- In China, tax residency turns on domicile or an aggregate 183-day stay in a tax year; a resident is taxed on worldwide income, a non-resident only on China-source income.
在中国，税收居民身份取决于住所或一个纳税年度内累计 183 天的居住；居民就境内外所得纳税，非居民仅就境内所得纳税。- “Domicile” means habitual residence from household, family or economic ties — not property ownership — so an individual may be domiciled without owning a home.
“有住所”指因户籍、家庭或经济利益关系而习惯性居住，并非拥有房产，因此个人即使无房也可被认定为有住所。- A non-domiciled days-based resident with fewer than six consecutive 183-day years may, after filing, exempt foreign-source income paid by an overseas payer.
无住所、按天数计算的居民，若连续满 183 天的年度不足六年，在向主管税务机关备案后可免予缴纳境外单位或个人支付的境外所得个税。- Any single departure exceeding 30 days within a 183-day year restarts the consecutive-year count, and full worldwide taxation matures only after six such years.
在满 183 天的任一年度中，单次离境超过 30 天即重新起算连续年限，连续满六年后才进入完全的境内外所得全额纳税。- A non-resident staying 90 days or fewer is exempt on China-source pay borne by and paid from abroad; the 90-day and 183-day bands split the wage-income treatment.
非居民一个纳税年度内累计居住不超过 90 天的，由境外雇主支付且不由境内机构负担的境内所得免税；90 天与 183 天两档划分了工资薪金的纳税待遇。- Senior managers are taxed on China-paid wages regardless of where duties are performed, and treaty residents may claim employment-article relief computed under formula two.
高管人员就境内支付或负担的工资薪金纳税，不论是否在境内履职；协定对方税收居民可就受雇所得享受协定待遇，按公式二计算收入额。- Practical compliance hinges on immigration records, deliberate 30-day departures, the 2019 start of the six-year clock, filing for the Article 4 relief and intercompany cost-sharing terms.
实操合规取决于出入境记录、刻意的 30 天离境、六年计时自 2019 年起算、第四条优惠的备案义务，以及集团内成本分摊安排。
Tax Residency for Foreign Individuals in China: The 183-Day Test, the Six-Year Rule and Treaty Relief | 外籍个人在华税收居民身份判定：183天规则、”六年规则”与税收协定待遇
Overview
For a foreign individual working in China, the key personal-income-tax question is simple to state but easy to get wrong: are you a tax resident or a non-resident? The answer determines whether China can tax your worldwide income or only your China-source income, and it cascades into the 90-day and 183-day thresholds, the six-year rule, the senior-manager rules and any treaty relief. This article sets out the statutory tests as they stand in 2026, grounded in the Individual Income Tax Law, its implementing regulations (State Council Decree No. 707) and the two 2019 public announcements (No. 34 and No. 35) that operationalise them. It does not cover subsidies or preferential tax rates.
Two tests: domicile and days
There are two independent routes into resident status, and either one is sufficient on its own.
The first is domicile (住所). Under Article 2 of the implementing regulations (国令第707号), “having a domicile” in China means habitual residence arising from household registration (户籍), family or economic-interest ties — not ownership of property. An individual who, because of family or economic connections, habitually resides in China is treated as domiciled even without owning a house or holding a permanent-residence card. This is a facts-and-circumstances test, and it is deliberately decoupled from real estate.
The second is the day-count. Under Article 1 of the IIT Law, an individual without a China domicile who resides in the mainland for an aggregate of 183 days or more within a single tax year is a resident individual for that year. The tax year runs from 1 January to 31 December under the Gregorian calendar. Residence, for this purpose, is measured in days, not in intent.
The 183-day threshold
Article 1 draws the central line. A resident individual — by domicile or by the 183-day test — is taxed on worldwide income (income sourced both inside and outside China). A non-resident individual — no domicile and not resident, or an aggregate stay below 183 days in the tax year — is taxed only on China-source income.
The practical stakes are large: a non-resident on a short assignment keeps foreign-source pay outside the Chinese tax net entirely, while a resident, once the six-year clock matures, can be taxed on everything. The 183-day line is therefore the pivot of every assignment plan.
