HELP FOREIGN BUSINESSES SUCCEED IN CHINA AT EVERY STAGE

Stay Compliant

China Corporate Compliance: We Keep Your Entity Legally Active and in Good Standing

After incorporation, your WFOE has ongoing corporate obligations that run every year — annual reports, licence maintenance, registered address compliance, and operational status monitoring. We manage these on your behalf so nothing lapses and your entity stays off the abnormal registry.

A company that misses its annual report filing, lets its registered address lapse, or fails to update key personnel details will find itself on the abnormal business registry — with consequences that cascade across banking, invoicing, visa renewals, and licence extensions. We track every obligation so you don’t have to.

Annual Obligation

Annual Business Report Filing

Every company registered in China must submit an annual business report to SAMR via the National Enterprise Credit System (国家企业信用信息公示系统) by 30 June each year, covering the prior calendar year. Missing this deadline is one of the most common triggers for an abnormal business listing.

What We Do

  • Prepare all required annual report information — shareholders, registered capital, operating status, foreign investment details
  • Submit the report via the National Enterprise Credit System on your behalf
  • Confirm successful submission and archive the receipt
  • Send you advance reminders before the 30 June deadline each year

What You Provide

  • Confirmation of whether any shareholder, capital, or operational information has changed during the year
  • Supporting details for any changes that occurred

What You Receive

Annual report submission confirmed. National Enterprise Credit System status updated to “published” (已公示). Filing archived for your records. Deadline: 30 June each year.

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Document Management

Business Licence & Document Maintenance

Your business licence is the foundation of your company’s legal existence in China. We maintain the accuracy of your licence information and keep your corporate documents properly organised and accessible.

What We Do

  • Monitor your business licence status and confirm it remains in normal standing
  • Assist with business licence replacement in the event of loss or damage
  • Maintain an up-to-date record of your Articles of Association and any amendments
  • Verify that the information on your business licence matches your current SAMR registration at all times
  • Organise and archive all corporate registration documents for ready access

What You Provide

  • Notification of any company changes that may affect the business licence
  • Access to existing corporate documents for our records

What You Receive

Business licence status confirmed as current and accurate. Complete corporate document archive maintained and accessible on request. Any discrepancies between your licence and SAMR records flagged and resolved promptly.

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Address Risk

Registered Address Compliance

Your registered address is the address on your business licence. If authorities cannot locate or verify your company at that address — through a routine inspection or complaint — your company may be flagged as abnormal. Address-related compliance failures are more common than most companies expect.

Common Risk Scenarios

Lease Expiry

The registered address lease expires but the business licence is not updated. The address remains on the licence but is no longer valid — creating a verification gap that surfaces during inspections or annual report checks.

Virtual Address Risk

Some virtual address providers lose their qualification or have their registration revoked. If your registered address is a virtual address from a provider that is no longer compliant, your company’s registration validity may be affected.

Operating Address Mismatch

Your company operates from a different address than the one registered. Tax bureau inspections — particularly for export VAT refund qualification or routine compliance checks — require the company to be found at its registered address.

What We Do

  • Track your registered address lease expiry and alert you ahead of renewal or update deadlines
  • Assess the compliance risk profile of your current registered address
  • Advise on address requirements for your specific business type and activities
  • Coordinate address changes where needed — see Corporate Changes →

What You Provide

  • Current registered address lease agreement
  • Notification of any planned office moves

What You Receive

Address compliance assessment report. Lease expiry reminders. Proactive flagging of any address-related risks before they trigger a compliance issue.

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Ongoing Monitoring

Operational Status Monitoring

We monitor your company’s standing across both the SAMR business registry and the tax bureau on an ongoing basis — so any abnormal status is caught and addressed before it escalates into something harder to resolve.

What We Do

  • Regularly check your company’s status on the National Enterprise Credit System
  • Monitor your tax bureau registration status for any abnormal flags
  • Alert you immediately if any abnormal status appears
  • Coordinate removal from abnormal registries where needed — see Abnormal Registry Removal →
  • Provide an annual compliance health summary covering all monitored registrations

What You Provide

  • No ongoing input required — we monitor proactively
  • Prompt response if we alert you to an issue requiring action

What You Receive

Immediate notification if any abnormal status is detected. Annual compliance health report covering SAMR and tax bureau status. Peace of mind that your company’s standing is being watched continuously — not just at year-end.

Escalation risk: Companies that remain on the abnormal business registry for an extended period may be escalated to the serious violations list (严重违法失信名单). This carries significantly heavier consequences and a much longer removal process. Early detection is the most effective way to avoid this outcome.

If your company has reached the point where closure is being considered, see our Company Deregistration service → for a full overview of the process, costs, and what to assess before you decide.

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Quick Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the annual business report the same as the annual audit?

No — they are separate obligations. The annual business report is a SAMR filing submitted via the National Enterprise Credit System, covering basic company information and operating status. It does not require financial statements or CPA involvement. The annual audit is a separate financial statement audit conducted by a licensed CPA firm, required for tax settlement, profit distribution, and capital repatriation. Both are due annually, but through different authorities and on different timelines. For details on the annual audit, see our Annual Audit page →

Does a dormant company with no business activity still need to submit an annual report?

Yes. The annual business report obligation applies to all registered companies regardless of operating status. A dormant company with zero activity still needs to submit its annual report by 30 June each year — reporting its current shareholder information, registered capital status, and confirming no business activity during the period. Failure to file, even for a genuinely inactive company, results in an abnormal listing.

Business licences don’t expire — why does the licence need ongoing maintenance?

The business licence itself does not have an expiry date, but the information on it can become inaccurate over time — and inaccurate information creates compliance gaps. If the legal representative changes, the address moves, or the business scope is amended without updating the licence, the discrepancy between what the licence shows and what SAMR records show can trigger issues during inspections, banking reviews, or permit applications. We monitor this alignment as part of our ongoing service.

Our registered address is a virtual address. What compliance risks does that create?

Virtual addresses are acceptable for many business types, but they carry specific risks. The address provider must maintain valid registration credentials — if they lose qualification, your address becomes non-compliant without any notice to you. More importantly, certain business activities — export operations, certain regulated industries, and companies applying for export VAT refunds — require a verifiable physical premises address. Using a virtual address for these activities creates a compliance gap that can only be resolved by a formal address change. We assess this as part of our address compliance review.

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Want us to manage your company’s ongoing corporate compliance?

We track every annual obligation, monitor your registry status, and make sure nothing lapses.

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