致力于为中小企业提供一站式商务综合服务

Committed to providing one-stop comprehensive business services for small and medium-sized enterprises

价格透明、

无隐形费用！

Transparent pricing and no hidden fees!

减低行政成本

简化沉余管理 

Reduced administrative costs and simplified management of sunk balances 

一对一对接沟通

全程透明化  

One-to-one matchmaking communication and full transparency 

成本效益更有优势
最低仅为全职雇员20%的支出！ 

Cost-effectiveness is more favourable, with a minimum of only 20 per cent of the expenditure of a full-time employee!

精诚服务  |  专业为本  

Sincere service and professionalism

代表处注册 

Representative office registration

In order to cooperate with foreign enterprises to carry out business in China and adapt to the needs of the Chinese market, some foreign enterprises prefer to set up a resident representative office as a bridge of business liaison in China. This article will provide a detailed introduction of the application conditions, required information and tax obligations for the registration of foreign representative offices.

Legal status of the representative Office

A resident representative office of a foreign enterprise, also known as a "representative office", refers to an office established within the territory of China to engage in non-profit activities related to the business of the foreign enterprise in accordance with the Regulations on the Registration of Resident Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprises No. 584 of The State Council of 2011. A representative office does not have the status of a legal person.

Application conditions

The foreign representative office is not an independent legal entity, but the parent company's domestic business liaison organization. Therefore, to apply for the establishment of a foreign representative office, the following conditions must be met:

• The investor has good credit standing and no bad record;
• Have a fixed office space;
• Appoint the Chief representative;
• The foreign company has been established for more than 2 years.

Required information

In order to ensure the smooth progress of your application, you need to prepare the following information:

• Complete the registration form;
• Appoint the Chief representative;
• Provide the company's registered address;
• Investor certification. The details include:

a. The registration certificate or identity document of the foreign investor notarized by the notary office of the country where it is located and certified by the embassy (consulate) of our country;

b. Investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan should provide registration certificates or identity certificates notarized by local notaries.

Handling process

The process of foreign representative office registration is relatively simple, as follows:

• Consulting orders: to understand your specific needs, to provide you with professional consultation and advice;
• Prepare application documents such as justice documents: guide you to complete the preparation and notarization of relevant documents;
• Sign the application documents, submit to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau for approval, registration certificate, tax registration, engraving: assist you to complete the submission and approval procedures of relevant documents;
• Receive the certificate: After completing all the approval procedures, you will receive the representative office registration Certificate as well as the official seal, representative seal and financial seal.

After completion, the documents you will receive mainly include: representative office registration certificate, official seal + representative seal + financial seal. These documents will provide legitimacy and convenience for your business contacts in China.

Tax obligations of foreign representative offices

According to Article 3 of the Interim Measures for the Tax Administration of Resident Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprises (hereinafter referred to as Article 18), the representative offices of foreign enterprises "shall declare and pay income tax on their attributable income according to law, and declare and pay business tax and value-added tax on their taxable income according to law." This also means that the representative office does not need to pay any tax burden because it is not engaged in profit-making behavior, but should pay, and then how to pay.

From the perspective of the tax authorities, although the representative office itself cannot engage in for-profit activities, the essence of its establishment is to assist the overseas parent company to expand territory and expand business tentacles. It seems to be a cost center, but in fact, the income is directly attributable to the overseas parent company, so the representative office must contribute to the profits of the parent company. Therefore, the proportion of the representative office in the income of the parent company should be divided according to the principle of its economic substance, so as to confirm the actual income and cost of the representative office, so as to determine its taxable income. Article 6 of the Interim Measures for the Tax Administration of Resident Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprises (No. 18) puts forward the first treatment of income tax payment of representative offices, that is, the principle of reporting according to the facts. Article 6: The representative office shall set up an account book in accordance with relevant laws, administrative regulations and the provisions of the competent financial and tax departments under The State Council, keep accounts on the basis of legal and valid vouchers, conduct accounting, and accurately calculate its taxable income and taxable income in accordance with the principle of matching the functions actually performed with the risks assumed. The enterprise income tax and business tax shall be declared and paid to the competent tax authorities within 15 days after the end of the quarter, and the VAT shall be declared and paid to the competent tax authorities according to the tax payment deadline stipulated in the Provisional Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Value-added Tax and the Rules for its implementation.

