China to levy social insurance taxes

Starting 1 January 2019, social security contributions will be levied by the tax authorities rather than social insurance administrative authorities. This change is part of the government’s ongoing efforts to increase compliance with social insurance contribution requirements while standardizing, and in many instances reducing, the contribution rates across regions. Employers should take steps to ensure that they are in full compliance with payroll tax requirements as the tax authorities are tasked with ensuring that contribution amounts are accurate. Noncompliant practices that have been prevalent in the past include paying taxes to a city where the company has a business registration that is different from the city where the employee actually works, not paying contributions for low-earning or dispatched employees and agreeing with the employee to pay social insurance contributions on a reported salary that is lower than the actual salary.