The article 1 of the Announcement of the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration on the Criteria for the Determination of the Length of Residence of Non-domiciled Individuals in China (Announcement [2019] No.34) stipulates that the phrase “the past six years” specified in the preceding paragraph shall mean the six consecutive years up till the year before the said tax year. “The past six years” shall be calculated starting from the year of 2019 and thereafter.
When the official of the above two departments replied to reporters' questions, he had provided further interpretation of the above regulation:
Question 3: From which year do the consecutive "six years" residing in China start to be counted for non-domiciled individual, including the resident of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan?
A3：No. Non-domiciled individual should calculate the accumulative China residence days based on the entry and exit dates stating on all of his/her entry and exit identity documents used during a tax year.
A4：No. The non-domiciled individual has tax obligation on his/her worldwide income for year 2025.
A5：The concept of China tax residency status is different from the one stipulating under the residence management regulations. Normally, the China tax residency status will not be judged only based on a resident identity document directly. The analysis of China tax residency status should be done based on the specific situation of a non-domiciled individual.
The article 1 of the IIT Law of the People’s Republic of China (Revised in 2018) stipulates that individuals who have a domicile in China, or individuals who do not have a domicile in China but have resided in China for an aggregate of 183 days or more within a single tax year shall be deemed as resident individuals. Income derived by resident individuals from inside and outside China shall be subject to individual income tax pursuant to the provisions of this Law.
Individuals who do not have a domicile in China and have not resided in China, or individuals who do not have a domicile in China but have resided in China for less than 183 days in aggregate within a tax year shall be deemed as non-resident individuals. Income derived by non-resident individuals from China shall be subject to individual income tax under this Law.
