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Guide · China · Published 2026-10-11

How to file your income tax return in China

Filing your income tax return in China: who must file, the tax year and deadline, what documents you need, and what happens if you are late.

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Who must file

Two separate annual returns. Companies file an annual corporate income tax return and settle the year. Individuals file the annual reconciliation of comprehensive income (年度汇算) — salary, service fees, author's fees and royalties combined — if they overpaid and want the refund, or if they underpaid. You are excused from the reconciliation if the extra tax comes to RMB 400 or less, or if your comprehensive income for the year was RMB 120,000 or less, or if withholding already matched, or if you are owed a refund and choose not to claim it; that relief runs to 31 December 2027. Sole traders and others with business income file their own separate business-income settlement.

Tax year and deadline

The tax year is the calendar year. Corporate income tax: prepay within 15 days of each month or quarter ending, then file the annual return and settle within five months of year end — 31 May. Individual comprehensive income: 1 March to 30 June of the following year. Individual business income: prepay within 15 days of each month or quarter, settle by 31 March. A non-resident leaving China before the reconciliation window opens can file before departure.

Filing step by step

  1. Open the 个人所得税 app or the 自然人电子税务局 website and check your phone number and bank account are current — the refund goes to that account.
  2. Pull the prefilled figures: income, tax already withheld, and the deductions your employers reported for you.
  3. Add or correct the deductions — the RMB 60,000 standard deduction, social insurance and housing fund, the special additional deductions (infant care under three, children's education, continuing education, serious illness, housing loan interest or rent, elderly support), enterprise and occupational annuity, commercial health insurance, private pension, qualifying charitable donations. Keep the evidence.
  4. Submit and let the app compute the refund or the shortfall.
  5. Claim the refund to your bank account, or pay the balance in the app. To file between 1 and 20 March you need an appointment, bookable from 25 February; from 21 March to 30 June you can file whenever you like.

Penalties for filing or paying late

A taxpayer who files a false tax base can be fined up to RMB 50,000. One who does not file a return and pays no tax or too little must pay the tax and the surcharge and is fined 50% to five times the amount (Tax Collection and Administration Law, Article 64). Evasion by forging or hiding books, or by overstating expenses or understating income, draws the same range of fine, and criminal liability where it amounts to a crime (Article 63). The surcharge on overdue tax is 0.05% a day from the due date (Article 32). A taxpayer who owes tax must settle it or provide a guarantee before leaving China (Article 44).

Sources

How this guide was made

Written from published tax-authority guidance and reviewed on 2026-10-11. Everything here is indicative rather than a ruling on your circumstances, and rules change. Confirm anything you rely on with State Taxation Administration before acting on it, and tell us if you find something out of date so we can correct it.

This guide explains the rules in general terms and is not tax advice for your circumstances. Confirm your position with a qualified adviser or with State Taxation Administration.