China individual income tax (个人所得税): residents, non-residents, comprehensive income, business income and the annual reconciliation

Scope and who this is for (IIT Law; rate tables)

This Guide covers mainland China individual income tax (IIT) for tax year 2026 (calendar year 1 January to 31 December 2026). It also has a dated section on the 2025 annual reconciliation, which ran from 1 March to 30 June 2026. It is for individuals, employers that withhold, and advisers who prepare or review IIT.

The legal base is the Individual Income Tax Law of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国个人所得税法, seventh amendment of 31 August 2018) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and State Taxation Administration (STA) announcements cited below. The law has not been amended since. The rates, the basic deduction and the special additional deduction amounts for 2026 are the same as for 2025.

Currency is CNY. Income in foreign currency is converted at the RMB central parity rate (Law Art. 16).

Out of scope: Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan; corporate income tax; VAT; social insurance contributions themselves (only their deduction is covered); land appreciation tax on property sales; and the detailed rules for offshore trusts, restricted shares and treaty tie-breakers (see "When to refuse or refer").

What is new for 2026 (dividends 2026 No. 27; offshore trusts 2026 No. 21; STA announcement 2026 No. 12; platform workers)

Change	From	What it does
Foreign individuals' dividends from foreign-invested enterprises	2026-09-01	Taxed as dividends at 20%. The 1994 exemption (财税字〔1994〕20号 item 2(8)) is repealed. The enterprise withholds and files within 15 days after the month of payment. If it does not, the individual pays by 30 June of the following year
Offshore trusts (离岸信托)	2026 No. 21 (issued 2026-07-24)	Putting property into an offshore trust, and income received through one, are taxable income under Law Art. 2. Refer
Scrap sellers invoiced by recycling companies ("reverse invoicing")	2026-07-01	Business income prepaid at 0.25% on the first six hundred thousand yuan (60万元) of annual sales, excluding VAT; 0.5% above that
Home replacement refund	2026-01-01 to 2027-12-31	A seller who buys a home in the same city within one year after selling their own home can apply for a refund of the IIT paid on the sale (STA announcement 2026 No. 12, item 2)
Platform workers	2025-10-01	Internet platform companies withhold on workers' labour remuneration by the cumulative method (see the method, step 5)

Reliefs that run to 31 December 2027 and so apply for all of 2026: separate taxation of the annual one-off bonus; separate taxation of listed-company equity incentives; the election for foreign individuals' tax-free allowances; the small-balance exemptions from the annual reconciliation; and the halving of IIT for individual industrial and commercial households. Each is cited where it is used.

Ask the client first

Sources for this section (IIT Law; residence days)

• Domicile and days in China. Does the person have a domicile (住所) in China? If not, how many days were they in China in the tax year, counting only days on which they were present for a full 24 hours? For a foreigner, ask for each of the six previous years (from 2019) whether they reached 183 days and whether any single trip out of China lasted more than 30 days.
• Which year. Is the question about 2026 withholding and planning, or the 2025 reconciliation (filed 1 March to 30 June 2026), or an earlier year?
• Every income type received, by category: wages and salaries, labour remuneration, author's remuneration, royalties, business income, interest/dividends, rent, property transfers, incidental income. Who paid each one, whether tax was withheld, and whether the payer was in China or abroad.
• Special additional deductions claimed, and how they are shared with the spouse or siblings: children (ages, full-time education), continuing education, serious illness costs, first-home loan interest or rent (and in which city), parents or grandparents aged 60 or over, and whether the person is an only child.
• Other deductions: social insurance and housing fund paid by the employee; personal pension contributions; qualifying commercial health insurance; enterprise or occupational annuity; charitable donations with receipts.
• Bonus and equity: any annual one-off bonus and whether it was taxed separately; any stock options, restricted shares or share awards from a listed company.
• Foreign income and foreign tax paid, with the foreign tax receipts and the foreign tax year end.
• For foreign nationals: whether they claim tax-free housing, language or children's education allowances, and whether they received dividends from a foreign-invested enterprise on or after 1 September 2026.
• Status of the account: any open audit, tax notice or penalty.

