A common challenge for Foreign Invested Enterprises (FIEs) in China is to determine how to repatriate their profits out of the country. Because of China’s policies regarding foreign exchange controls, profit repatriation can be considered a difficult challenge. It is important that companies have a good understanding of what is possible and what is not, to make sure they repatriate their profits most efficiently out of China.

In this article we will dive deeper into how to repatriate profits by issuing dividends to the parent company.

If you are interested in other Profit Repatriation methods, please download our Profit Repatriation White Paper

Profit Repatriation in China

Repatriating Funds from China: A Comprehensive Guide One of the most common challenges foreign-invested…

Requirements for Dividend Distribution

When a FIE makes a profit or surplus, it can either re-invest these funds in the business or issue a share of this profit as a dividend to the shareholders of the firm, proportional to the shares owned by each shareholder. This means that a FIE in China can also remit a share of its profit to the Parent Company abroad as a dividend. Both Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises (WFOE) and Joint Ventures (JV) can repatriate profits. Only the profits that are repatriated outside of China are subject to withholding tax. Thus, the distributed profits from a JV to the Chinese investor are not subject to withholding tax (please note, however, that other personal taxes may be applicable).

In order to repatriate dividends out of China, there are several rules and regulations you need to comply with:

(1) Losses Compensation: Dividends may only be paid when the accumulated losses of previous years have been made up. The remaining (positive) balance will be available to be repatriated as dividends. The maximum amount of dividend that can be distributed is mentioned within the audit report.

(2) Annual Audit and Annual CIT Tax Filing: Profit can only be repatriated after the firm has undergone the annual audit and completed the annual corporate income tax (CIT) filing at the local tax authority. The State Administration of Taxation (SAT) reviews the audit to check whether all Corporate Income Tax (CIT) has been paid, before profits can be repatriated.

(3) Company Reserve Fund: Firms are obliged to put 10% of the after-CIT profit in a company reserve fund. This process continues until the total amount of reserves within the fund reaches 50% of the registered capital of the firm.

(4) Registered Capital: Under the Company Law, Foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) must complete the full injection of their registered capital according to the approved schedule in their Articles of Association. If the capital contribution is not yet fully paid, the enterprise cannot distribute profits, even if it shows a paper profit. Most banks will still require a capital verification report for sending out dividends.

(5) Withholding Tax according to DTA: When repatriating dividends to a foreign entity (i.e. the Parent Company), China levies withholding taxes on the dividend payments made. Pending on the Double Tax Avoidance Agreements (DTA) between the Chinese government and their foreign counterparts, the amount varies from 0% to 10%.

Dividend distribution procedure 1

1. Preparation of Documents: a foreign invested enterprise needs to prepare

Audit report,
Annual CIT filing,
Foreign exchange registration certificate,
Articles of Association,
Profit distribution resolution,
Tax registration certificate.

Other documents may be requested depending on the individual case of dividend distribution. In practice, this means that when the annual audit is completed and the annual CIT filing has been finalized, profits can be distributed. This process makes sure that CIT has been paid over the profits that are to be distributed. The annual audit and annual CIT filing procedures are usually completed by the end of May.

2. Dividend Decision: according to Chinese Law (and the company’s AoA), the Board of Directors and/or Executive Director are responsible for the decision regarding profit distribution. Therefore, the Board of Directors/Executive Director has to sign an official resolution (or Profit Distribution Plan) to decide the amount of dividend to be issued.

3. Application and Approval: DTAs are in place between China and most countries across all continents. The favorable tax rate stated in the DTAs are not granted automatically; meaning the FIE has to apply for the preferential tax rate (see Section 4). Due to foreign exchange controls in China it is also necessary to obtain foreign exchange approval from the Sate Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) in order to be permitted to remit funds out of China.

4. Filing for Withholding Tax: A FIE is obliged to withhold- and file relevant taxes with the tax bureau payments of dividends to shareholders are made. Please note it may be required to provide detailed information about the Parent Company before being allowed to issue dividends overseas.

5. Record Filing with Tax Bureau: For outbound payments greater than USD 50,000, a company in China is required to file several records at the tax bureau, including: (1) the filing form, (2) contracts/transaction documents, and (3) a CIT withholding contract.

