- Under the 2023 Company Law (effective 1 July 2024), directors — not shareholders — are the statutory liquidation obligors, and a liquidation group must be formed within 15 days of a dissolution event.
依据 2023 年修订《公司法》（2024 年 7 月 1 日施行），董事（而非股东）为法定清算义务人，解散事由出现后 15 日内须成立清算组。- Voluntary liquidation of a foreign-invested enterprise follows a mandatory three-stage path: resolution to dissolve, liquidation and distribution, then deregistration.
外商投资企业的自愿清算须遵循三步法定路径：决议解散、清算分配、注销登记。- The 2025 Enterprise Deregistration Guidelines (Six-Agencies Announcement No. 52) consolidate tax, social-insurance, bank-account and customs cancellations into a single “one-thing” online process.
《企业注销指引（2025 年修订）》（六部门公告 2025 年第 52 号）将税务、社保、银行账户与海关注销整合为”一件事”线上联办。- A foreign-invested enterprise still must complete tax deregistration and obtain a clearance certificate before the market-regulator cancels its business licence.
外商投资企业仍须在登记机关注销营业执照前完成税务注销并取得清税证明。- Distributing remaining assets to foreign shareholders before all debts are settled is prohibited; repatriation of liquidation proceeds follows the foreign-exchange capital-account rules.
未清偿全部债务前不得向股东分配剩余财产；清算所得的汇出须遵循外汇资本金账户相关规则。- Voluntary liquidation is distinct from simplified deregistration and from bankruptcy liquidation — each applies to a different factual scenario and carries different timelines.
自愿清算区别于简易注销与破产清算，三者适用不同事实情形并对应不同时间线。
Voluntary Liquidation of Foreign-Invested Enterprises: From Shareholder Resolution to Deregistration | 外商投资企业自愿清算全流程：从股东决议到注销登记
Why this matters now
For a foreign investor, deciding to exit a China subsidiary is rarely the headline event — the quiet, procedural work that follows is what protects the parent company, its local staff and any remaining creditors. China’s exit regime changed materially with the 2023 revision of the Company Law, which took effect on 1 July 2024, and again with the *Enterprise Deregistration Guidelines (2025 Revision)* issued by six agencies including the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) as Announcement No. 52 of 2025. For a foreign-invested enterprise (FIE) that is solvent and simply choosing to wind down, the correct route is voluntary liquidation — a non-bankruptcy, non-simplified procedure that must nonetheless be executed in strict statutory sequence. This article walks through that sequence and the FIE-specific checkpoints (tax clearance, foreign-exchange repatriation, customs cancellation) that a generic domestic guide tends to omit.
The legal trigger and the 15-day clock
A voluntary liquidation begins with a resolution to dissolve. For a limited-liability company, this is a shareholder resolution; for a company limited by shares, a shareholders’ meeting resolution. Under the Foreign Investment Law, an FIE’s Articles of Association and the合资/合作 contract (where applicable) still govern internal voting, but the dissolution itself is now squarely within the Company Law framework.
The 2023 Company Law shifted the liquidation obligor from the shareholders to the directors. Article 232 provides that, where a company dissolves for the relevant statutory reasons, the directors constitute the liquidation obligor and must form a liquidation group within 15 days of the dissolution event. If the directors fail to act, creditors, shareholders or other interested parties may petition the people’s court to appoint a liquidation group. This is a meaningful change for foreign groups: the local board — not the offshore parent acting directly — is the body legally responsible for timely liquidation, and directors face liability for losses caused by delay.
On the dissolution event, the company must, within 10 days, publish the dissolution cause through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (国家企业信用信息公示系统). This publicity step is mandatory for companies (it does not apply to sole proprietorships or partnerships in the same way) and starts the clock for creditors.
Stage one: resolution to dissolve
The shareholder (or shareholders’ meeting) resolution should expressly:
- approve dissolution and the chosen exit route (voluntary liquidation, as opposed to simplified deregistration or a going-concern transfer);
- appoint the liquidation group (typically the directors, unless the Articles provide otherwise or the shareholders resolve to appoint others);
- authorise a preliminary liquidation plan and budgeting for professional advisers (audit, legal, tax).