The method, step by step

Sources for this section (IIT Law; withholding measures; reconciliation measures; non-residents 2019 No. 35)

1. Decide residence for the year. A person is a resident (居民个人) if they have a domicile in China, or have no domicile but stay in China for a cumulative 183 days or more ("满183天") in the calendar year. Everyone else is a non-resident. Only days with a full 24 hours in China count; the day of arrival or departure does not count if it is less than 24 hours. Residents are taxed on worldwide income; non-residents only on China-source income (Law Art. 1).
2. Apply the six-year rule to a resident without a domicile. A foreigner who is resident in the year is still exempt on income that is both from outside China and paid by a foreign entity or individual, unless in each of the previous six consecutive years they stayed 183 days or more and never left China for more than 30 days in one trip. The six-year count starts with 2019, so the earliest year in which the exemption could be lost was 2025. One year below 183 days, or one trip out of more than 30 days, restarts the count (2019 No. 34).
3. Sort each receipt into its category. Wages and salaries, labour remuneration, author's remuneration and royalties are "comprehensive income" (综合所得). Business income, and the "other categories" (interest, dividends and bonuses; rent; property transfers; incidental income), are taxed separately (Law Art. 2).
4. Residents: withhold on wages by the cumulative method. Each month the employer computes: cumulative income, minus cumulative tax-free income, minus CNY 5,000 for each month employed with that employer in the year, minus cumulative special deductions (social insurance and housing fund), special additional deductions and other deductions. It applies the annual table (withholding table 1) to that cumulative amount, then subtracts tax already withheld. If the result is negative, nothing is refunded during the year; the reconciliation settles it. The employer must give the special additional deductions the employee reports and cannot refuse (Law Art. 11; withholding measures Art. 6–7). Simplified rule: if in the previous full year the employee had wages withheld by the same employer every month and those wages were not over sixty thousand yuan, the employer deducts the full sixty thousand yuan from January, so no tax is withheld until cumulative income passes that amount. The employer notes this on the withholding return. The same applies to labour remuneration withheld by the cumulative method (STA announcement 2020 No. 19).
5. Residents: withhold on labour remuneration, author's remuneration and royalties per payment. Income amount = payment minus expenses. Expenses are eight hundred yuan if the payment is four thousand yuan or less, and 20% of the payment if it is more. Author's remuneration is then counted at seventy per cent. Labour remuneration uses withholding table 2 (20% / 30% / 40%); author's remuneration and royalties are withheld at a flat 20%. Internet platform companies instead use the cumulative method for workers' labour remuneration from 1 October 2025: cumulative expenses are 20% of cumulative income, and CNY 5,000 is deducted for each consecutive month of income from that platform (withholding measures Art. 8; platform announcement).
6. Residents: compute the annual tax on comprehensive income. Add the four types: wages in full; labour remuneration and royalties at income amount (payment less 20%); author's remuneration at income amount times seventy per cent. Subtract CNY 60,000, special deductions, special additional deductions, other deductions, and qualifying donations. Apply the annual table (3%–45%) and subtract the quick deduction. Subtract any tax reduction and the tax already prepaid. The result is the refund or balance due (reconciliation measures Art. 3).
7. Decide whether the annual bonus is taxed separately. Until 31 December 2027 a resident can tax a qualifying annual one-off bonus separately: divide it by 12, find the rate and quick deduction in the monthly table, and compute bonus × rate − quick deduction. Or they can add it to comprehensive income. Test both.
8. Non-residents: tax each month or payment separately. Wages: monthly income minus CNY 5,000. Labour remuneration, author's remuneration and royalties: payment minus 20% (author's remuneration then at seventy per cent). Apply the monthly table. No special additional deductions, no social insurance deduction, and no annual reconciliation (Law Art. 11; withholding measures Art. 9).
9. Business income. Annual receipts minus costs, expenses and losses, taxed on the 5%–35% table. An owner who has no comprehensive income also deducts sixty thousand yuan, special deductions, special additional deductions and other deductions; the special additional deductions are taken at the annual reconciliation. An owner who does have comprehensive income takes these deductions there, not twice (Implementing Regulations Art. 15). Prepay within 15 days after each month or quarter end and reconcile by 31 March of the next year (Law Art. 12). A household's first two million yuan of taxable income gets half its tax relieved until 2027 (see figures).
10. Other categories. Tax each receipt at 20% (Law Art. 3). The payer withholds.
11. Foreign income of residents. Combine foreign comprehensive income with Chinese comprehensive income, and foreign business income with Chinese business income; tax other foreign categories separately. Credit foreign tax country by country, within the limit (see "Foreign income").
12. File. Decide whether the person must do the annual reconciliation, and file between 1 March and 30 June of the next year (see "Filing and payment").

