Raoul's China Saloon (V5.0) Beta
The Bar Room => The Legalities Board: Visas, Permits, Taxes, and More! (ON-TOPIC) => Topic started by: Calach Pfeffer on November 10, 2015, 01:14:18 AM
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My first post in this board. Woohoo.
So, legal contracts with foreigners who have entered China on appropriate visas and obtained suitable residence permits typically allow that 70% of salaries paid may be legally exchanged for foreign currencies and remitted abroad. Two questions:
- Does the 50,000USD per year cap apply to these monies if they are transferred out of China?
No?
- What documentation and/or representation you need to make the exchange?
Tax certificates indicating taxes paid?
Copy of the contract?
Foreign Experts Certificate?
A staff member on hand?
None of that?
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The language in my contracts has changed. In the past I signed contracts that said "Printed by State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, P.R. China (Photocopy not Accepted)". These days they say they're printed by the school. In the past, the contracts said, "Party B's monthly salary shall be RMB [_____] (before tax), of which ____% can be converted into foreign currency on a monthly basis." Now they list only a salary figure. According to the foreign affairs officer staffer I spoke to this morning, that law has changed. She is, of course, a well known bullshitter who shamelessly says whatever comes into her head if she thinks it will mollify me or shut me down. So I don't know if the law has changed (and that boggles my mind - foreigners no longer have special provisions for remitting their salaries?!) or if this school has enjoyed tax cheating and financial speculation behind their privileged position as an employer of foreigners for too long. I'll assume the latter.
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I've come to firmly believe that any foreigner can convert and remit anywhere from 1 jiao up to an amount not exceeding Chinese annual gross domestic product. The issue isn't permission from the employer or a line in a contract regarding conversion and remittance. The issue is figuring out how to do it. ( llllllllll or ahahahahah depending on one's point of view)
This is similar to having permission to flap your arms and fly. If you aren't a bird, it can be a little tricky to figure out how to take fullest advantage of the privilege.
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The $50,000 USD cap per year for remittances abroad applies to Chinese citizens, not foreigners. I can't remember what the foreigner yearly cap is, but the max you can wire out of China is $500 per transaction... with one transaction per day. Sending and receiving fees make this impractical.
I go to the bank (CCB) branch that does foreign wire transfers with a person from the FAO. I transfer the money I want to send to Canada to her CCB account, then she sends it to my bank account in Canada (it's there in minutes). This way, there is a minimum of paperwork and no passport or contract is required.
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I saw the FAO today. The would seem to be some benefit in giving a week's notice that you'll be whining and complaining. I'm assured that next time we can use stamped contracts and valid tax certificates to be all legal-like and safe. I do hope this is true. I've had this conversation with her before. I'll find out in six months.
Using proxies to transfer money for you is asking for trouble. There's the same immediate risk associated with asking any other person anywhere to handle your money informally. There is also, and I suspect increasingly so in the future, the legal risk associated with skirting, in particular, laws governing the transfer of money out of China. Under the Xi Jinping anti-corruption regime I don't know how many banks are really going to be happy engaging in casual corruption any more.
Granted, that's just a guess, and TIFC, but there you go, you saw it here first.