China Certified Accountant
We intend to set up a WFOE in Shanghai. We have been advised that we are required by the China government (tax bureau) to employ a China certified accountant (a person with an accountant certificate) who has more than three years’ experience in accounting work.
We have been advised that the China accountant DOES NOT have to be a China CPA-qualified accountant and also that China accounting, taxation and foreign exchange control systems are quite complex.
Kindly advise. Thanks.
Regards,
Dave
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July 5th, 2008 at 3:37 am
Hi Dave,
I have a WOFE i Shanghai and I have outsourced this part to a local accounting firm. Depending on the size of the ops you are going to have the costs is betweem USD 350 to 1000 USD/m, so if your ops is not very large it is most cost effective to outsource. The accounting firm will then register their accounting staff with the requirements you mention. It is fully legal and many smaller firms does this.
July 5th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
the advise you receive is right but as always here knowing the rules and how to play the game are key. A WFOE (and I assume you are getting normal 17% tax status) requires that you have a finance room and an accountant. you can use an internal book keeper and an external accountant for the monthly tax returns.
the whole topic of foreign exchangeb control is not complex..its just a procedure you need to follow. call me, i’ll help as much as i can…by the way i’m english and have set up my own WFOE here…so I’m not looking to sell you anything. just help you set up.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Hi Dave,
The level of work that is required to complete each month for the financial authorities is such that your accountant will be mostly doing Paper work. That has to a large extent been automated in other countries.
A lot of the work is time consuming and to employ somebody to do this seems a waste of an internal resource. That is why you can use external service providers, who will know form the start what do to and who can also provide you with an external eye on the financial goings on. You can contact me if you need such a service. Thanks. Brendan. (info@newtigers.com)
July 8th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Hi, the information you got about the certified accountant is correct.
However, it is not true that China accounting, taxation and foreign exchange control systems are quite complex. They are actually much less complex than those in US.
July 11th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Dave,
I have put your question to a friend in Beijing who is a Chinese CPA and has been working in the international sector for about 15 years. She is very familiar with this type of question. I will let you know her response.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Hi Dave,
The above mentioned are correct. The China accounting, taxation and foreign exchange control system is complex whereby it required for monthly, quarterly and annually tax filing. Most practices in other countries, let’s say Commonwealth countries, are not applicable here. New comers are encourage to employ someone who familiar with the local practices.
Thanks. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any queries.
SBA Stone Forest Marketing