Figures for tax year 2026

Comprehensive income: annual table for residents, 2025 and 2026 (IIT Law, table 1; withholding table 1)

The same table is used for the annual computation and, on cumulative figures, for monthly wage withholding. Basic deduction: CNY 60,000 a year (CNY 5,000 a month for withholding).

Annual taxable income	Rate	Quick deduction
Not over CNY 36,000	3%	0
Over CNY 36,000 to CNY 144,000	10%	CNY 2,520
Over CNY 144,000 to CNY 300,000	20%	CNY 16,920
Over CNY 300,000 to CNY 420,000	25%	CNY 31,920
Over CNY 420,000 to CNY 660,000	30%	CNY 52,920
Over CNY 660,000 to CNY 960,000	35%	CNY 85,920
Over CNY 960,000	45%	CNY 181,920

Tax = taxable income × rate − quick deduction.

Monthly table: non-residents, and the annual bonus (non-resident table 2; bonus 2023 No. 30)

Non-residents apply this table to each month's wages (after CNY 5,000) or to each payment. It is the annual table converted to months. The annual bonus uses the "monthly converted comprehensive income table" attached to 2023 No. 30, which has the same bands.

Monthly taxable income	Rate	Quick deduction
Not over CNY 3,000	3%	0
Over CNY 3,000 to CNY 12,000	10%	CNY 210
Over CNY 12,000 to CNY 25,000	20%	CNY 1,410
Over CNY 25,000 to CNY 35,000	25%	CNY 2,660
Over CNY 35,000 to CNY 55,000	30%	CNY 4,410
Over CNY 55,000 to CNY 80,000	35%	CNY 7,160
Over CNY 80,000	45%	CNY 15,160

Labour remuneration withholding for residents (per payment) (withholding table 2)

Taxable amount per payment	Withholding rate	Quick deduction
Not over CNY 20,000	20%	0
Over CNY 20,000 to CNY 50,000	30%	CNY 2,000
Over CNY 50,000	40%	CNY 7,000

This is only a prepayment. At the reconciliation, labour remuneration goes into comprehensive income and is taxed on the annual table.

Business income: annual table (IIT Law, table 2; households 2023 No. 12)

Annual taxable income	Rate on the band
Not over CNY 30,000	5%
Over CNY 30,000 to CNY 90,000	10%
Over CNY 90,000 to CNY 300,000	20%
Over CNY 300,000 to CNY 500,000	30%
Over CNY 500,000	35%

Business income means income of individual industrial and commercial households; income that investors in sole proprietorships and individual partners in partnerships registered in China derive from the business; income from licensed education, medical, consulting and other paid services; and income from contracting or leasing an enterprise (Implementing Regulations Art. 6). Taxable income is annual receipts minus costs, expenses and losses; an owner with no comprehensive income also deducts sixty thousand yuan and the personal deductions (Art. 15). The statute prints bands only; this Guide computes band by band rather than quoting unsourced quick deductions. From 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2027, an individual industrial and commercial household (个体工商户) pays half the IIT on the part of annual taxable income not over two million yuan (200万元), on top of other reliefs.

Other categories (IIT Law Art. 3)

Interest, dividends and bonuses; rent; property transfers; incidental income: flat 20%, per receipt or per month. How the taxable amount is worked out (Law Art. 6):

• Rent: per receipt (rent received within one month counts as one receipt, withholding measures Art. 11), deduct eight hundred yuan if the receipt is four thousand yuan or less; otherwise deduct twenty per cent. Tax the rest.
• Property transfers: sale proceeds minus the original value of the property and reasonable costs.
• Interest, dividends and incidental income: the whole receipt is taxable.

