Before you start

Work permit and residence permit, or student status
Employment or appointment contract
A contemporaneous record of days in and out of China
The text of the double tax treaty between China and your home country, if one exists

Step-by-step

1
Determine residence status by counting days
An individual without a domicile in China present for 183 days or more in a calendar year is a tax resident for that year; below that, non-resident and taxed on China-sourced income only. Keep the count from your passport as you go.
OnlineWho: You
2
Check your treaty for a teacher or researcher article
Many of China's double tax treaties contain a specific article exempting remuneration for teaching or research at a recognised institution for a defined period — commonly around three years — where the individual was resident in the other state immediately before arriving. Whether it exists, how long it runs and what it covers differs treaty by treaty. Read your own rather than relying on what a colleague from another country told you.
OnlineWho: You
3
Claim the treaty benefit properly if it applies
Treaty relief is claimed through a record-filing process with the tax authority, supported by a tax residence certificate from your home country's revenue service. It is not automatic and your employer will not apply it unprompted. Get the residence certificate early — home revenue services can take weeks to issue one.
Via employerWho: You
4
Diarise the six-year rule from year one
Worldwide income becomes taxable only from the seventh consecutive year of 183-day residence, and the count resets if any year falls below 183 days or if you take a single trip abroad of more than 30 consecutive days. Academic summers abroad frequently exceed 30 days already — check whether yours does.
OnlineWho: You
5
Make the annual election between expatriate benefits and itemised deductions
Foreign nationals choose either the tax-exempt treatment of employer-provided housing, children's education, language training, meals, laundry, relocation, business travel and home leave, or the standard special additional deductions. Not both, and the election is locked for the tax year.
Via employerWho: YouStart of each tax year
6
File the annual reconciliation, 1 March to 30 June
Residents reconcile the previous calendar year's comprehensive income through the Individual Income Tax app or the tax bureau, claiming deductions and settling any difference. The obligation is yours even when the employer helps.
Mobile appWho: You1 March – 30 June

Documents you’ll need

Passport with all entry and exit stamps
Employment or appointment contract and payslips
Employer withholding statements
Tax residence certificate from your home revenue service, for treaty claims
Rental invoices (fāpiào) for any expatriate housing benefit claimed

Things most newcomers don’t know

Many of China's tax treaties exempt teachers and researchers for a defined period, and almost nobody claims it.

A large number of China's double tax treaties contain a specific article covering remuneration for teaching or research at a recognised institution, exempting it from Chinese tax for a period — commonly around three years — where the individual was resident in the other state immediately before coming. The details differ substantially between treaties, and the relief must be claimed through record-filing with a home-country tax residence certificate. In a city with Nanjing's academic population this is the single most overlooked piece of tax planning, and the clock runs from arrival whether you claim or not.

Source: State Taxation Administration

An academic summer abroad may already be resetting your six-year clock.

The six-year rule on worldwide income resets if any year falls below 183 days of residence or contains a single absence of more than 30 consecutive days. University staff and researchers frequently spend six to ten weeks abroad over the summer — which, if it is one continuous absence, does the job automatically. The point is to check rather than assume: two separate three-week trips do nothing, while one seven-week trip resets the clock entirely.

Source: State Taxation Administration

The expatriate benefits election is worth less on an academic salary.

The tax-exempt treatment of employer-provided housing scales with your rent, and in a city where a central one-bed costs a fraction of Shanghai's, and on a university salary rather than a corporate package, the standard special additional deductions — housing, education, elder care — can easily be worth more. The election is annual and locked, so run both numbers once rather than copying what a corporate colleague does.

Source: State Taxation Administration

Scholarship and stipend income is not automatically outside the system.

How scholarship, stipend and research grant income is treated for Chinese tax depends on its source and character, and it is not safe to assume it is exempt because it feels like a bursary rather than a salary. Institutions vary in how they withhold, and a researcher paid partly from a foreign grant and partly from a Chinese one can end up with two treatments and no reconciliation. Ask the institution's finance office in your first month.

Source: State Taxation Administration

Common mistakes to avoid

Never checking whether your treaty has a teacher or researcher article.
Letting the treaty exemption period run out unclaimed because the clock starts on arrival.
Not tracking days in and out of China, including academic summers.
Copying a corporate colleague's expatriate-benefits election on an academic salary.
Assuming scholarship or grant income is automatically outside Chinese tax.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.