Doing Business in China For Dummies®

Getting Your Money Out of China

In this section, we tell you how to get your profits out of China, as well as how to recoup portions of your investment — short of liquidation, of course. (For information on whether you need approval to convert your RMB, see the earlier section called “Switching things up: Accounts for foreign exchange.”)

Sending profits back home

Don’t worry — you can get your profits out of China! Your company is allowed to send dividends (profits) to all foreign shareholders on the current account (see the earlier “Current-item bank accounts” section). First, though, your company’s registered capital (see Chapter 7) must be completely paid in; second, you can remit dividends only after the company has paid all applicable taxes on the profits.

To send out the dividends, you have to give the following documents to the bank:

✓	Your company’s tax payment certificate and tax return; if your company receives any preferential tax treatment (which we discuss later in “Corporate taxes”), you have to also provide supporting documents from your local tax bureau
✓	An auditor’s report for the current year
✓	A resolution from the company’s board of directors authorizing the dividends
✓	The Foreign Exchange Registration Certificate (FERC), which your company receives from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) when you get approval for your general capital account
✓	The capital verification report (see Chapter 7)

SAFE may also require other documents on a case-by-case ...