Special additional deductions (专项附加扣除), 2023 onwards and unchanged for 2026 (State Council 国发〔2023〕13号; STA announcement 2023 No. 14; Interim Measures 国发〔2018〕41号; infant care 国发〔2022〕8号)

Deduction	Amount	Conditions
Infant care (3岁以下婴幼儿照护)	CNY 2,000 per child per month	Child under 3. One parent takes 100%, or each takes 50%
Children's education (子女教育)	CNY 2,000 per child per month	From age 3 (pre-school) through full-time education to doctorate. One parent 100%, or 50% each; the choice is fixed for the year. Keep proof if the child studies abroad
Continuing education, degree (学历继续教育)	CNY 400 a month	Degree education in China; no more than 48 months for the same degree. A bachelor's or lower can be claimed by a parent instead
Continuing education, vocational certificate	CNY 3,600 once	In the year the qualifying certificate is obtained
Serious illness (大病医疗)	Actual cost, up to CNY 80,000	Self-paid costs within the medical insurance list, after reimbursement, above CNY 15,000 in the year. Claimed only at the annual reconciliation. Taxpayer, spouse and minor children each computed separately
Housing loan interest (住房贷款利息)	CNY 1,000 a month	First-home loan for a home in China; at most 240 months; once in a lifetime. Spouses choose one of them. If each spouse bought a first home with a first-home loan before marriage, after marriage they either pick one home and the buyer claims 100%, or each claims 50% on their own home
Housing rent (住房租金)	CNY 1,500 / CNY 1,100 / CNY 800 a month	No owned home (by the taxpayer or spouse) in the main work city. CNY 1,500 in municipalities, provincial capitals, cities with separate planning status and other State Council cities; CNY 1,100 in other cities whose urban districts have more than one million registered residents; CNY 800 elsewhere. Only one spouse if both work in the same city
Elderly support (赡养老人)	Only child: CNY 3,000 a month. Otherwise siblings share CNY 3,000 a month, at most CNY 1,500 each	Parents aged 60 or over, or grandparents aged 60 or over whose children have all died. Sharing equally, by agreement, or as the parent designates; agreed or designated shares need a written agreement

Rules that apply to all of them: housing loan interest and housing rent cannot both be claimed by the taxpayer and spouse in the same year. Unused amounts cannot be carried to the next year. Supporting records must be kept for five years. The employee must confirm next year's deductions in December; if they do not, the employer stops deducting from January until they confirm (operation measures STA announcement 2022 No. 7, Art. 9). Deductions missed during the year can be claimed at the reconciliation.

Other deductions and exemptions (personal pension 2024 No. 21; health insurance; donations 2019 No. 99; childcare subsidy 2025 No. 6)

• Personal pension (个人养老金): contributions up to CNY 12,000 a year are deducted from comprehensive income or business income, with the platform's deduction certificate. Investment income inside the account is not taxed. Withdrawals are taxed separately at 3%, not added to comprehensive income. Nationwide from 1 January 2024.
• Commercial health insurance: qualifying policies, up to CNY 2,400 a year (CNY 200 a month). Premiums above that are not deductible.
• Enterprise or occupational annuity (employee contributions) is an "other deduction" within a statutory cap. The cap was not confirmed from an official page in this update; check before relying on a figure.
• Charitable donations through qualifying bodies: deductible up to thirty per cent of the taxable income of comprehensive income or business income for the year (some listed causes are fully deductible). Keep the donation receipt.
• Childcare subsidies paid under the national childcare subsidy scheme are exempt from 1 January 2025.

Relief periods that end on 31 December 2027 (bonus 2023 No. 30; equity 2023 No. 25; foreign allowances 2023 No. 29; reconciliation exemption 2023 No. 32)

• Annual one-off bonus: separate taxation (divide by 12, monthly table) or add to comprehensive income, at the resident's choice.
• Listed-company equity incentives (options, stock appreciation rights, restricted shares, share awards) meeting the conditions: not added to comprehensive income; the whole amount is taxed alone on the annual table. Two or more awards in one year are combined.
• Foreign individuals' allowances: a foreigner who is a resident chooses either the special additional deductions or the tax-free treatment of housing, language training and children's education allowances (and the other listed allowances), not both. The choice cannot be changed within the year.
• Reconciliation exemptions for small balances (see "Filing and payment").

Residence, non-residents and foreign income (residence days 2019 No. 34; non-residents 2019 No. 35; foreign income 2020 No. 3)

Non-residents' wages. Wages for work in China are China-source, counted by workdays in China (including holidays and training days taken during the China work period). A person with posts inside and outside China, or only outside, counts a day of less than 24 hours in China as half a workday.

• In China not more than 90 days in the year: taxed only on wages for China workdays that are paid or borne by a Chinese employer.
• More than 90 days but under 183 days: taxed on all wages for China workdays, whoever pays; wages for work abroad are not taxed.
• A non-domiciled person first predicts their days in China. If they were treated as resident but end the year short of 183 days, they must report in the period from the date they can no longer meet the condition until 15 days after the year ends, recompute as a non-resident and pay any extra tax, without late-payment surcharge. If they predicted 90 days or fewer but actually exceed 90 days, they must report within 15 days after the end of the month in which the 90th day falls and pay tax on earlier months' wages, also without surcharge.

