Investors able to look beyond perennial issues such as a lack of transparency and poor infrastructure in their search for growth should be able to add value to their global operations by investing now in India. Like China, India’s time has come, and global corporate strategies should declare them mutually inclusive. ...
IIT is normally withheld from wages or salaries by employers and paid to the tax authorities on a monthly basis. At the end of the year, an annual IIT declaration should be submitted to tax authorities within three months of the end of the previous calendar year (i.e., between January 1, 2012 and March 31, 2012 for the 2011 calendar year). Penalties for late filing can be up to five times the amount that was due. ...
In China, January and February bring New Year banquets, transportation chaos…and annual compliance procedures. These procedures are not only required by law (and completing them improperly could lead to fines), but are a good opportunity to conduct an internal financial health check. ...
Dezan Shira & Associates celebrates its 20th birthday in China during 2012, making it one of the earliest foreign investment practices operating in China. In this article, we interview founder Chris Devonshire-Ellis to hear what he has to say about the firm's past, present, and future. ...
Much has been made of comparisons between China and India, much of it driven by the fact that the two nations are (occasionally reluctant) neighbors. For two nations so large, sometimes at polar opposites, yet at the same time offering potentially comparable market sizes, is unprecedented in history. Yet here we are and India now looms on the horizon as a giant of Asia. ...
By Julia Gu
Feb. 3 – At the eighth annual World Famous Brands Assembly (WFBA) recently held in Jakarta, Indonesia, the U.S.-China Economic Trade and Investment General Chamber of Commerce, the Europe-America-Asia Cooperation Union for Investment in Industry and Commerce, and the World Cities and World Business Research Association jointly released a list of the “2011 Top 50 Chinese Cities with Strongest Investment Potential.” Continue Reading
By Vivian Ni
Feb. 3 – Twitter, the U.S.-based micro-blogging service provider, has recently found itself at the receiving end of criticism due to its new policy that will allow content censorship on a country-by-country basis. The policy adjustment may have revealed Twitter’s interest in returning to the cash-flowing Chinese market, where the government implements strict internet censorship regulations and blocks an array of Western social media web sites.
In a blog post last Thursday, Twitter said that it had refined its technology and gained “the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country – while keeping it available in the rest of the world.” Previously, when the company took down a post at the request of a country’s government, the “tweet” invariably disappeared across the worldwide web. Continue Reading
Feb. 2 – In Announcement [2012] No. 4 released on January 29, the Chinese General Administration of Customs clarified the favorable import tax treatment to “encouraged” foreign-invested projects (FIPs).
Starting on January 30, FIPs (including capital increases to FIPs) listed in the “encouraged” category in the “Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalog (2011 Version)” (“2011 FDI Catalog”) are exempt from customs duties when investors import equipment (for self use) and technology, accessories as well as spare parts that come along with the equipment based on related agreements. However, these importers are still subject to import value-added tax, which was resumed on such imports in 2009. Continue Reading
Op/Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis
Feb. 1 – With some media spotlighting potential problems in South China – and one blog even going so far as to suggest smart Chinese businessmen are queuing up to attract orders, only to deliberately declare bankruptcy – it’s time to look again at the realities of the situation. The actual business environment in South China is something we are qualified to discuss with some knowledge – our firm, Dezan Shira & Associates, has four regional offices there (Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhongshan) and has conducted business in the region for 20 years, while our Regional Partner Alberto Vettoretti is an adviser to the Shenzhen Government. Continue Reading
Will rare earths be next?
By Vivian Ni
Feb. 1 – Following two years of investigation, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Appellate Body ruled on Monday that China’s use of export duties and quotas on nine types of industrial materials has breached free trade rules. The ruling could affect the organization’s judging of other similar cases where export restrictions are used to hoard domestic natural resources.
The case, filed in 2009 by the United States, the European Union (EU) and Mexico, accused China of imposing trade barriers to the exports of nine minerals: bauxite, zinc, yellow phosphorus, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide and silicon metal, all of which are widely applied in industrial production. Continue Reading
Above: Shanghai c. 1990, Below: Mumbai c. 2008
The development similarities are striking, says Chris Devonshire-Ellis
Op/Ed Commentary: Chris Devonshire-Ellis
Jan. 31 – A little over 20 years ago, I was sitting in the offices of Asia Law & Practice in Hong Kong, with their managing director at the time who said, “Don’t go to China, Chris. It’s dirty, communist, nothing works and they’ll rip you off.”
Perhaps foolishly, I didn’t listen to that advice, resigning my position (I’d been working on a book called “The Life and Death of a Joint Venture in Shanghai”) and decamping to Shenzhen to start what was then a very embryonic Dezan Shira & Associates. The MD’s words of advice have stayed with me ever since, not because they were wrong – in fact he was fairly accurate – but because they totally discounted the point that China wouldn’t remain in that anti-commercial state of existence for very long. Continue Reading
By Vivian Ni
Jan. 30 – Although China has made it more difficult for foreign investors to enter its e-payment sector over the last year, the potential profits offered by the country’s massive consumer population are proving too attractive to miss. Recently, American Express – the U.S. financial service provider that has long considered China as its critical strategic market – established a new partnership with a growing Chinese payment service company, Lianlian Group, by means of equity investment and technology authorization.
AmEx said on January 18 that it will license its digital wallet Serve – a next-generation commerce technology developed to target lower-end consumers – to the Zhejiang-based Lianlian Group. The Chinese company will be allowed to apply the technology in its payment services, but will not necessarily use the Serve brand. Continue Reading
Jan. 30 – Shanghai’s newly included value-added tax (VAT) payers (pilot enterprises) may be able to receive fiscal compensation if they see increases in their actual tax burdens under the new tax scheme, local authorities said recently.
The focus of the ongoing VAT reform is to reduce duplicate taxation and extend supply chains that are eligible for VAT deductions, the local government emphasized. Continue Reading
Dezan Shira & Associates provide a range of services for companies looking to undertake foreign direct investment into Asia, These include corporate establishment, accounting, tax, payroll, audit and due diligence. To learn more about the firm, please contact one of our specialists at china@dezshira.com, download our corporate brochure or visit at us www.dezshira.com
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