KPMG’s Khoonming Ho and Lewis Lu look at what the Year of the Pig is set to bring to the Chinese tax landscape.

On June 29 2018, China's Parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), released the full text of proposed amendments to China's individual income tax (IIT) law (draft IIT bill). Public comments were sought up until July 28 2018. The upshot of the proposed changes is to reduce the tax burden on lower earners, reduce the relative preferences for foreign nationals under the existing IIT law, give greater recognition to personal circumstances and expenses in the IIT calculation, and introduce anti-avoidance provisions. The changes to personal deductions and tax brackets would take effect in part from October 2018, and the rest of the changes from January 2019.

In recent years the Chinese government has progressively replaced administrative pre-approvals for various tax treatments and regulatory licences with tax authority record filing requirements. This has been coupled with more targeted and effective procedures for follow-up audit and review.

Following on from the annual meeting of China's Parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), in early March, the Chinese government has been implementing a string of tax reform measures, the most recent of which was the VAT rate reductions.

The long awaited Announcement 9 has been released by the State Administration of Taxation of China (SAT). Effective from April 1 2018, Announcement 9 replaces Circular 601 and Announcement 30, both of which are key circulars setting out the rules for foreign investors claiming tax treaty benefits on their Chinese-sourced dividends, interest and royalties (passive income).

Against a backdrop of continuing China-US trade tensions, Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 10, at the Bo'ao Forum for Asia, announced a 'four-point plan' for the further liberalisation of rules governing foreign investment in, and trade with, China.