Summary
(1) The Chinese Ministry of Finance, State Administration of Taxation, and the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued Announcement No. 2 of 2025. This announcement aims to implement the decisions of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and to follow the provisions of the Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementing regulations. The announcement introduces a tax incentive policy for foreign investors who invest directly in China using distributed profits.
(2) Foreign investors who invest directly in China using profits distributed by Chinese resident enterprises from January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2028, can enjoy a tax exemption of 10% of the investment amount. The remaining tax can be carried over to subsequent years. If the tax rate in the tax treaty between the Chinese government and a foreign government is lower than 10% for dividends, interest, and other equity investment income, the lower rate will be applied.
(3) To be eligible for the tax incentive, foreign investors must meet the following conditions: (1) the profits distributed to foreign investors must be actual retained earnings of Chinese resident enterprises; (2) the foreign investors must invest in Chinese resident enterprises through direct investment, including increasing capital, new construction, and equity acquisition, but excluding the acquisition of listed companies (except for strategic investments); (3) the invested enterprises must engage in industries encouraged by the Catalog of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment; (4) foreign investors must hold the invested enterprises for at least 5 years (60 months); and (5) the profits used for direct investment must be paid in cash, and the relevant funds must be directly transferred from the profit distribution enterprise's account to the invested enterprise or the transferor's account, without being temporarily held in other accounts.
(4) The tax exemption applies to the tax payable by foreign investors on dividends, interest, and other equity investment income as stipulated in Article 3, Paragraph 3 of the Enterprise Income Tax Law. Foreign investors must provide relevant information and materials to the profit distribution enterprise, which can temporarily exempt the tax on the reinvested profits. The profit distribution enterprise must report the tax exemption to the tax authority when paying dividends, interest, and other equity investment income to foreign investors.
(5) If foreign investors withdraw their investments after 5 years (60 months), they must report and pay the deferred tax within 7 days. If they withdraw their investments before 5 years, they must pay the deferred tax and reduce their tax exemption entitlement proportionally. If they have already used up their tax exemption entitlement, they must pay the excess tax within 7 days. If foreign investors withdraw investments that have enjoyed and not enjoyed tax exemption, they will be treated as having first dealt with the investments that have enjoyed tax exemption.
(6) Foreign investors must report their information and materials through the Ministry of Commerce's unified platform to the local commerce administrative department, which will verify and confirm the information with the local tax and finance departments. The local commerce administrative department will issue a "Reinvestment Situation Table" to the invested enterprises, which must submit the materials to foreign investors. The provincial commerce administrative department will summarize the information and report it to the Ministry of Commerce and the local finance and tax departments.
(7) The announcement takes effect from January 1, 2025, and will expire on December 31, 2028. Foreign investors who have tax exemption entitlements remaining on December 31, 2028, can continue to enjoy the tax exemption until their entitlements are exhausted. Foreign investors can apply for retroactive tax exemption for investments made before the announcement was published, but only from the date of publication.