The six-year rule and the 30-day reset
Article 4 of the implementing regulations gives a limited carve-out for the days-based resident who is not domiciled. If, in each year in which the individual has stayed 183 days or more, the consecutive run of such years is fewer than six, the individual may — upon filing with the in-charge tax authority (备案) — be exempt from IIT on income sourced outside China and paid by an overseas entity or individual.
Two mechanics matter. First, the reset: if in any one of those 183-day years the individual leaves China for a single continuous period exceeding 30 days, the consecutive-year count restarts from zero. Second, the maturity: once the individual has six consecutive 183-day years without such a reset, the carve-out falls away and worldwide income is fully taxable.
Public Announcement No. 34 (2019) pins down the counting. “The prior six years” means the six consecutive tax years from the year before the current one back to six years before it. The starting year of this count is 2019 (inclusive) or later — years before 2019 do not count. So an individual who first hit 183 days in 2019 and has stayed every year since, with no single departure over 30 days, becomes fully worldwide-taxable only from 2025 (the sixth consecutive year). Days are counted as aggregate stays; a day counts only if the individual stays a full 24 hours, and a partial day does not count.
The 90-day safe harbour
Article 5 of the implementing regulations offers deeper relief for the short stayer. A non-resident who stays in the mainland for no more than 90 days in a tax year is exempt from IIT on the China-source portion of income that is paid by an overseas employer and not borne by that employer’s institution or establishment in China. In plain terms: a brief visit financed from abroad escapes Chinese tax even on the China-attributable slice.
Four scenarios for wage income
Public Announcement No. 35 (2019) organises wage-and-salary treatment into four cases, all built on attributing income to the China work period by an apportionment formula across days worked in and outside China.
- Non-resident, aggregate stay ≤ 90 days: tax is due only on wages attributable to the China work period and paid or borne by a China employer (formula one). “China employer” includes domestic units and persons as well as an overseas unit’s China institution or establishment; if that China employer is under assessed-collection or has no taxable revenue so the wages are not booked, the wages are still deemed paid or borne by it.
- Non-resident, stay > 90 but < 183 days: the wages attributable to the China work period are taxed in full (whether paid in or outside China), while the overseas-work portion is not (formula two).
- Days-based resident, fewer than six consecutive 183-day years and meeting Article 4 relief: all wages are taxed except the portion attributable to the overseas work period and paid by an overseas unit or individual (formula three).
- Days-based resident, six consecutive years with no relief: all China and overseas wages are taxed.
The common thread is attribution to the China work period, while the payer test (who pays or bears the wage) decides the rest.
Senior managers
Senior management personnel (高管人员) are subject to a special sourcing rule. Wages paid or borne by a China payer are treated as China-source income regardless of where the duties are performed. For a senior manager who is a resident individual, the computation follows the ordinary days-based-resident rules set out above. For a non-resident senior manager, the days rule applies with a twist: if the stay in the year is ≤ 90 days, all China-paid income is included; if the stay is > 90 but < 183 days, all China-paid income plus the China-source income paid from overseas is included. The manager’s presence in China thus matters less than who pays.
Treaty relief
Where the individual is a tax resident of a treaty partner and qualifies for relief under the “income from employment” article of the relevant double-taxation agreement, the wage income may be exempt from Chinese IIT, with the wage income amount computed under formula two. Where the treaty provides otherwise, the treaty governs. Announcement No. 35 took effect from 1 January 2019; a non-resident who overpaid under the prior rules on income received after that date may apply for a refund in accordance with the law. To claim treaty relief, the individual must keep the supporting documentation required under the non-resident treaty-benefit administration rules.
Annual reconciliation
A domiciled or days-based resident individual with comprehensive income must, after the year ends, aggregate the annual wage-and-salary, remuneration for labour services, author’s remuneration and royalties income amounts and compute IIT; where a reconciliation filing (汇算清缴) is required, it must be made. When computing the comprehensive-income amount, the special additional deductions (专项附加扣除) may be claimed. The pre-2022 option for a foreign individual to choose either the eight subsidies (housing, children’s education, language training and the like) or the special additional deductions — but not both — is noted only in passing; it is covered in another article on this site (No. 182).
Practical planning
Several operational points follow from the rules above.
- Keep immigration records. Passport stamps and border-control records prove every day count; retain them for the full limitation period.
