On April 17 2019, China's National Statistics Bureau announced GDP growth of 6.4% in the first quarter of 2019, the same level as for the fourth quarter of 2018. But China is nonetheless facing the slowest rate of economic growth in 30 years.

In recent years, China's venture capital (VC) industry has undergone rapid development and expansion.

In recent months, the Chinese government has been actively taking measures to stimulate the economy and attract further inbound investment.

On August 31 2018, the revised IIT Law was passed by China's Parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC). The revised law will come into full effect from January 1 2019. In advance of this, revised IIT standard personal deductions and tax rates tables have applied from October 1 2018. Following on from this, on October 20 2018 the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), released draft IIT Law implementation rules, as well as the draft guidance on itemised deductions thresholds, both for public consultation. The consultation period has now ended but the final rules are still to be released.

Chinese governmental authorities remain supportive of rational, well-ordered and healthy outbound investment. Michael Wong, Joseph Tam, Karen Lin, Cloris Li and Alan O’Connor look at key domestic tax and regulatory measures implemented to enhance the competitiveness of Chinese outbound investment on the global stage, including under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

John Gu, Chris Mak and Fiona He explore the key tax issues and considerations of China inbound M&A deals, especially in the education and real estate sectors, including practical challenges for cross-border transactions in these hot sectors, and how an investor can best get prepared.