State Administration of Taxation, Tentative Measures for the Tax Administration of Resident Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprises

Issued: February 20 2010
Effective: January 1 2010

Applicability: For the purposes of these Measures, the term “resident representative office of a foreign enterprise” means a resident representative office established in China by a foreign enterprise (including enterprises from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) or other organisation in accordance with relevant State Council regulations and registered with the administration for industry and commerce or approved by the relevant authority (a Representative Office) (Article 2).

Main contents: A Representative Office shall file and pay enterprise income tax on income attributable to it in accordance with the law and file and pay business tax and value-added tax on its assessable revenue in accordance with the law (Article 3).

If a Representative Office has unsound account books, fails to accurately account for its revenues or costs and expenses, or fails to make accurate filings, the tax authority shall have the authority to determine its taxable income (Article 7). The profit rate determined for a Representative Office shall not be less than 15% (Article 8).

Related legislation: PRC Law on the Administration of the Levy and Collection of Taxes (Revised in April 2001), Apr 28 2001, CLP 2001 No.5 p.12 & CLP 1995 No.3 p.12; Implementing Rules for the PRC Law on the Administration of the Levy and Collection of Taxes, Sep 7 2002, CLP 2002 No.8 p.12; PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, Mar 16 2007, CLP 2007 No.3 p.21; Implementing Regulations for the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law, Dec 6 2007, CLP 2008 No.1 p.21; PRC Tentative Regulations on Business Tax (Revised), Nov 10 2008, CLP 2008 No.10 p.62; Implementing Rules for the PRC Tentative Regulations on Business Tax (2nd Revision) ; PRC Tentative Regulations on Value-added Tax (Revised), Nov 10 2008, CLP 2008 No.10 p.50; Implementing Rules for the PRC Tentative Regulations on Value-added Tax (2nd Revision) ; and Measures for the Administration of the Treatment for Which Non-tax-residents are Eligible Under Tax Agreements (Trial Implementation), Aug 24 2009, CLP 2009 No.10 p.65

Repealed legislation: Circular on Issues Relevant to Strengthening the Administration of the Levy of Taxes on Resident Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprises, 1996; Circular on Tax Administration Issues Relevant to Resident Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprises, Mar 12 2003, CLP2003 No.4 p.12; and Circular on Issues Relevant to the Procedures for the Examination and Approval of the Tax Exemptions of Representative Offices Established in China by Foreign Governments, Etc. 2008