- Plan the 30-day departure inside any 183-day year. The reset only works if a single continuous absence exceeds 30 days within a year in which you have already crossed 183 days; schedule it deliberately.
- Understand that the six-year timer starts in 2019. Years before 2019 are irrelevant; if your first 183-day year was 2019, full worldwide taxation arrives no earlier than 2025, and a planned reset can defer it.
- Honour the filing obligation. The Article 4 relief requires a filing (备案) with the in-charge tax authority; without it the exemption is unavailable even where the facts qualify.
- Watch the cost-sharing agreement. Whether wages are “paid or borne” by the China entity or the headquarters is decided by the intercompany cost-allocation arrangement and directly changes the taxable scope under scenarios one and three.
- Keep treaty-benefit files. Treaty relief must be supported by the documents required under the non-resident treaty-benefit administration rules, retained for inspection; a missing file defeats the claim.
Related reading
For the surrounding topics, see our Hainan talent tax measures (No. 28), the Greater Bay Area overseas-talent individual-income-tax subsidy capped at 15% (No. 172) and the foreign-talent individual-income-tax preferences covering subsidies, the GBA 15% rate and Hengqin (No. 182).
外籍个人在华税收居民身份判定：183天规则、”六年规则”与税收协定待遇
概述
对于在华工作的外籍个人而言，个人所得税中最关键也最容易被算错的问题是：你是税收居民还是非居民？答案决定了中国是就境内外所得征税，还是仅就境内所得征税，并由此牵动 90 天与 183 天的分档、”六年规则”、高管人员特殊规则以及任何税收协定待遇。本文按 2026 年现行有效的规定梳理法定判定标准，依据《个人所得税法》、其实施条例（国务院令第707号）以及将其操作化的两份 2019 年公告（第34号与第35号），不展开补贴或优惠税率。
住所标准与居住天数两个测试
进入居民身份有两条相互独立的路径，满足任意一条即足够。
第一条是住所标准。依实施条例第二条（国令第707号），在中国境内”有住所”指因户籍、家庭、经济利益关系而在中国境内习惯性居住——并非拥有房产。一个因家庭或经济利益联系而习惯性居住在中国的个人，即便无房、不持有永久居留身份证，也被视为有住所。这是一个基于事实与情形的判定，刻意与不动产脱钩。
第二条是居住天数。依《个人所得税法》第一条，无住所而一个纳税年度内在境内居住累计满 183 天的个人，为该纳税年度的居民个人。纳税年度自公历 1 月 1 日至 12 月 31 日。就本测试而言，居民身份以天数衡量，而非以主观意愿衡量。
183天门槛
第一条划出了核心界线。居民个人——无论因住所还是因 183 天测试——就境内外所得（来源于中国境内与境外的所得）纳税。非居民个人——在境内无住所又不居住，或者无住所而一个纳税年度内居住累计不满 183 天——仅就境内所得纳税。
实际利害重大：短期派遣的非居民可将境外支付的报酬完全排除在中国税网之外，而居民一旦”六年”计时成熟，便可能对全部所得纳税。因此，183 天这条线是每次派遣安排的枢纽。