Residents' foreign income.

• Source. Foreign-source income includes pay for work done abroad, and dividends and interest from foreign payers. One exception: gains on shares in a foreign company are China-source if, at any time in the 36 months before the sale, 50% or more of that company's asset value came directly or indirectly from real estate in China.
• Credit limit, country by country. For comprehensive income, the limit is the total Chinese tax on Chinese and foreign comprehensive income together, multiplied by (that country's comprehensive income ÷ total comprehensive income). Business income works the same way. For other categories, the limit is the Chinese tax on that country's income in the category. The limits for one country are added together.
• Credit given. The lower of the foreign tax actually paid and the limit. Any excess can be carried forward and credited in the next five years against income from the same country. Wrongly paid tax, tax a treaty did not allow, and foreign interest or penalties cannot be credited. Tax sparing under a treaty can count as tax paid.
• Evidence. A foreign tax receipt or record for the tax year is required. Without it no credit is given. If the receipt arrives later, the credit can be claimed back to the year of the income, up to five years.
• Foreign tax year. If the foreign tax year is not the calendar year, the income belongs to the Chinese tax year in which the foreign tax year ends.
• Foreign business losses cannot reduce Chinese income or income from another country. They can be carried forward against later business income from the same country.
• Employees posted abroad by a Chinese employer: if the Chinese employer pays or bears the pay, it withholds as usual. If a foreign entity pays and it is a Chinese-affiliated overseas entity (中方机构), it may withhold and have the posting employer file. If that entity does not withhold, or the foreign payer is not a Chinese-affiliated entity, the Chinese employer must report the posted staff to its tax office by 28 February of the next year.

Boundaries and exceptions (IIT Law; Interim Measures; reconciliation exemption; residence days)

Question	Rule	Watch for
Is 183 days "at least" or "more than"?	Resident if cumulative stay reaches 183 days (满183天)	182 full days = non-resident. Part days under 24 hours do not count
Six-year rule	Worldwide tax on foreign income paid by foreign payers only after six straight years each of 183 days or more with no single trip out of more than 30 days	Count starts with 2019. A trip of exactly 30 days does not break it
Serious illness threshold	Only self-paid costs above CNY 15,000 count, up to CNY 80,000	Claimed only at the reconciliation, not monthly
Loan interest vs rent	Never both in the same year for the taxpayer and spouse	A spouse's owned home in the work city means "has a home"
Elderly support for siblings	Each sibling at most CNY 1,500 a month; total CNY 3,000	Agreed or designated shares need a written agreement; fixed for the year
Reconciliation exemption	Income not over one hundred and twenty thousand yuan (12万元) and tax due, or tax due not over CNY 400	Does not apply if a withholding agent failed to withhold
Non-resident deductions	CNY 5,000 a month on wages only	Social insurance is not deducted; no special additional deductions
Labour remuneration expenses	Eight hundred yuan up to four thousand yuan per payment; 20% above	At reconciliation, income amount is always payment less 20%

Worked cases (rate tables; IIT Law; withholding measures)

All amounts in yuan. These are illustrations; the facts are assumed.

Case 1: resident employee, 2025 reconciliation (filed in 2026). Shanghai employee, resident all year. Wages 500,000. One author's fee of 10,000. Employee social insurance and housing fund 60,000. One child aged 10 (taxpayer claims 100%): 24,000. Only child supporting parents aged 65 and 62: 36,000. Renting in Shanghai, no home: 1,500 × 12 = 18,000.

Step	Amount
Author's fee income amount: 10,000 less 20%, then seventy per cent of that	5,600
Income amount of all four types: 500,000 + 5,600	505,600
Less basic deduction, social insurance, 24,000 + 36,000 + 18,000	505,600 − 60,000 − 60,000 − 78,000 = 307,600
Annual tax: 307,600 × 25% − 31,920	44,980
Wage withholding in the year: (500,000 − 60,000 − 60,000 − 78,000) = 302,000; 302,000 × 25% − 31,920	43,580
Author's fee withheld: 5,600 × 20%	1,120
Balance due: 44,980 − 43,580 − 1,120	280

The balance due is not over 400 yuan and tax was properly withheld, so the employee need not file the reconciliation (2023 No. 32). They may still file and pay. If the employee had owed 500 instead, they would have to file, because income is above one hundred and twenty thousand yuan and the balance is above 400.