Where the FIE is a joint venture, the dissolution resolution interacts with the joint-venture contract and any approval/record-filing obligations under the foreign-investment regime. Even though most FIE establishment and change matters are now filed rather than approved, certain sectors and certain contractual exit mechanics may still require partner consent thresholds set out in the venture’s constitutional documents.
Stage two: liquidation and distribution
Once the liquidation group is formed, it must, within 10 days, announce the liquidation-group information on the publicity system and, within 60 days, publish a creditors’ announcement (the announcement period is 45 days for companies). Creditors must file claims within 30 days of notice, or within 45 days of the announcement if not individually notified.
The liquidation group then:
- takes custody of the company’s assets and prepares a balance sheet and an asset inventory;
- notifies and settles employees — wages, social-insurance premiums, statutory compensation and statutory remedies must be paid in full before any distribution to shareholders;
- settles tax and customs matters — this includes enterprise income-tax clearance, deregistration of export/import (customs) records where the company was a customs registrant, cancellation of tax-control devices and invoices, and payment of any outstanding duties, late fees or penalties;
- verifies and settles claims and debts with creditors;
- disposes of assets and, where the business is being sold as a going concern, structures the transfer to minimise double taxation;
- prepares and executes a liquidation plan, confirmed by the shareholders (or the court, if court-supervised).
A core prohibition: the company must not distribute remaining assets to shareholders before all debts and employee/social obligations are settled. The distribution order is fixed — liquidation expenses, employee wages and social premiums and statutory compensation, tax arrears, and then residual debt — after which remaining property is distributed to shareholders in proportion to capital contributions (LLC) or shareholding (company limited by shares). During liquidation the company continues to exist but may not engage in business unrelated to the winding-up.
Stage three: deregistration
With the liquidation complete and a signed liquidation report confirmed by the shareholders (or the court), the FIE proceeds to deregistration. The 2025 Guidelines consolidate what was once a serial, agency-by-agency exercise into a “one-thing” (一件事) online channel:
- Tax deregistration first. The tax authority runs a pre-clearance check. Where the company has never conducted tax matters, or meets the “tolerance + instant” (容缺即时) conditions (e.g., tax-credit grade A/B, no arrears, no invoices issued), a clearance certificate is issued instantly. Companies holding equity, real estate or unpaid export rebates that have not been cleared will be refused. For companies adjudicated bankrupt, the administrator obtains an instant clearance certificate on presentation of the court’s termination ruling.
- Market-regulator business-licence cancellation. After tax clearance, the liquidation group files for cancellation of the business licence with the registration authority, submitting the resolution, the confirmed liquidation report and other documents. Where handled through the “one-thing” channel, the tax, social-insurance, bank-account and (where relevant) customs cancellations are pushed synchronously.
- Customs, social insurance, bank account, seals. A customs-registered FIE must cancel its customs filing; bank accounts are closed by application to the bank (information is shared automatically post-deregistration); and the official seals are cancelled.
FIE-specific checkpoints
Tax clearance and the clearance certificate. Unlike a routine change, exit triggers a full tax settlement. The 2025 Guidelines and the tax authority’s pre-clearance logic mean an FIE should reconcile all provisional tax payments, close out any export rebate suspense, cancel tax-control devices, and resolve transfer-pricing or related-party positions before filing. Obtaining the clearance certificate is the gateway to licence cancellation.
Foreign-exchange repatriation of liquidation proceeds. Returning the distributed residual assets to the offshore parent is a capital-account transaction. The FIE must complete the relevant FDI foreign-exchange登记/注销 with its bank, and the repatriation of liquidation dividends is settled under the prevailing cross-border capital rules. Directors and the finance team should line up the foreign-exchange documentation (liquidation report, tax clearance, audit report) early, because the bank’s capital-account review runs in parallel with, not after, the domestic deregistration steps.
Customs where applicable. An FIE that imported equipment under customs supervision, or that holds an export/import registration, must close those records before deregistration. Outstanding duties, supervised-equipment release conditions and bonded-status items must be squared away or the market regulator’s synchronous push to customs will stall.
Voluntary vs simplified vs bankruptcy
- Voluntary liquidation (this article) suits a solvent FIE that has creditors, assets or employees to settle formally and that does not qualify for — or prefers not to use — the simplified route.
- Simplified deregistration applies where there are no outstanding creditors (or they are fully settled), no equity freezes or pledges, and no pending investigations; it dispenses with the creditors’ announcement and can be completed in roughly 20 days of publicity plus a short filing window.
