Two staff members at the zone's taxation bureau explain relevant taxation policies to a foreigner. [Photo provided to en.whkfq.gov.cn]
"Thank you! It is great. I like living here," said Andrew John Collinson from the United States, who is a senior executive of a local enterprise in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WEDZ), on the phone on Aug 25, after he consulted a staff member at the zone's taxation bureau about annual individual income tax settlement.
To inform him of the preferential tax policy, the staff member also launched a one-hour online meeting with him and financial staff members at his company.
WEDZ boasts a relatively larger number of expatriates and higher internationalization than other places in Wuhan. It is currently home to more than 290 foreign-invested companies and over 800 permanent foreign residents, with most of them being senior executives or core researchers at local companies, or school teachers.
Expatriates differ a lot in working time in China, and their income sources vary, which is why their tax payment work is more complicated, said Peng Chuanchun, a senior official from the zone's taxation bureau, "In this regard, we have set up a special work group to deal with cross-border taxation procedures," Peng added.
The work group mainly consists of young workers born in the 1990s, who are all fluent speakers of English, Japanese, Korean and other languages, and are able to assist expatriates through online or offline approaches in their tax payment items.
