company registration in china

How do I set up a wholly foreign-owned enterprise in China? This guide covers WFOE documents, registered capital, permits, costs, and remote setup in 2026.

Ready to set up a company in China? This 2026 guide covers legal structures, documents, timelines, costs, and how to register remotely without traveling.

Plan your WFOE registration in China with confidence. This 2026 guide covers exact steps, required documents, realistic timelines, costs, and a compliance checklist.

A China WFOE is bound by its chops more often than by a wet-ink signature. Once the business licence is issued, an authorised Public Security Bureau engraver cuts the seals. Those stamps, not the passport of a director sitting overseas, are what banks, tax offices, landlords and counterparties treat as the company’s will. This 2026

A WFOE business scope in China is not a marketing tagline. It is the list of activities printed on the business licence. Banks, the tax bureau, customs, and counterparties all read that list before they accept a contract, a fapiao, or a payment. Founders still treat the wording as boilerplate. Six months later they try

A China business licence does not let a WFOE issue invoices or file tax. Tax registration, taxpayer status and e-fapiao access have to be switched on after the licence is issued. Until that happens, Chinese customers cannot treat a payment as a deductible purchase, and the company cannot complete a clean VAT or corporate income

A China business licence does not move money. Until a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise opens its corporate bank accounts, it cannot receive registered capital, pay tax or salaries, or settle with local suppliers. In 2026 that banking step is still the usual choke point after incorporation. This guide covers which accounts a WFOE actually needs, what

A China business licence is not enough to operate. Until the company has a corporate bank account, it cannot receive registered capital, pay tax, issue salaries, or settle with suppliers. For most foreign-invested enterprises, opening that account is now the longest and least predictable step in the whole setup. This guide explains which accounts a

Setting up a company in China as a foreigner remains one of the most practical ways to access the domestic market, hire local staff, issue invoices, and operate with full legal standing. In 2026 the process is clearer than in previous years thanks to the Foreign Investment Law and the revised Company Law, yet several

China WFOE Annual Compliance and Tax Filing 2026 A Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise does not finish its obligations when the business licence is issued. From the first full year of operation, the company sits inside a fixed compliance calendar that covers bookkeeping, tax returns, a statutory audit, corporate income tax settlement, and public annual reporting. Missing