- Bankruptcy liquidation applies where the company cannot pay its due debts and assets are insufficient — handled under the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law, with a court-appointed administrator and an instant tax clearance on presentation of the termination ruling.
Choosing the wrong track wastes time and can expose directors to liability. A solvent FIE with any contested creditor or unresolved tax position should default to the full voluntary-liquidation path.
Practical steps for the foreign parent
- Pass the dissolution resolution and appoint the liquidation group within the 15-day window; publish the dissolution cause within 10 days.
- Engage a PRC auditor early to prepare the balance sheet, asset inventory and liquidation report; engage tax advisers to pre-clear positions.
- Settle employees fully and document the social-insurance termination.
- Obtain the tax clearance certificate before filing for business-licence cancellation.
- Cancel customs, bank and seal records through the “one-thing” channel.
- Prepare foreign-exchange repatriation documents in parallel and complete the capital-account settlement to return residual proceeds offshore.
外商投资企业自愿清算全流程：从股东决议到注销登记
为何此刻值得关注
对外国投资者而言，决定退出一家中国子公司往往不是最受瞩目的时刻——真正保护母公司、本地员工与剩余债权人的，是随后那段安静而程序化的收尾工作。中国的退出制度在 2023 年修订《公司法》（2024 年 7 月 1 日施行）后发生实质变化，又在市场监管总局等六部门发布《企业注销指引（2025 年修订）》（2025 年第 52 号公告）后再度调整。对于资可抵债、仅因战略选择而结业的外商投资企业（FIE），正确路径是自愿清算——一种非破产、非简易的退出程序，但仍须严格按法定顺序执行。本文梳理该顺序，并点明一般国内指南容易遗漏的 FIE 特有节点（税务清税、外汇汇出、海关注销）。
法律触发与 15 日时限
自愿清算始于解散决议。有限责任公司由股东会决议，股份有限公司由股东大会决议。依《外商投资法》，FIE 的章程及合资/合作协议（如适用）仍规范内部表决，但解散本身已完全纳入《公司法》框架。
2023 年《公司法》将清算义务人由股东变更为董事。第 232 条规定，公司因法定事由解散的，董事为清算义务人，并须于解散事由出现之日起 15 日内成立清算组。董事怠于履行的，债权人、股东或其他利害关系人可申请法院指定清算组。对外国集团而言这是重要变化：本地董事会（而非境外母公司直接行动）是依法负有及时清算责任的主体，董事对因迟延造成的损失承担赔偿责任。
解散事由出现后，公司须于 10 日内通过国家企业信用信息公示系统公示解散事由。该公示对公司为强制性步骤（个人独资企业、合伙企业的处理方式不同），并启动对债权人的计时。
第一阶段：决议解散
股东（大）会决议应明确：
- 批准解散及所选退出路径（自愿清算，而非简易注销或存续式转让）；
- 任命清算组（通常为董事，章程另有规定或股东会另选他人除外）；
- 授权初步清算方案及专业顾问（审计、法律、税务）预算。
若为合资企业，解散决议与合资合同及外资准入项下的批准/备案义务相互作用。尽管多数 FIE 设立与变更事项现已由审批改为备案，特定行业及合同中的退出机制仍可能要求合资合同载明的合作方同意门槛。
第二阶段：清算与分配
