional minimum of NT$100, so you pay the proportional amount of about NT$161.

The NT$800 cap only applies once the incoming amount reaches about NT$1.6 million (about US$49,600). Above that, these banks’ incoming fee stays at NT$800.

How LINE Bank receives U.S. dollars

LINE Bank’s official article explains that when you receive a USD remittance, you can choose to deposit it in your foreign currency main account and keep it in U.S. dollars. If it goes to an NT dollar main account, it is automatically converted to NT dollars at the bank’s rate at the time the funds are released and credited. After you receive the notification, you have 20 days to confirm receipt, and there is no limit on the amount of a single transfer. The fee is paid by either the sender or the recipient, depending on where the remittance comes from. When the recipient pays, an NT dollar account has it deducted from the remittance amount; with a USD account, you can choose to have it deducted from your NT dollar account or from the remittance amount.

Keep U.S. dollars or convert back to NT dollars

Once the money reaches the bank in Taiwan, you can keep it in a foreign currency account or convert it to NT dollars. If you convert, the bank buys your U.S. dollars at its “spot buying rate”, which is a little below the mid-rate.

Take the Bank of Taiwan posted exchange rates checked on 17 October 2026 (the page showed rates posted at 09:25 on 2026/10/17): the USD spot buying rate was 32.245 and the selling rate 32.395, a mid-rate of 32.32. Converting US$10,000 to NT dollars gets you about NT$750 less than at the mid-rate, or about 0.23%.

Here is how a few situations compare:

• You will later send money back to a broker: converting to NT dollars and then back to U.S. dollars costs the spread twice, plus one outgoing wire fee. Keeping the money in a USD account costs less.
• You will pay in U.S. dollars or put the money in a USD time deposit: keep it in U.S. dollars. Banks’ USD time deposit rates are compared in “USD time deposit rates compared”.
• You need NT dollars: before converting, check the posted rates at a few banks, or any current exchange-rate promotion at your bank. Rates change every day.
• You want to withdraw U.S. dollar cash: for cash withdrawals of foreign currency from incoming remittances, Bank of Taiwan charges an extra fee based on the difference between its spot selling rate and cash selling rate, with a minimum of NT$100 (from the same fee schedule).

Do large transfers need to be declared? The NT$500,000 rule

Under the Regulations Governing the Declaration of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Disbursements or Transactions issued by Taiwan’s central bank (last amended 26 December 2022), foreign exchange receipts, disbursements or transactions worth NT$500,000 or more must be declared by the owner of the funds under the regulations. At Bank of Taiwan’s spot buying rate of 32.245 on 17 October 2026, NT$500,000 is about US$15,500.

For money an individual brings back from an overseas broker, these are the relevant provisions of the regulations:

The declaration form must match the actual transaction. Article 16 of the regulations provides that intentionally failing to declare, making a false declaration, or failing to explain within the deadline when asked, is penalized under Article 20, Paragraph 1 of the Foreign Exchange Control Act.

Whether the money you bring back must be reported for income tax depends on the investment income, not on the act of sending money, and this post does not cover it.

Worked example: withdrawing US$10,000 to Taiwan from each of the three brokers

Assumptions (all fees are the official charges checked on 17 October 2026):

• Withdraw US$10,000 from the broker to Bank of Taiwan, with a Taiwan-side incoming fee of NT$200 (calculated in an earlier section).
• Intermediary bank fees assumed at US$15, the low end of Wise’s US$15 to US$50 per bank per transfer; the actual amount may be higher.
• USD fees converted to NT dollars at Bank of Taiwan’s spot buying rate of 32.245 on 17 October 2026.
• IBKR is shown in two cases, “first two withdrawals of the month” and “third withdrawal of the month”; Schwab uses the online request.

If you convert to NT dollars once the money is in Taiwan, add a spread of about NT$750 to each row (calculated in the previous section).

Switching to a different receiving bank changes the Taiwan-side fee: LINE Bank charges NT$50 during its promotion, NT$150 less than in the table; CTBC Bank charges NT$400, NT$200 more.