6. Payment of Dividends: if the above procedure is completed, you are able to proceed with the dividend distribution overseas transaction at your bank in China. Please find below an example on how dividends are calculated and distributed within China:

Dividend Distribution Checklist for China Profit Repatriation

Step	Requirement	Key Documents	Reviewed / Processed By	Common Issues to Watch
1	Cover prior-year losses and confirm distributable after-tax profits	Financial statements, retained earnings calculation	Company finance team, external auditor	Paper profits but no distributable earnings due to accumulated losses
2	Complete annual audit and Corporate Income Tax (CIT) filing	Audit report, CIT annual return and payment proof	Tax bureau, appointed auditor	Late filings delay dividend approval and bank processing
3	Allocate statutory reserve fund (10% of after-CIT profit until 50% of registered capital)	Reserve fund calculation, capital verification records	Company finance team, tax bureau	Insufficient reserve allocation blocks dividend payment
4	Full injection of registered capital per Articles of Association	Capital verification report, Articles of Association	Bank, local authorities	Unpaid capital contributions commonly trigger bank rejection
5	Withholding tax assessment and treaty application (if applicable)	Withholding tax filing, treaty benefit documentation	Tax bureau	Treaty benefits not automatic; documentation must be complete
6	Complete outbound payment tax record filing (if applicable)	Tax filing form, contracts, transaction documents	Tax bureau, bank	Missing record filing may block remittance over USD 50,000
7	Execute dividend remittance through bank	Full document pack, bank remittance forms	Bank (SAFE procedures via bank)	Banks may request additional documents or clarification

EXAMPLE OF DIVIDEND DISTRIBUTION

Our sample company was set up in 2020. You can see the company’s after CIT profits below.

Example of dividend distribution:

I. Accumulated Net Profit = 500,000 – 100,000 – 200,000 = 200,000
II. Company Reserve Funds 10% = 200,000 * 10% = 20,000
III. Repatriable Profit = 200,000 – 20,000 = 180,000
IV. Withholding Tax (10%) = 180,000 * 10% = 18,000
V. Dividends received by Parent Company = 180,000 – 18,000 = 162,000

Dividend Tax Deferral Policy

According to Circular 88, which came into effect on January 1st, 2017, a withholding tax deferral policy is applicable to foreign investors who directly re-invest their attributable profits from their FIE back into China for particular projects promoted by the Chinese government.

A FIE is eligible for the Dividend Tax Deferral Policy if all the prerequisites described below are met:

(1) Non-Prohibited Projects: Direct re-investment can only be made in Non-Prohibited Projects. In practice, all activities which are not listed on the “Negative List” are eligible.

(2) Equity Investments: Direct re-investment must be equity investments, including capital increase in an existing enterprise, capital contribution to a new enterprise and the acquisition of a non-related enterprise’s shares. Excluding the aforementioned forms of equity investment in a listed company.

(3) Resident Enterprise: The dividends used for re-investment shall be generated from the invested PRC tax resident enterprise’s retained earnings.

(4) Transfer of Cash/Securities: Cash investments shall be made directly from the enterprise that distributes the profit; these shall not be paid to any other foreign or domestic accounts prior to re-investment. Securities shall not be transferred to other enterprises on entrustment or temporary basis prior to re-investment.

Recent Changes to Profit Repatriation [2026 Update]

From 2022 through recent years, government efforts focused on optimizing the environment for foreign-invested enterprises, particularly through a 2025 Foreign Investment Action Plan emphasizing reinforcement of reinvestment channels and even easing capital usage for reinvestments including the extension of deferred withholding tax on reinvested dividends.

Legislative tweaks in the negative list culminating in revised versions in 2024 lifted equity caps in several industries, and simplified compliance for repatriation by reducing bottlenecks in SAFE and tax-admin processes. In essence, profit repatriation is now more legally assured and operationally efficient, though still bound by standard tax-reserve obligations and subject to scrutiny under national security reviews.

Dividend repatriation from China-based subsidiaries faces foreign exchange (forex) controls and withholding taxes—combined burden that reduces net cash returned to foreign parents. Timing repatriations around treaty benefit windows and forex approval cycles maximizes cash flow efficiency. profit repatriation planning includes repatriation sequencing and forex strategy. MSA Asia optimizes cash movement within regulatory constraints. Reach out to plan your dividend strategy.