Declare my earnings? I never did that for the 3 years I was in China. School just took care of my taxes. It shows all my records in the tax app too of how much I earned and how much tax I paid.
But your school took care of declaring your taxes. Now that you're no longer working there, the school isn't doing that... you didn't personally do it because like you said, the school did it on your behalf.
So just leave it then? I mean, the vast majority of people don't have a Chinese phone number for the Tax Bureau to even call them on when they leave China for good, so either turn off the phone or just ignore the calls? I'm not sure what kind of advice you're looking for - I guess your options are:
1. Follow through by learning about the process to legally declare a zero sum income with the Tax Bureau.
2. Ignore the calls and nothing will happen.
They may have done it for you, but legally it's your responsibility. It's something foreigners had to start doing in 2020 or 2021, I can't recall which year, but I remember it was confusing for a lot of people.
It's a national policy. I think many foreigners assume their companies will take care of this stuff and never try to learn for themselves what's going on. You can check the tax app for records to see if your company was doing everything by the book.
If you don't read Chinese, Wise has a pdf with instructions. I can't link it here for some reason, but it's impossible to miss in a Google search.
To be fair, for those of us who come from countries where unless you're self employed or have a business the average person never has to file taxes. It's an easy mistake to make.
Thanks, I'll take a look
Most likely, they will tell you to file your taxes, and you will have a refund coming.
The same scenario was happening to me for months and months until I finally responded back, and Boom, I got some noodle and beer money!
I think the simple thing to do is to just go down to your local tax office.
You could try calling, I had someone do that for me, and I think they told us over the phone what the issue was.
If you can't read Chinese, you may want to do a phone call with your HR in China and see if they can help you. You might be able to provide them your username, password, and give them the SMS verification code so they can help you in declaring. Of course, if you're still in China, going to the Tax Hall may be an easier and more secure option.
This is one of those times where you have to laugh, or pull your hair out.
The staff in the phone department read your records, see you're not Chinese, and assign someone who only speaks Chinese to ring you?
I get someone who speaks good English ringing me to remind me (Shanghai tax office) to fill in the app correctly, then tell me I've filled it in incorrectly again (curiously, nationals get the app filled in automatically, we have it blank, no English option, and some pages can't have the screen translator working)
How often are they ringing? Perhaps you can store a translation on your translation app and play it during the call "I don't speak Chinese, can someone who speaks English please call me back on this number?". You may need to fit that simcard in your second simcard slot, or in a second phone and keep it charged in anticipation of ending this hilarity.
If your company paid all your taxes properly then you are entitled to a refund of payments towards the state pension after you leave China. You should contact your previous employer and ask them to do this for you. The refund can only be paid into your Chinese bank account but there are ways to access it from overseas. That might be why they are calling you.
Probably the tax bureau is calling to let you know you have a potential tax refund since I assume you left China before December 2023 payslip.
In such case, you might be able to claim the refund by app (if you already have login details, otherwise you need to go physically go to your China local tax office) or ask your previous employer to do it for you (you still need a Chinese bank account).
Anyway, you can give up the refund if you dont or are not able to go through the application. In such case, just ignore it.
However I would suggest you to confirm the purpose of these calls, and be sure you dont have tax liabilities instead.
You're still supposed to declare your 2023 earnings on the tax app by the end of June, if I remember correctly.
Declare my earnings? I never did that for the 3 years I was in China. School just took care of my taxes. It shows all my records in the tax app too of how much I earned and how much tax I paid.
Still required to declare, regardless if you owe further taxes or not.
Weird, I never did this once in the 3 years I was there, nor did my friends, nor were we ever prompted to
But your school took care of declaring your taxes. Now that you're no longer working there, the school isn't doing that... you didn't personally do it because like you said, the school did it on your behalf.
But I've left China, so what is there to declare? I was never told I needed to inform the tax bureau that I would be leaving China.