Most of the fees are fixed amounts per transfer, so the larger the withdrawal, the smaller their share. With the same Firstrade withdrawal, at US$1,000 the total is about NT$1,490, or about 4.6%. If you combine several small withdrawals into one, you pay the fixed fees only once.

Checklist before you withdraw

• Count your free IBKR withdrawals: the first two each calendar month are free, and the month is counted in New York time. If you need several withdrawals in the same month, consider combining them.
• Request Schwab wires online: US$15 online, US$10 less than US$25.
• Send U.S. dollars, don’t convert at the broker: Schwab charges up to 3% of the principal for currency conversion. Keep U.S. dollars at the broker and decide at the Taiwanese bank whether to convert.
• Make sure the receiving account is a foreign currency account: to keep U.S. dollars, the receiving account must be a foreign currency account that can accept USD. LINE Bank’s NT dollar main account automatically converts incoming U.S. dollars to NT dollars.
• Allow for intermediary bank deductions: the amount that arrives may be ten to several tens of U.S. dollars less than you requested.
• Watch the promotion end dates: LINE Bank’s NT$50 incoming fee and E.SUN Bank’s NT$100 minimum for online banking release both run until 31 December 2026.
• Prepare the declaration before converting a large amount: converting an amount worth NT$500,000 or more into NT dollars requires a declaration form, and a single conversion of US$500,000 or more by an individual requires supporting documents.

The cost of withdrawing is only one of the costs of using an overseas broker. With Taiwanese sub-brokerage, by comparison, the money from a sale goes straight back to your settlement account in Taiwan, with no international wire. For how much you need to invest each year and how many trades make each option worth it, see “Sub-brokerage vs an overseas broker”.

FAQ

What fees do I pay to withdraw money from an overseas broker to Taiwan?

Usually four parts: the broker's outgoing wire fee, fees charged by intermediary banks along the way, the incoming remittance fee of the receiving bank in Taiwan, and the spread when you convert back to NT dollars. If you keep the money in a U.S. dollar account, the last part does not apply.

How much do Firstrade, IBKR and Schwab charge to withdraw to Taiwan?

According to their official pages on 17 October 2026: IBKR gives you the first two withdrawals each calendar month free, then charges US$10 per USD wire; Firstrade charges US$25 per international wire; Schwab charges US$25 per wire, or US$15 when requested online. Intermediary and receiving bank fees are extra.

How much do Taiwanese banks charge to receive U.S. dollars?

Bank of Taiwan and Mega Bank charge 0.05% of the incoming amount, minimum NT$200 and maximum NT$800; Cathay United Bank charges NT$200 per transfer for automatic crediting or online release; CTBC Bank charges NT$400 per transfer; E.SUN Bank charges a minimum of NT$100 per transfer until the end of 2026 when you release the funds through online or mobile banking; LINE Bank charges NT$50 per transfer until the end of 2026 (regular price NT$400).

Why is the amount that arrives smaller than the amount I withdrew?

The broker's withdrawal fee does not include third-party fees. Intermediary banks may deduct money from the amount sent, which Wise puts at about US$15 to US$50 per bank per transfer, and the Taiwanese bank's incoming fee may also be deducted directly from the incoming funds.

Do I have to declare money sent back to Taiwan from an overseas broker?

Under the central bank's Regulations Governing the Declaration of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Disbursements or Transactions, foreign exchange receipts and disbursements worth NT$500,000 or more must be declared. When you convert to NT dollars (a sale of foreign exchange), you fill in a foreign exchange receipts and disbursements or transactions declaration form; if you keep the money in a foreign currency account without converting, the transaction voucher issued by the bank counts as the declaration form.

After withdrawing, should I keep U.S. dollars or convert back to NT dollars?

If you convert, the bank buys your U.S. dollars at its spot buying rate. Based on Bank of Taiwan's spread on 17 October 2026, US$10,000 gets about NT$750 less than at the mid-rate. If you will later send money back to a broker or spend U.S. dollars, keeping it in a USD account saves you the spread on both legs of the round trip.