Welcome to our ECOVIS Ruide News and Blog section

Here you will find information about our company’s events organization to accounting, tax and consulting topics on which regulators in China are about to publish, enforce or change regulations and requirements.

Furthermore you can via this page also access our Focus China Blog. Be ready for monthly updates in form of articles from our professional auditors and tax consultants, and news of events and changes in China’s tax laws as they happen.

Bookmark our site, and check back often to learn more about the news influencing your finance, controlling and accounting departments and to stay on top of changes to your business environment before and as they happen to the advantage of your overall business.

Extension of tax benefit policies for foreigners

Author：ECOVIS RUIDE China
Date：2023-08-31

As anticipated, on August 13, 2023, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued announcements [2023] No. 29 and No. 30. These announcements clearly confirm the extension of tax benefit policies for foreigners. This extension aligns with the affirmative directive set forth by the State Council, notably enumerated as principle number 19 within the "24 principles for enhancing efforts in foreign investment attraction" (Guofa [2023] No. 11). Of particular interest to you are the following key points:

Using dividend reinvestment in China could defer withholding tax

Author：ECOVIS RUIDE China
Date：2023-07-31

According to the Enterprise Income Tax Law in China, for non-resident enterprises to obtain dividends from domestic resident enterprises, enterprise income tax should be levied at a 10% tax rate. However, for dividends and bonuses obtained in accordance with bilateral tax treaties, tax rates can be implemented in accordance with the provisions of tax treaties. Taking Germany as an example, based on the double tax agreement between China and Germany, the withholding tax rate for profit distribution is 5%. But if foreign investors directly use profits for direct investment, then this part of the tax can be postponed. How to operate it? Please refer to this article.

How to transfer personal data outside of China compared to the German regulations

Author：ECOVIS RUIDE China
Date：2023-05-31

Data security – a term everyone has heard over and over again nowadays. How to save personal data, to whom am I allowed to give my data, what do I need to consider when giving my personal data to a third party? These and so on are very common questions one will come across, for personal or work matters. Having an overview about the local data security can already be a hurdle, but what about data transfers to other countries? Outside the EU? Let’s pick China as an example: the newly implemented PIPL (Personal Information Protection Law) does come with many new regulations and has certain similarities to the German data security system (called DSGVO: “Datenschutzgrundverordnung). Focusing on data transfer outside the EU (between Germany and China), the following paragraphs will emphasize on the legal frame of this process for companies.