The rate
The standard rate in China is 13%. Some goods and services carry reduced or zero rates and others are exempt. The difference matters: zero-rated sales still let you reclaim the tax on your purchases, exempt sales do not.
13% on goods, processing, repair and equipment leasing; 9% on transport, construction, property, land use rights and some listed goods; 6% on other services and intangibles. A small-scale taxpayer is levied at 3%, reduced to 1% until the end of 2027, and pays nothing at all below the exemption threshold of RMB 100,000 of sales a month.
Who must register
There is no registration threshold. Every business is a VAT taxpayer from its first sale. What the numbers decide is which regime you sit in. Annual VAT-taxable sales up to RMB 5 million make you a small-scale taxpayer on the simplified method; go over RMB 5 million and you must register as a general taxpayer, by the filing deadline of the month after you crossed. Under RMB 5 million you may register as a general taxpayer voluntarily if your books are sound — but the move is one-way, you cannot go back to small-scale. Below the exemption threshold (起征点) a small-scale taxpayer pays no VAT at all: RMB 100,000 of sales a month, RMB 300,000 a quarter, or RMB 1,000 per transaction if you are taxed per transaction. Reach it and the whole amount is taxed, not just the excess. Those figures run to 31 December 2027.
How to register
A business whose annual VAT-taxable sales exceed the small-scale limit must register as a general taxpayer. The exceptions are natural persons and non-enterprise units that rarely make taxable supplies and choose small-scale status (STA Announcement 2026 No. 2, item 1).
Sales are measured over any continuous period of up to 12 months or four quarters, including months without sales. Occasional sales of intangible assets or immovable property are left out (item 3).
The taxpayer completes the VAT General Taxpayer Registration Form (增值税一般纳税人登记表) with the competent tax office. A taxpayer that qualifies but chooses small-scale status submits the form 选择按照小规模纳税人纳税的情况说明 (item 4).
Registration takes effect on the first day of the period in which sales exceeded the limit (item 6). Returns already filed as small-scale must be corrected period by period, and invoices received but not yet used must have their purpose confirmed period by period (item 7). If sales are adjusted after a self-correction, risk check or audit, the deadline is 10 working days from the adjustment (item 5).
A taxpayer below the limit may register voluntarily if its accounts are sound and it can supply accurate tax data (item 2). A non-enterprise unit that elected small-scale status and later stops qualifying must report in writing in the period of the change (item 9).
Filing and paying
Registered and filed with State Taxation Administration.
Your tax period is 10 days, 15 days, one month or one quarter, set by your tax office according to how much tax you pay; small-scale taxpayers and some banks and trust companies can use the quarter. On a monthly or quarterly period you file and pay within 15 days of the period ending. On a 10-day or 15-day period you prepay within 5 days and file within 15 days of the first of the next month. Filed in the e-Tax Bureau. The STA pushes the 15th out for public holidays every year: in 2026 it moved to 20 January, 24 February, 16 March, 20 April, 22 May, 17 August, 26 October and 16 November.
Penalties for getting it wrong
File late and the tax office orders you to put it right and may fine you up to RMB 2,000, or RMB 2,000 to RMB 10,000 where it is serious. Pay late and a surcharge of 0.05% of the unpaid tax accrues per day from the day it fell due — about 18% a year — on top of an order to pay.