However, due to the tax jurisdiction, and complex factors such as cost sharing or income segmentation, the actual declaration of the tax method can only be ideal, and the practice is very difficult, so there is a second way of income tax payment, that is, authorized collection. According to Article 7 of the Interim Measures for the Tax Administration of Resident Representative Offices of Foreign Enterprises (Document No. 18) : For representative offices with unsound account books, unable to accurately calculate income or costs, and unable to declare according to the provisions of Article 6 of these Measures, tax authorities have the right to adopt the following two ways to determine their taxable income:

1，Conversion of income according to expenditure: applicable to representative institutions that can accurately reflect expenditure but cannot accurately reflect income or cost.

2，According to the total amount of taxable income: applicable to the representative office can accurately reflect the income but can not accurately reflect the cost of expenses. Calculation formula: enterprise income tax payable = total income × approved profit rate × enterprise income tax rate.

It can be seen that, in line with the first method of collection and payment based on the actual declaration, the premise of determining the taxable income according to the total income is that the representative office can accurately reflect the income, which in fact returns to the origin and difficulty of the first method of actual declaration. Under the premise that most representative offices cannot confirm the total income with the overseas parent company in terms of the proportion of contribution, According to the total amount of income to verify the taxable income of this way, while more enterprises are based on the conversion of income by funds, is also the most common tax authorities to adopt the method of verification and collection.

The amount of expenditure of representative offices includes: salaries, bonuses, allowances, welfare expenses, purchasing expenses of goods (including fixed assets such as cars and office equipment), communication expenses, travel expenses, rent, equipment rental, transportation expenses, social expenses, and other expenses paid to staff inside and outside China.

Article 8 of Article 18 stipulates that the approved profit rate of a representative office shall not be less than 15%. Once the expenditure is determined, the amount of income and taxable income of the representative office can be accurately calculated.

For example, the monthly expenditure of a representative office of a foreign enterprise is about RMB 80,000, and the local tax bureau has approved its profit rate to be 15%.

Taxable income = current expenditure /(1-approved profit rate) × approved profit rate = 80,000 yuan /(1-15%) ×15%=14117.65 yuan

Tax payable = taxable income ×25%= 14117.65 ×25%=3529.41 yuan

为配合外国企业在中国开展业务和适应中国市场的需求，部分外国企业首选设立常驻代表处以作为在华业务联络的桥梁。本文将对外商代表处注册的申请条件、所需资料及税务义务的详细介绍。

一、代表处的法律地位

外国企业常驻代表机构，又名“代表处”，是指依照2011年国务院令第584号《外国企业常驻代表机构登记管理条例》条例规定，在中国境内设立的从事与该外国企业业务有关的非营利性活动的办事机构。代表机构不具有法人资格。

