February 2020 - New Measures for Claiming Treaty benefits

The State Administration of Taxation (the “SAT”) has loosened up its requirements for non-residents of China in claiming the applicable tax treaty benefits, effective 1 January, 2020. The new measures were issued under SAT Public Notice (2019) No. 35 (the” PN 35”) in October 2019. Previously, under the SAT Public Notice (2015) No. 60 (the “PN 60”), pre-approval by the China tax authority in claiming tax treaty benefits was not required, but taxpayers were still required to fulfil the record-filing procedure. The PN 35 goes even further by allowing non-resident taxpayers to determine whether it is eligible for the relevant tax treaty benefits, i.e., a self-assessment of eligibility, and claim such tax treaty benefit as long as the relevant supporting documents are retained for inspection by the tax authority.
This new measure is one of the measures to optimize the taxation business environment and to “streamline administration, delegate powers and improve regulation and services”.
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