Case 2: non-resident employee. Foreign engineer, 100 days in China in 2026, monthly wages 30,000 for China workdays paid by the Chinese subsidiary. Because the stay is over 90 days, all wages for China workdays are taxed. Monthly: 30,000 − 5,000 = 25,000; 25,000 × 20% − 1,410 = 3,590. No annual reconciliation.

Case 3: labour remuneration. A resident consultant receives one fee of 30,000 from a company (not a platform). Income amount 30,000 × (1 − 20%) = 24,000. Withheld: 24,000 × 30% − 2,000 = 5,200. At the reconciliation 24,000 goes into comprehensive income and the 5,200 counts as tax prepaid.

Case 4: the bonus cliff. Bonus of 36,000 taxed separately: 36,000 ÷ 12 = 3,000, rate 3%, tax 36,000 × 3% = 1,080. Bonus of 36,001: 36,001 ÷ 12 is above 3,000, so rate 10% and quick deduction 210; tax 36,001 × 10% − 210 = 3,390.10. One more yuan of bonus costs 2,310.10 more tax. Compare with adding the bonus to comprehensive income before choosing.

Case 5: household business. An individual industrial and commercial household has 2026 taxable income of 400,000. Band by band: 30,000 × 5% = 1,500; 60,000 × 10% = 6,000; 210,000 × 20% = 42,000; 100,000 × 30% = 30,000. Tax 79,500. All of the income is below two million yuan, so half is relieved: tax payable 39,750.

Case 6: six-year rule. A foreign manager without a domicile was in China 200 or more days in each year 2019 to 2025 and never left for more than 30 days at a time. In 2026 they are resident and also meet the six-year condition, so foreign income paid by the foreign parent is taxable in China for 2026. If they had made one 35-day trip out of China in 2022, the count would restart in 2023 and their 2026 foreign income paid from abroad would be exempt.

Case 7: foreign tax credit. A resident has comprehensive income amounts of 400,000 from China and 100,000 from Country A (total 500,000). Deductions are 60,000 basic and 40,000 social insurance, so taxable income is 400,000 and tax is 400,000 × 25% − 31,920 = 68,080. Country A limit: 68,080 × 100,000 ÷ 500,000 = 13,616. Country A tax paid 20,000. Credit 13,616; the excess 6,384 can be carried forward for up to five years against Country A income.

When to refuse or refer

Sources for this section (offshore trusts; non-residents 2019 No. 35; Tax Collection Law)

• Income type unclear. Categories that are hard to define are decided by the STA (Implementing Regulations Art. 6). Until the category is confirmed, as a working default use the treatment that gives the higher tax and flag it for review; do not use the business income table to lower the tax.
• Residence not established. Without day counts, do not apply the annual table or special deductions. Default to non-resident treatment and ask for entry and exit records.
• Treaty residence or tie-breaker questions, dual residence, or a person resident for part of the year under a treaty. Refer to a Chinese tax adviser with the treaty text.
• Directors and senior managers of Chinese resident companies who are non-domiciled, and the source rules for multi-month bonuses and equity paid to non-domiciled people across periods. Refer.
• Offshore trusts (2026 No. 21 and the STA's matching procedural announcement): transfers into a trust and distributions are now taxable. Refer.
• Equity incentives where the conditions for separate taxation are in doubt, unlisted-company equity, or restricted shares of listed companies being sold. Give the rule direction only and refer.
• Anti-avoidance adjustments (Law Art. 8): related-party pricing, retained profits in a low-tax controlled company, or arrangements without commercial purpose. Refer.
• Open audits, tax notices, penalties or appeals. Do not give a view; refer immediately.
• Emigration that cancels Chinese household registration: the person must settle their tax before cancellation (Law Art. 13). Refer.

