Last verified with Chinese Government sources:

China taxes residents on annual comprehensive income and non-residents month by month, and the two produce very different answers on the same salary. This works both, applies the deductions you choose — including the either/or election that only foreign nationals get — and shows the thing that surprises everybody on a flat salary: your net pay falls through the year.

Resident: domiciled in China, or in China 183 days or more in the calendar year.
Elderly care: parents aged 60 or over. Rent: neither you nor your spouse owns a home in Shenzhen or claims loan interest. First-home loan: once, for up to 240 months. Continuing education: degree or diploma study in China, for up to 48 months.

An estimate, not a filing, and not advice

This models salary income for one employer under the standard rules. It does not handle tax treaties, equity and RSUs, income from more than one employer, the other comprehensive-income categories (labour service, author's remuneration, royalties), serious-illness medical costs — which are claimable only at the reconciliation — donations, annuities, the 90-day threshold that applies to short-stay non-residents, the Greater Bay Area subsidy (a refund paid after the year to people recognised as eligible), or pay for days worked outside China (non-residents are taxed only on China workdays; residents without a China domicile are exempt on offshore-paid pay for days abroad until they have six consecutive qualifying years, after record-filing, 备案). It cannot know your domicile. I am not an accountant. The rules behind it are explained in the full tax guide.

The two systems

Residents — anyone domiciled in China, or present 183 days or more in the calendar year — are taxed on annual comprehensive income, which pools wages, labour service remuneration, author's remuneration and royalties. From that you deduct ¥60,000 a year, your own statutory social insurance and housing fund, the special additional deductions, and other statutory items. What is left runs through seven progressive bands from 3% to 45%. Not sure which side of 183 days you are? Count your days first — the rule is stricter than it looks.

Non-residents are taxed month by month on China-sourced income, with a ¥5,000 monthly deduction and none of the special additional deductions. There is no part-year residency and no annual true-up. A second threshold sits at 90 days, and a treaty usually replaces it — neither is modelled here.

The election only foreign nationals get

Through to 31 December 2027, a foreign individual who is a tax resident may choose either the special additional deductions or the eight tax-exempt benefit-in-kind categories — housing allowance, meals, laundry, relocation, reasonable business travel, home leave, language training, and children's education in China. You cannot take both, and once chosen the choice cannot be changed within the tax year.

Which wins depends entirely on your package. A high housing allowance usually beats the special deductions comfortably; a modest salary with two children in education and elderly parents often does not. Switch the dropdown and compare — that is the whole point of having it here.

Be careful with this one. The benefits have been given a hard expiry twice and rescued twice. As at 11 October 2026 I could find no announcement of a further extension or an early end, which is not the same as knowing what happens next. The 31 December 2027 end date is set by MOF/STA Announcement 2023 No. 29 ↗. On 1 September 2026, MOF/STA Announcement 2026 No. 27 ↗ ended the exemption for dividends foreign individuals receive from foreign-invested enterprises, which are now taxed at 20%. It does not affect these allowances.

Why your December payslip is smaller than your January one

Employers withhold on a cumulative basis — 累计预扣法 — recomputing year-to-date taxable income each month and withholding the difference. On a flat salary that means your effective rate climbs as cumulative income crosses each band, so net pay falls through the year even though nothing about your contract changed. The chart above shows the shape on your own numbers. It is not an error, and the annual reconciliation the following spring settles the true position.

Where these numbers come from

Every rate, amount and date the calculator uses comes from one of these official documents. The chinatax.gov.cn policy library runs a browser check before it shows the text.

  • Individual Income Tax Law ↗ — Articles 1 and 6 and rate table 1: the residence test, the ¥60,000 annual and ¥5,000 monthly deductions, the non-resident base and the seven bands from 3% to 45%. Applies from 1 January 2019. Checked 11 October 2026.
  • Implementing Regulations of the IIT Law (State Council Order No. 707) ↗ — Article 2: domicile means living in China habitually because of household registration, family or economic ties; Article 4: the six-year rule for pay from abroad. Applies from 1 January 2019. Checked 11 October 2026.
  • STA Announcement 2018 No. 61 ↗ — cumulative withholding, ¥5,000 for each month employed, and the quick deductions in the annual table. Applies from 1 January 2019. Checked 11 October 2026.
  • MOF/STA Announcement 2019 No. 35 ↗ — the monthly table for non-residents, and the rule that a non-resident is taxed only on pay for China workdays. Applies from 1 January 2019. Checked 11 October 2026.
  • State Council Guofa [2018] No. 41 (国发〔2018〕41号) ↗ — continuing education ¥400 a month, first-home loan interest ¥1,000, rent ¥1,500 in cities with independent planning status (计划单列市), which include Shenzhen, and the choice for parents of 100% for one of them or 50% each for children's education (Article 6). Applies from 1 January 2019. Checked 11 October 2026.
  • State Council Guofa [2023] No. 13 (国发〔2023〕13号) ↗ — ¥2,000 a month for each child in education and each child under 3, and ¥3,000 for elderly care, with siblings sharing it at no more than ¥1,500 each. Applies from 1 January 2023. Checked 11 October 2026.
  • STA Announcement 2023 No. 14 ↗ — parents choose 100% for one of them or 50% each for the child deductions. Applies from 1 January 2023. Checked 11 October 2026.
  • MOF/SAT Caishui [1994] No. 20 (财税字〔1994〕020号) ↗ — item 2: a foreign individual's housing, meal, relocation and laundry allowances are exempt only in non-cash form or reimbursed, and business travel, home leave, language training and children's education only at reasonable amounts. Issued 13 May 1994. Checked 11 October 2026.
  • MOF/STA Announcement 2023 No. 29 ↗ — a foreign individual who is a tax resident takes either those allowances or the special additional deductions, not both, and cannot change the choice within the tax year. Applies from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2027. Checked 11 October 2026.
  • MOF/STA Announcement 2023 No. 30 ↗ — a resident's annual one-off bonus may be taxed on its own, at the rate and quick deduction the monthly table gives for the bonus divided by 12. Applies from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2027. Checked 11 October 2026.
  • STA Announcement 2020 No. 13 ↗ — the option to count ¥5,000 for each month since January for someone whose first salary of the year comes mid-year, mentioned in the part-year note. Applies from 1 July 2020. Checked 11 October 2026.
  • MOF/STA Announcement 2026 No. 27 ↗ — the 20% tax on dividends foreign individuals receive from foreign-invested enterprises; the allowances above are unchanged. Applies from 1 September 2026. Checked 11 October 2026.