清算组成立后，须于 10 日内在公示系统公告清算组信息，并于 60 日内发布债权人公告（公司公告期 45 日）。债权人应自接到通知起 30 日内，或未接到通知自公告起 45 日内申报债权。
清算组继而：
- 接管公司财产，编制资产负债表与财产清单；
- 通知并结清员工——工资、社保费、法定补偿金与法定救济须在向股东分配前全额支付；
- 结清税务与海关事项——包括企业所得税清算、海关报关单位备案注销（如公司为海关备案主体）、税控设备与发票缴销，以及欠缴关税、滞纳金或罚款的缴纳；
- 核实并与债权人了结债权债务；
- 处置资产，若以存续式转让出售业务，则安排交易以尽量降低双重征税；
- 编制并执行经股东（或法院，若法院监督）确认的清算方案。
核心禁止：公司未清偿全部债务及员工/社保义务前，不得向股东分配剩余财产。分配顺序是固定的——清算费用、员工工资与社保费及法定补偿、欠税，其后为剩余债务——之后剩余财产按出资比例（有限责任公司）或持股比例（股份有限公司）向股东分配。清算期间公司存续，但不得开展与清算无关的经营活动。
第三阶段：注销登记
清算完毕并取得经股东（或法院）确认的清算报告后，FIE 进入注销。2025 年指引将曾经逐部门串联的手续整合为”一件事”线上通道：
- 先办税务注销。税务机关进行清税预检。从未发生涉税事宜，或符合”容缺即时”条件（如纳税信用 A/B 级、无欠税、未领用发票）的，即时出具清税文书。持有股权、不动产或未结清出口退（免）税款的，将被拒办。经法院裁定破产的，管理人凭终结裁定即时取得清税文书。
- 市场监管营业执照注销。清税后，清算组向登记机关提交决议、经确认清算报告等申请注销营业执照。经”一件事”通道办理的，税务、社保、银行账户及（如适用）海关注销同步推送。
- 海关、社保、银行账户、印章。海关备案 FIE 须注销报关单位备案；银行账户由向银行申请销户（注销后信息共享自动触发）；公章予以注销。
FIE 特有节点
税务清税与清税证明。 退出触发全面税务清算。2025 年指引与税务机关预检逻辑意味着 FIE 应在申报前先 reconciles 所有预缴税款、结清出口退（免）税挂账、缴销税控设备，并解决转让定价或关联交易立场。取得清税证明是营业执照注销的前置关口。
清算所得外汇汇出。 将分配的剩余财产汇回境外母公司属资本金账户交易。FIE 须通过银行完成相关 FDI 外汇登记/注销，清算股息的汇出按现行跨境资本规则办理。董事与财务团队应尽早备齐外汇材料（清算报告、清税证明、审计报告），因为银行资本金账户审核与国内注销步骤并行而非在其后。
海关（如适用）。 以海关监管方式进口设备或在海关备案进出口的 FIE，须在注销前关闭相关记录。未结关税、监管设备解除条件及保税状态事项须先行了结，否则市场监管向海关的同步推送会卡住。
自愿清算 vs 简易注销 vs 破产清算
- 自愿清算（本文所述）适用于资可抵债、须正式了结债权人/资产/员工，且不符合或选择不使用简易路径的 FIE。
- 简易注销适用于无未结债权（或已全额清偿）、无股权冻结或质押、无在查案件者；免予债权人公告，约 20 日公示加短填报窗口即可完成。
- 破产清算适用于不能清偿到期债务且资产不足者；依《企业破产法》由法院指定管理人，凭终结裁定即时清税。
选错路径既费时，又可能令董事担责。存在任何争议债权或未决税务立场的资可抵债 FIE，应默认走完整自愿清算路径。
外国母公司的实操步骤
- 在 15 日窗口内通过解散决议并任命清算组；10 日内公示解散事由。
- 尽早聘请境内审计师编制资产负债表、财产清单与清算报告；聘请税务顾问预清立场。
- 全额结清员工并留存社保终止记录。
- 在申请营业执照注销前取得清税证明。
- 经”一件事”通道注销海关、银行与印章记录。
- 并行准备外汇汇出材料，完成资本金账户结算将剩余所得汇回境外。
Sources
- 市场监管总局等六部门《企业注销指引（2025 年修订）》（公告 2025 年第 52 号）：https://policy.mofcom.gov.cn/claw/clawContent.shtml?id=104380
- 中华人民共和国公司法（2023 年修订，2024 年 7 月 1 日施行，主席令第十五号）：https://www.samr.gov.cn/xyjgs/flfg/art/2024/art_d4e84936a8a744f8928ac7aec7594345.html
- 全国人大常委会法工委解读新修订公司法（npc.gov.cn）：http://www.npc.gov.cn/c2/c30834/202401/t20240104_434091.html
- 深圳市市场监督管理局：外商投资有限责任公司注销流程和资料：https://www.sz.gov.cn/hdjlpt/detail?pid=3127127
- 企业注销登记指南（重庆市开州区，公示系统/税务/海关同步）：https://www.cqkz.gov.cn/kz/fzhggwyh_81168/zwgk_72016/zfxxgkml/jczwgk/spypjgly_1/xzsp/fwzn/202502/t20250225_14342535.html