二、申请条件

外商代表处并不是一个独立的法人实体，而是母公司在国内的业务联络机构。因此，申请设立外商代表处需满足以下条件：

•     投资者资信良好，无不良记录；

•     有固定办公场所；

•     委派首席代表；

•     外国企业已成立2年以上。

三、所需资料

为了确保申请的顺利进行，您需要准备以下资料：

•     填妥注册申请表；

•     委派首席代表；

•     提供公司注册地址；

•     投资者证明。具体包括：

        a. 经所在国家公证机关公证并经我国驻该国使（领）馆认证的外国投资者的注册登记证明或身份证明文件；

        b. 香港、澳门和台湾地区投资者提供经当地公证机构公证的注册登记证明或身份证明。

四、办理流程

外商代表处注册的办理流程相对简单，具体如下：

•     咨询下单：了解您的具体需求，为您提供专业的咨询和建议；

•     客户准备公正书等申请文件：指导您完成相关文件的准备和公证；

•     签署申请文件，递交工商局审批、登记证、税务登记、刻章：协助您完成相关文件的递交和审批程序；

•     领取证书：完成所有审批程序后，您将领取到代表处登记证以及公章、代表章和财务章。

办理完成，您将领取的文件主要包括：代表处登记证、公章+代表章+财务章。这些文件将为您在中国的业务联络提供合法性和便利性。

五、外商代表处的税务义务

根据国税发（2010）18号《外国企业常驻代表机构税收管理暂行办法》（以下简称18号文）第三条，外国企业代表处“应当就其归属所得依法申报缴纳所得税，就其应税收入依法申报缴纳营业税和增值税”。这也就意味着，代表处不会因为不从事营利行为而无需缴纳任何税负，而是应该缴，然后是如何缴。

从税务机关的角度来说，代表处本身虽然不能从事营利性活动，但其设立的实质，是在协助境外母公司开疆辟土延伸业务触角，看上去是个费用中心，实际上收入直接归属给了境外母公司，因此该代表处对于母公司的利润一定是有贡献的。如此，就应该根据其经济实质的原则来划分代表处在母公司收入中所占的比重，以此来确认代表处的实际收入及成本费用，从而来确定其应纳税所得额。《外国企业常驻代表机构税收管理暂行办法》（18号文）第六条提出了代表处所得税缴纳的第一种处理方式，即据实申报原则。第六条：代表机构应当按照有关法律、行政法规和国务院财政、税务主管部门的规定设置账薄，根据合法、有效凭证记账，进行核算，并应按照实际履行的功能和承担的风险相配比的原则，准确计算其应税收入和应纳税所得额，在季度终了之日起15日内向主管税务机关据实申报缴纳企业所得税、营业税，并按照《中华人民共和国增值税暂行条例》及其实施细则规定的纳税期限，向主管税务机关据实申报缴纳增值税。

但是基于税收管辖，及成本分摊或收入切割等复杂因素，据实申报的缴税方式只能是个理想，实务操作起来非常困难，于是就有了第二种所得税缴纳方式，即核定征收。根据《外国企业常驻代表机构税收管理暂行办法》（18号文）第七条：对账簿不健全，不能准确核算收入或成本费用，以及无法按照本办法第六条规定据实申报的代表机构，税务机关有权采取以下两种方式核定其应纳税所得额：

1、按经费支出换算收入：适用于能够准确反映经费支出但不能准确反映收入或成本费用的代表机构。

2、按收入总额核定应纳税所得额：适用于可以准确反映收入但不能准确反映成本费用的代表机构。计算公式：应纳企业所得税额=收入总额×核定利润率×企业所得税税率。

可以看到，与第一种据实申报的征缴方式一脉相承，按收入总额核定应纳税所得额的前提，是代表处能够准确反映收入，这实际上又回到了第一种据实申报的原点和难点，在大部分代表处根本无法与境外母公司就贡献度的比重来确认收入总额的前提下，按收入总额核定应纳税所得额这种方式，而更多企业则是按经费换算收入的方式，也是税务机关最为普遍采取的核定征收方式。

代表机构的经费支出额包括：在中国境内、外支付给工作人员的工资薪金、奖金、津贴、福利费、物品采购费（包括汽车、办公设备等固定资产）、通讯费、差旅费、房租、设备租赁费、交通费、交际费、其他费用等。

18号文第八条规定，代表处的核定利润率不应低于15%。经费支出一旦确定，代表处的收入额及应纳税所得额即可准确核算。

例如，某外国企业代表处每月的经费支出约为人民币8万元，所在地税务局核定其利润率为15%，

应纳税所得额=本期经费支出额/（1-核定利润率）×核定利润率 = 8万/(1-15%) ×15%=14117.65元

应纳税额=应纳税所得额×25% = 14117.65 ×25%=3529.41元

想了解更多，添加客服或留意为您解答

Learn more？Add me or leave a message