Event Summary

On March 9, AmCham Shanghai's Tax Committee hosted a seminar co-presented by KPMG senior manager Wayne Soontiraratn and Deloitte tax partner Joyce Xu to discuss U.S. and Chinese individual income tax.

Soontiraratn opened with a discussion of the U.S. individual income tax system in preparation of the upcoming April 15 individual income tax filing and payment deadline. Soontiraratn gave a broad overview of tax considerations for American expatriate workers such as tax exemptions, tax withholding issues, U.S. tax rate brackets, capital gains rates in 2009 and 2010, and filing extensions for certain expatriate workers abroad. The Internal Revenue Service taxes both U.S. and foreign-earned income.

Soontiraratn also explained foreign earned income exclusions for U.S. expatriate workers in China. The maximum exclusion in 2009 is US$ 91,400, which includes exclusions for housing, parking, household repairs, rent, utilities, and furniture rental expenses.Soontiraratn closed his discussion of the U.S. tax system with recent changes to the tax law such as the homebuyer's tax credit, economic recovery payment, the making work pay program and other U.S. tax credits.

The seminar then switched focus to PRC individual income tax laws and the social security system. "With multiple tax law circulars, the Chinese individual income tax law and the social security system is a rapidly changing landscape," said Xu. Shanghai city's pilot social security scheme is a prime example. The Shanghai government recently launched a pilot scheme extending social security benefits to certain expatriate employees in Shanghai as of October 10, 2009. To serve the growing number of locally hired expatriate workers, the new tax circular extends basic pension, medical insurance and work-related injury insurance to expatriate employees with more than 15 years of cumulative employment in Shanghai.

Xu also discussed supplementary pension schemes such as enterprise annuities and the recently-promulgated Circular 694 that restricts tax exemptions for enterprise annuity contributions solely to employers. Xu then closed with a discussion on a deferred pension pilot scheme in the form of commercial insurance with a built-in tax deferral element.

Event Announcement

This program will be repeated in Suzhou with speakers Wayne Soontiraratn and Charlie Tong on Thursday, March 11 from 15:00-17:00 at the Suzhou Marriott Hotel.

The Tax Committee at AmCham Shanghai invites you to a special seminar on Chinese and U.S. individual income tax on Tuesday, March 9 from 15:00 to 17:00 at the Regal East International Hotel. 

This informative session will be co-presented by Wayne Soontiraratn, senior manager with KPMG’s International Executive Services practice and Joyce W. Xu, tax partner with Deloitte, who will share their insights on the following:

• An overview of the U.S. tax system, including filing requirements
• Actions to take before the tax filing deadlines in both the U.S. and China
• Highlights of recent PRC Individual Income Tax and Social Security developments
• A discussion of the latest enforcement trends in China and the U.S.

About the Speakers:

Wayne Soontiraratn is a senior manager with KPMG’s International Executive Services (IES) practice in Shanghai, China.  He has experience working with multi-national clients on taxation and technology solutions. Wayne has been part of the International Executive Services practice in the U.S., Hong Kong, and currently China.  Wayne has delivered tax compliance, advisory, and technology solutions for multinational clients as well as the KPMG global network.

Joyce W. Xu is a tax Partner with the Global Employer Services (GES) team for the Eastern PRC Region at Deloitte. Joyce started her career with a "big 4" in London and has 16 years of experience in the GES field.  Joyce's expertise covers expatriate tax compliance/advisory/planning, social security advisory, PRC high net worth individual tax advisory, merger and acquisitions, PRC IIT and social security due diligence, “best practice” policy benchmarking, global equity plan design advisory and roll out, compensation and benefits structuring and international mobility management.

Agenda:

15:00 Registration and Networking
15:30 Speech and Q&A
17:00 Event Ends

RSVP: All AmCham events require confirmation of attendance (RSVP). If you attend an event without prior notification you will be charged a RMB 50 "walk in" fee.

RSVP Cancellation: If you need to cancel your RSVP please notify AmCham Shanghai's Events Department by telephone at 6279-7119 no less than 12 hours in advance. Failure to cancel your RSVP will require payment of a "no show bill".