Filing and payment (IIT Law Art. 10–14; reconciliation measures; exemption 2023 No. 32; filing guide)

Who	What	Deadline
Employer or other payer	Withhold, pay over and file the withholding return for every payee	Within 15 days after the month of withholding
Individual with no withholding agent	File and pay	Within 15 days after the month of receipt
Individual whose payer did not withhold	Pay the tax	By 30 June of the next year, or earlier if the tax office sets a deadline
Resident with comprehensive income who must reconcile	Annual reconciliation	1 March to 30 June of the next year
Resident with foreign income	Declare foreign income (B form) with foreign tax receipts	1 March to 30 June of the next year
Non-resident with wages from two or more payers in China	File	Within 15 days after the month of receipt
Business income	Prepay; then annual reconciliation	Within 15 days after each month or quarter end; by 31 March of the next year
Non-domiciled person leaving China before 1 March	May do the reconciliation before leaving	Before departure

Who must do the comprehensive income reconciliation (reconciliation measures Art. 6–7; 2023 No. 32):

• Must file if: (a) tax prepaid is more than the tax due and they want the refund; (b) tax prepaid is less than the tax due and no exemption applies; or (c) income was under-declared because it was put in the wrong category, the withholding agent did not withhold, or there was no withholding agent.
• Need not file if tax was properly prepaid and: annual comprehensive income is not over one hundred and twenty thousand yuan (12万元) and tax is due; or the balance due is not over CNY 400 (for 2024 to 2027 income); or prepaid tax equals the tax due; or a refund is due and they choose not to claim it.
• The small-balance exemptions do not apply if a withholding agent failed to withhold.

How to file. Through the Individual Income Tax app (个人所得税APP, "综合所得年度汇算"), the Natural Person Electronic Tax Bureau website, through the employer (集中申报), by a person they appoint (委托申报), or at a tax office. The system pre-fills income and deductions; the taxpayer checks them, chooses the bonus treatment, and submits. Before filing, confirm the phone number and bank account on record (Art. 8). Tax due is paid online; refunds go to the bank account the taxpayer registers.

2025 annual reconciliation (filed 1 March to 30 June 2026) (STA notice 2026 No. 1; reconciliation measures)

• The window for 2025 income was 1 March to 30 June 2026. Taxpayers who wanted to file between 1 and 20 March could book through the app from 25 February; from 21 March no booking was needed.
• The 2025 rules are the same as 2026: the annual table, CNY 60,000 basic deduction, the special additional deduction amounts above, and the exemptions for small balances.
• The STA's reconciliation measures (Order No. 57, in force from 26 February 2025) set the standing procedure used for the 2025 year.
• If the window was missed and tax is due, file and pay now: the daily late-payment surcharge runs from the day the tax became overdue (see penalties). For a missed refund, ask the local tax office how to claim it; this Guide does not set out that procedure.

Penalties (Tax Collection Law)

• Late payment: a daily surcharge of five ten-thousandths (0.05 per cent written as 万分之五) of the unpaid tax, from the day the tax became overdue (Art. 32).
• Late filing: an order to correct and a fine of up to two thousand yuan; up to ten thousand yuan if serious (Art. 62).
• Tax evasion (false books, false returns, or refusing to file after the tax office tells the person to): the tax, the surcharge and a fine of half to five times the unpaid tax; criminal liability if it is a crime (Art. 63).
• Not filing and underpaying: the tax, the surcharge and a fine of half to five times the unpaid tax. No notice from the tax office is needed for this one (Art. 64).
• Fabricating a tax basis: a fine of up to fifty thousand yuan (Art. 64).
• Hiding assets to avoid paying arrears: the tax, the surcharge and a fine of half to five times the arrears (Art. 65).
• Tax resistance (refusing to pay by violence or threats): the tax, the surcharge and criminal liability; if minor and not a crime, a fine of one to five times the tax refused (Art. 67).

Completion checklist (IIT Law; operation measures)

• Residence decided from full-day counts; six-year history checked for any non-domiciled resident.
• Every receipt put in the right category; payer and withholding confirmed.
• Special additional deductions checked for eligibility, sharing and no double claims (loan interest vs rent; parents' 100%/50% split; sibling caps).
• Records for every deduction kept for five years.
• Bonus: separate vs combined tested both ways; equity incentives checked against the conditions.
• Foreign income combined by category; credit limited country by country; foreign tax receipts on file.
• Reconciliation obligation decided (must file, need not file, or refund to claim); filed between 1 March and 30 June.
• Business income prepaid on time and reconciled by 31 March; household halving applied.
• Foreign individuals: allowance election made once for the year; dividends from foreign-invested enterprises from 1 September 2026 taxed at 20%.
• The result is a working paper. A qualified Chinese tax adviser should review it before filing.