China - Register for Withholding Tax

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Procedure

The filing procedure for withholding tax is mainly applied to a non-resident enterprises China-sourced dividends, interests, rentals and royalties income, and income from the transfer of property.

A copy of the contract giving rise to the taxable income, along with a contract registration record form and other relevant documents, must be submitted to the in-charge tax bureau within 30 days of signing the contract. All documentation, including those originally in a foreign language, must be translated into Chinese. This procedure applies to each subsequent revision, supplementation or extension of the contract.

Within seven days from the payment date stated in the contract, the withholding agent should pay the amount withheld to the state treasury and submit the withholding return to local tax authorities.

If the income is paid by installment, the withholding agent should, within 15 days prior to making the last payment, report to the tax bureau in charge the details of all payments already made in order to complete a tax withholding clearance.

The China withholding agent should maintain books and records for taxes withheld and a file of the relevant contracts, which will be subject to inspection by the relevant tax bureaus.

If the withholding agent fails to fulfill its obligation to withhold tax, non-resident enterprises should file and pay withholding tax to the local tax authorities where the income is derived from within seven days of the due date for tax filing and payment.

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Required Documents

• An industrial and commercial business license or other similar permit of business operation
• A contract, agreement and articles of association
• The unified organizational code
• The ID card, passport or other valid ID certificate of the legal representative, or responsible member of owner
• Other documents and information demanded by the tax authorities of a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the State Council

Office Locations & Contacts

State Administration of Taxation
Address: Yangfangdian Road, Haidian District, on the 5th
Zip: 100038
Tel: 010-63417114
Website: http://www.chinatax.gov.cn

State Administration for Industry and Commerce People's Republic of China
Address: 8 Sanlihe Donglu, Xichengqu, Beijing, 100820, P. R. China
Phone: +86-10-68010463/68013447
Facsimile: +86-10-68010463/68013447
Email: [email protected]
Contact
Address

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Eligibility

Enterprises and their subsidiaries and production and business departments in other parts of the country, individual owners of industry and commerce and other undertakings engaged in production and business operation (hereinafter referred to as taxpayers engaged in production and business operations) should apply for tax registration with the local tax authorities where they carry out production and/or business operation.

In China, withholding tax is applied to China-sourced income derived by non-resident enterprises, including dividends, bonuses and other equity investment proceeds; interests, rentals and royalties and income from the transfer of property; and any other income subject to corporate income tax obtained by non-resident enterprises.

The tax payable on income derived by non-resident enterprises should be withheld at source, with the payer (i.e. the Chinese enterprise who remits the fund overseas) as the withholding agent.

Fees

Explain the fees structure which is required for obtaining the certificate/document.

Validity

Explain the time until which the certificate/document is valid.
e.g. Birth Certificate Valid Forever

Documents to Use

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Sample Documents

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Processing Time

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Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

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Instructions

Administrations (and sub-administrations) of national taxes and local taxes shall handle tax registration jointly or separately in the districts under their respective jurisdiction in the light of the scope of administration of taxation formulated by the State Council. In cities where conditions are available, the administration (or sub-administrations) of national taxes and local taxes may handle tax registration in the principle of "concentration on the basis of the work done first by the district sub-administrations of taxation".

Required Information

• The name and the number of the ID card, passport or other valid ID document of the institution, legal representative or owner
• The residence or business address
• The type of registration
• The accounting system
• The form of production and business operation
• The scope of production and operation
• The total amount of capital (fund), investment
• The term of production and operation
• The name and telephone number of the financial chief
• Other information specified by the State Administration of Taxation

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Need for the Document

The withholding tax is a tax levied on China-derived income that non-resident enterprises make by providing services to companies based in China. Taxes will be deducted at the source from your gross invoice amount. The Chinese companies who you deal with and who remit the fund to your overseas bank account have the responsibility to withhold the amounts and pass to the tax bureaus.

Income subject to withholding taxes include: income from sales of goods, income from services provided, income from technology transfer, dividends and profits, income from equity investment, interests, rentals, royalties and income from donations.

Information which might help

With respect to dividends, interest, rentals and royalties income, the taxable amount is the gross amount remitted before deduction of any taxes, including BT. If the withholding tax and BT are borne by the payer, the income amount should still be grossed up to arrive at the taxable income.

For non-resident enterprises falling under the scope of the current VAT pilot reform, and which receive passive income subject to VAT, the taxable income should be the gross income net of VAT.

For income from the transfer of property, the taxable income is the balance of the total income less the net value of the property.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Withholding income tax on payments to non-residents - a concessionary rate of 10% is currently applicable to interest, rental, royalty and other passive income.

External Links

Tax Law

State Administration for Industry and Commerce People's Republic of China

State Administration of Taxation of the People's Republic of China

Ministry of Commerce, the People's Republic of China

Tax Law

State Administration of Taxation

Others

A taxpayer with the obligation of withholding tax who has registered with the tax authorities shall apply to the tax authorities where its tax registration certificate is issued for registration of tax withholding within 30 days after the date of occurrence of the obligation thereof. The tax authorities should specify the items for tax withholding on the tax registration certificate and have no need to issue a separate certificate of tax payment withholding.

A person obliged to withhold taxes without the need for applying for tax registration in accordance with the taxation laws and administrative regulations should apply to the local tax authorities for registration of tax withholding within 30 days after the date of the occurrence of the obligation of tax withholding. The tax authorities shall issue a registration certificate of tax withholding.

Request a Procedure

Register As Agent