So just leave it then? I mean, the vast majority of people don't have a Chinese phone number for the Tax Bureau to even call them on when they leave China for good, so either turn off the phone or just ignore the calls? I'm not sure what kind of advice you're looking for - I guess your options are: 1. Follow through by learning about the process to legally declare a zero sum income with the Tax Bureau. 2. Ignore the calls and nothing will happen.
I'd like to keep China open as an option for the future - I don't want to have tax liabilities and be barred from a future visa.
Then the only option you have is to communicate with the person calling and find out from them what they want?
Yeah, that's what I'm doing.
They may have done it for you, but legally it's your responsibility. It's something foreigners had to start doing in 2020 or 2021, I can't recall which year, but I remember it was confusing for a lot of people.
Is it a Beijing thing? Or a country wide thing? I left in 2022 and never heard of this
It's a national policy. I think many foreigners assume their companies will take care of this stuff and never try to learn for themselves what's going on. You can check the tax app for records to see if your company was doing everything by the book. If you don't read Chinese, Wise has a pdf with instructions. I can't link it here for some reason, but it's impossible to miss in a Google search.
To be fair, for those of us who come from countries where unless you're self employed or have a business the average person never has to file taxes. It's an easy mistake to make. Thanks, I'll take a look
Huh, I was definitely never told about this. This is also the 1st time I've been called at all from the tax bureau.
which tax app specifically？
The personal income tax app, 个人所得税.
which tax app specifically？
Most likely, they will tell you to file your taxes, and you will have a refund coming. The same scenario was happening to me for months and months until I finally responded back, and Boom, I got some noodle and beer money!
What do I even do though? The app is complicated and I'd have no idea what to enter
I think the simple thing to do is to just go down to your local tax office. You could try calling, I had someone do that for me, and I think they told us over the phone what the issue was.
Not so simple since "So I left China about 6 months ago"
haha, yeah, I just saw that, lol.
My local tax office is now currently where I live in the UK
OH, I just read you left China. I was referring to going to the local China tax office.
If you can't read Chinese, you may want to do a phone call with your HR in China and see if they can help you. You might be able to provide them your username, password, and give them the SMS verification code so they can help you in declaring. Of course, if you're still in China, going to the Tax Hall may be an easier and more secure option.
I would but they're kind of cunts and probably wouldn't help me
this. i was suprised too, i got a few thousand RMB refund to my bank acc
Yeah, so was I, and I got a bunch more since I had a couple years back taxes! So surprised this happened, and in China.
[удалено]
I don't speak Chinese
This is one of those times where you have to laugh, or pull your hair out. The staff in the phone department read your records, see you're not Chinese, and assign someone who only speaks Chinese to ring you? I get someone who speaks good English ringing me to remind me (Shanghai tax office) to fill in the app correctly, then tell me I've filled it in incorrectly again (curiously, nationals get the app filled in automatically, we have it blank, no English option, and some pages can't have the screen translator working) How often are they ringing? Perhaps you can store a translation on your translation app and play it during the call "I don't speak Chinese, can someone who speaks English please call me back on this number?". You may need to fit that simcard in your second simcard slot, or in a second phone and keep it charged in anticipation of ending this hilarity.
If your company paid all your taxes properly then you are entitled to a refund of payments towards the state pension after you leave China. You should contact your previous employer and ask them to do this for you. The refund can only be paid into your Chinese bank account but there are ways to access it from overseas. That might be why they are calling you.
I've already received my pension refund
Probably the tax bureau is calling to let you know you have a potential tax refund since I assume you left China before December 2023 payslip. In such case, you might be able to claim the refund by app (if you already have login details, otherwise you need to go physically go to your China local tax office) or ask your previous employer to do it for you (you still need a Chinese bank account). Anyway, you can give up the refund if you dont or are not able to go through the application. In such case, just ignore it. However I would suggest you to confirm the purpose of these calls, and be sure you dont have tax liabilities instead.
I have somebody on WeChat who helps me out on my taxes, she does require a fee. But if you get money back it might be worth it.