14 October 2019
The State Taxation Administration issued the Public Notice on the Administrative Measures on Non-resident Taxpayers Claiming Tax Treaty Benefits (hereinafter referred to as “the Public Notice”) on 14 October 2019. The Public Notice shall take effect from 1 January 2020. The non-resident taxpayers could enjoy tax treaty benefits via “self-assessment, claim for treaty benefits, documents preservation for reference" mechanism without pre-approval or record filling acknowledgement from the Chinese tax authorities. The Public Notice also simplifies the documents required for submission and provides a list of supporting documents to be preserved for future reference (including the documents certifying the status of beneficial ownership) to justify the non-resident taxpayers' positions of enjoying the reduced taxation or exemption.