China is striving to become more inviting to FDI and foreign talent by widening market access and improving the business environment.
To make China more appealing to foreign talent, the government will put in place a work permit system for foreigners working in China, with detailed guidelines for visa application and evaluation benchmarks for widened access to foreign talent to be developed in the second half of this year. Five- to 10-year multiple entry visas will be issued to qualified expatriates, who can apply for work permits and work-related residential certificates accordingly.
Exemption of withholding tax on dividend income will be available if a foreign investor reinvests the dividend directly in encouraged projects in China. Under the existing Corporate Income Tax (CIT) Law, a dividend declared to a foreign investor is subject to a 10% withholding tax, unless otherwise reduced by a tax treaty.
The tax incentives for a technology advanced service company (TASC) will be rolled out nationwide in China such as, reduction in the CIT rate from 25% to 15%, increasing in the employee education expense deduction limitation of total salaries and wages from 2.5% to 8%.
The TASC incentives are currently effective until the end of 2018.
