Greater Bay Area tax policies shown to benefit expats

New individual income tax (IIT) policies for non-PRC-domiciled individuals were explained to 300 foreigners by the Zhuhai Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration in a keynote lecture at Beijing Normal University Zhuhai on May 15.

The session drew attention to a circular regarding preferential IIT policies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The document was released by the Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration earlier this year.

Starting in 2019, non-PRC-domiciled individuals should pay IIT on the profit allocated by an enterprise based on their investment. Previously, the company had to pay corporate income tax first and apportion the net profit to them.

Consultation

A German expat at Zhuhai 4DAGE is one of the beneficiaries. He used to pay IIT of more than 2,600 yuan ($376) for a 30,000-yuan ($4,340) monthly wage, and now pays less than 1,000 yuan ($145), according to Pan Tao, chief financial officer of the company.

In addition to preferential policies on stock incentives and multi-month bonuses, nine Pearl River Delta cities in Guangdong will offer subsidies to qualified overseas high-end and urgently needed talents equal to the amount of their IIT that exceeds 15 percent of taxable income.

Per capita disposable income of Guangdong residents rose by 8.5 percent year-on-year (6.2 percent year-on-year after deducting price factors) to 10,813.8 yuan ($1,565) in the first quarter of 2019 due to the IIT reduction.

Lecture [Photos courtesy nanfangplus]