Expert Corporate Services

For over a decade, we have been offering full-service accounting and strategic advisory to SMEs in China and APAC.

Accounting & Tax Filing

Human Resources & Payroll

Financial Advisory

Financial Software

Other Services

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Payroll Outsourcing in China

MSA provides comprehensive payroll services designed to minimize time and expenses, optimize your processes, and maintain adherence to Chinese regulatory standards.

Payroll Management in China

Payroll procedures and local legislation in China vary from region to region and require extensive knowledge of local regulations. Therefore, interpreting legislation, complying with local rules, and managing monthly payroll operations in China can be complicated and time-consuming for foreign-invested companies.

MSA offers full payroll services to reduce time and costs, streamline your monthly operations, and ensure you stay compliant with Chinese regulations. Our integrated payroll service includes:

Monthly Payroll Calculation
Social Security & Housing Fund Registration
Individual Income Tax & Benefits Planning
Monthly & Annual Tax Declaration
Expat Salary Cost Reimbursements
Total Cost Overview to Management

Individual Income Tax (“IIT”)

Individual Income Tax (“IIT”) is a tax framework which is complex in nature and foreign companies are required to calculate, declare and pay the Individual Income Tax on behalf of their employees. The Chinese individual income tax is withheld monthly, based on a cumulative withholding method. This means that individuals with high salaries and/or increases of salary, could have a different amount of IIT that needs to be paid monthly, depending on the time of the year.

In 2019, the country’s ongoing regulatory changes included major overhauls of the Individual Income Tax system, including the following:

Introduction of Itemized Deductions
End of Expatriate Allowances – by 2022
Developments regarding the Annual Bonus Policy

We support foreign invested companies and their employees to determine their personal tax liability and obligations, calculate the individual income tax and support with the tax filing procedures.

China Social Security

Companies are required to withhold the applicable social security contributions for Chinese nationals and foreign employees. The social security payments must be settled monthly with the Local Social Security Bureau. The monthly payment includes the following contributions: Pension, Medical Insurance, Unemployment Insurance, Work Related Injury Insurance, and Maternity Insurance. Additional to the Social Security, the employee (Chinese nationals) is required to contribute monthly to the national Housing Fund.

We offer administrative support and execution for social security registration and calculations for local and expatriate staff of your subsidiary in China.

Testimonials

MSA has been our trusted advisor throughout the entire lifecycle of our China journey, enabling us to dispatch employees (EOR) to China while having no legal entity and the incorporation and operationalization of our Chinese subsidiary. After this, MSA continues to prove its value as an advisor in supporting not only Chinese accounting, taxation, and compliance requirements but also by advising on specific licensing requirements within the horticulture industry in China, such as those for trading in pesticides and other chemicals. With a profound understanding of our headquarters’ interests and a thorough understanding of local business practices in China, MSA has enabled us to balance the often-conflicting requirements for control and compliance with our ambitious China growth strategy.

Royal Brinkman

Vincent Van Der Wilk
Area Manager Asia & Africa at Royal Brinkman

For our fast-growing business, we need a reliable partner to handle all our payroll-related matters, which we found in MSA. They helped us streamline our internal processes by implementing and improving compliance processes from a legal perspective and in terms of our corporate policies. We fully trust in the confidentiality of our employees’ data, as they ensure secure data storage from internationally recognized providers. Whether on ad-hoc requests or long-term oriented recurring matters, we always receive a fast and complete response to our questions that help us achieve our compliance goals and overcome the challenges in payroll, IIT, and social security in China.

Genuine German

Damian Maib
Founder

MSA was our first choice when we were looking for a China-based accounting firm with a fundamental understanding of our Belgian background and the ability to connect two diverging business cultures. As our company operates with the corporate ERP system Oracle, we are delighted that MSA works through proprietary access directly in our system, ensuring the availability of our company figures in the format we are accustomed to. During our company’s setup procedure, they managed to organize particular steps without the personal presence of the company representatives (e.g., opening a bank account) by identifying alternative verification procedures. We appreciate that MSA always listens to our queries. They are very well connected both within China and internationally. In addition to our questions about our China business, we are glad to receive advice on questions about other international topics from their connections within their global network.

Hybrid Software

Joachim Van Hemelen
Chief Financial Officer

MSA has been an exceptional business partner for our company, whom have a thorough understanding of our internal processes and our ERP system. As a result, and combined with their expertise in finance and taxation, they have been able to support Feinmetall by training our finance- and administrative staff to ensure quality standards and compliance throughout all areas. Because of their availability on short notice, we can rely on MSA’s support at a moment’s notice if required. We further rely on MSA to follow our monthly business on site in China in terms of accounting, taxation, and general compliance. Ensuring full compliance with local regulations and transparency for our management team in Germany is essential and MSA is our trusted partner helping us achieve this.

Feinmetall

Patrik Dinser
Commercial Director

From day one of our collaboration, I have found the team at MSA perfect for our needs. As a UK based business with notable activities in the Far East, we are looking for clear, constructive and accurate advice along with of course day to day financial/fiscal support. This is exactly what we get, and this provides enormous reassurance over the numbers and furthermore excellent support as we grow our business in the Far East. A true partner to our business in every sense of the word.

Badgequo Ltd.

Matt Goldstein
Finance Director

MSA has been our trusted service provider since the establishment of our operations in China. With a profound understanding of Chinese compliance requirements and the ability to translate these requirements in an international context, MSA has enabled us to achieve an exceptional level of transparency and an understanding of the Chinese financial and administrative regulations. After the expansion of our operations in China we continue to rely on the expertise of MSA in relation to taxation matters. MSA continues to reserve dedicated staff members, with a thorough understanding of our operations, whom are ready to support our local finance team in a heartbeat should the need arise.

Lotus Bakeries NV

LOTUS BAKERIES CHINA

MSA is our advisor of choice for complex tax and financial advisory with respect to our China operations. MSA’s team of experts has supported us with extensive advice on various topics such as international transactions, tax implications and business structure optimization. We trust on the company’s knowledge and experience to make well-informed decisions that are key to our company’s success in China. Most notably, MSA’s solid advice and practical support has enabled us to successfully optimize our internal business structure, which included among others comprehensive advice on the optimal business structure for CIBES’ operations in China and subsequent support from MSA with the implementation of the new structure (incl. establishment of 40 branches across Mainland China).

Cibes Lift Group AB

Manuel Neuhofer
Director of Finance and Administration for ASIA & MENA CIBES Lift Group