六年规则与30天重启
实施条例第四条为无住所、按天数计算的居民提供了一项有限的豁免。在境内居住累计满 183 天的年度，连续不满六年的，经向主管税务机关备案，其来源于中国境外且由境外单位或者个人支付的所得，免予缴纳个人所得税。
两个机制至关重要。其一为重启：在累计满 183 天的任一年度中，若个人单次离境超过 30 天，连续年限重新起算。其二为成熟：一旦个人连续六个满 183 天的年度且未发生此类重启，豁免即告消失，境内外所得须全额纳税。
财政部、税务总局公告2019年第34号明确了计算口径。”此前六年”指该纳税年度的前一年至前六年的连续六个年度；该计时的起始年度为 2019 年（含）以后，2019 年之前的年度不计入。因此，若某人 2019 年首次满 183 天且此后每年在境内、从未单次离境超过 30 天，则要到 2025 年（第六个连续年度）才进入完全的境内外所得全额纳税。居住天数按累计停留天数计算，当天停留满 24 小时计入，不足 24 小时不计入。
90天安全港
实施条例第五条为短期停留者提供了更深的减免。无住所个人一个纳税年度内在境内居住累计不超过 90 天的，其来源于境内的所得中，由境外雇主支付并且不由该雇主在中国境内的机构、场所负担的部分，免予缴纳个人所得税。换言之：一笔由境外出资的短暂到访，即便对归属于境内的部分也可免于中国税。
工资薪金所得的四种情形
财政部、税务总局公告2019年第35号将工资薪金的待遇归纳为四种情形，均建立在按境内外工作天数对所得归属于境内工作期间进行分摊的逻辑之上。
- 非居民、境内累计不超过 90 天：仅就归属于境内工作期间并且由境内雇主支付或者负担的工资薪金纳税（公式一）。”境内雇主”包括境内单位和个人，以及境外单位或者个人在境内的机构、场所；若该境内雇主实行核定征收或没有营业收入而未征税，无住所个人为其工作取得的工资薪金，不论是否记入其账簿，均视为由该境内雇主支付或者负担。
- 非居民、超过 90 天不满 183 天：归属于境内工作期间的工资薪金全额纳税（不论境内外支付），境外工作期间的部分不征（公式二）。
- 无住所居民、满 183 天的年度连续不满六年且符合条例第四条优惠条件：除归属于境外工作期间并且由境外单位或者个人支付的部分外，全部工资薪金纳税（公式三）。
- 无住所居民、连续满六年且不符合优惠条件：境内外全部工资薪金均纳税。
贯穿始终的是对境内工作期间的归属，而支付人测试（由谁支付或负担该工资）决定其余部分。
高管人员
高管人员（高级管理职务人员）适用特殊的所得来源规则。其取得的由境内支付或者负担的工资薪金，不论是否在境内履行职务，均属于来源于境内的所得。高管为居民个人的，计算方法与其他无住所居民个人一致；高管为非居民的：一年内境内居住不超过 90 天的，境内支付的全部所得计入；超过 90 天不满 183 天的，境内支付的全部所得加上境外支付的境内所得计入。因此，高管本人在华的物理停留，远不如”谁开支票”来得关键。
协定待遇
无住所个人为对方税收居民个人，其取得的工资薪金可享受境外受雇所得协定待遇的，可不缴纳个人所得税，工资薪金收入额按公式二计算。税收协定另有规定的，可按协定办理。公告自 2019 年 1 月 1 日起施行；非居民个人在 2019 年 1 月 1 日后取得所得、按原有规定多缴税款的，可依法申请退税。享受协定待遇，须按非居民享受税收协定待遇管理办法留存备查资料，以备检查。
年度汇算清缴
无住所居民个人取得综合所得的，年度终了后应将年度工资薪金、劳务报酬、稿酬、特许权使用费收入额汇总计算个税；需要办理汇算清缴的，应当依法办理。计算综合所得收入额时，可以享受专项附加扣除。外籍个人在 2022 年 1 月 1 日前可选择享受住房补贴、子女教育费等八项津补贴优惠或专项附加扣除，但二者不可同时享受——此处仅一笔带过；展开属本站另一篇文章（编号182）的主题。
实操规划
由上述规则可推出若干实操要点。
- 留存出入境记录。护照签章与边检记录是天数计算的凭据，应在追溯期内保存以便举证 183 天与 30 天。
- 在满 183 天的年度内规划 30 天离境。重启仅在同一年度内单次连续离境超 30 天时成立，应主动排期。
- 理解六年计时自 2019 年起算。此前年度无关紧要；若首个满 183 天的年度为 2019 年，完全境内外纳税最早 2025 年到来，有计划的重启可延后。
- 履行备案义务。第四条优惠须经向主管税务机关备案方可享受；即使事实符合条件，未备案则豁免不可用。
- 关注成本分摊协议。工资由境内公司还是总部”支付或负担”取决于集团内成本分摊安排，直接改变情形一、三的应税范围。
- 留存协定待遇资料。协定待遇须按非居民享受税收协定待遇管理办法留存备查资料；资料缺失将使该主张落空。
相关阅读
周边主题可参阅本站海南人才税收措施（编号28）、粤港澳大湾区境外人才个税补贴（15%封顶，编号172），以及涵盖津补贴、大湾区15%与横琴的外籍人才个税优惠（编号182）。
Sources