At a glance
- The test
- For a person with no domicile in China: 183 days or more in the calendar year. A six-year rule and a 90-day rule change which income is taxed.
- Period
- Calendar year, 1 January to 31 December.
- What counts as a day
- A day counts if you stay in mainland China for 24 hours on that day. A day with less than 24 hours does not count.
The rule
Individual Income Tax Law, article 1: an individual with a domicile in China, or with no domicile who stays in China cumulatively 183 days in a tax year, is a resident individual taxed on income from China and abroad. With no domicile and fewer than 183 days, the person is a non-resident individual taxed on China-source income. The tax year is the calendar year.
Domicile (住所) means habitual residence in China because of household registration, family or economic interests (Implementing Regulations, article 2). Atrium does not decide domicile.
Ministry of Finance and STA Announcement 2019 No. 34 sets how days are counted: cumulative stay in China, where a day counts if you stay 24 hours that day and does not count if you stay under 24 hours. It applies from 1 January 2019.
Six-year rule: a person with no domicile and 183 days in a year is taxed on foreign-source income paid from abroad only if each of the six previous years also had 183 days and no single departure over 30 days. Counting starts from 2019. One departure over 30 days restarts the count.
90-day rule (Implementing Regulations, article 5): a person with no domicile who stays no more than 90 days in the tax year is exempt on China-source income paid by an overseas employer and not borne by its China establishment.
How Atrium counts it
Atrium counts a day only when you are in mainland China for the whole calendar day, 00:00 to 24:00 Beijing time. Entry and exit days never count. A same-day connection adds nothing.
The Announcement says a day counts if you stay 24 hours 'that day'. Its official example leaves out the Monday arrival and Friday departure days. It does not state 00:00 to 24:00, so this is Atrium's reading. Another reading could count more days, so ask your adviser.
Atrium shows days left before 183 days in the calendar year. It counts only this year's days. The six-year rule and the 90-day exemption depend on your income and your history, so they are left to your adviser.
You tell Atrium whether your home in China is yes, no or unsure; Atrium never infers it. If your home is in mainland China, Atrium says days do not decide the result and the facts do.
What catches people out
- Entry and exit days are lost. Someone who comes in on Monday morning and leaves on Friday evening gets only Tuesday to Thursday counted.
- A single absence from China of more than 30 days restarts the six-year count (Implementing Regulations, article 4).
- Only full 24-hour days count, not dates with any presence. A person who touches China on 200 dates a year, mostly on short trips, may count far fewer days.
- Days outside the calendar year do not carry over for the 183-day count. The six-year rule looks back only at whether earlier years each reached 183 days.
- A different reading of the 24-hour rule is possible for a stay that crosses midnight. Keep entry and exit times.
Cases
Worked example (illustrative): a weekly commuter from Hong Kong
Mr Li, a made-up Hong Kong resident, works in Shenzhen. He arrives on Monday morning and returns on Friday evening each week. Monday and Friday each have less than 24 hours in China, so they do not count, and Saturday and Sunday are spent in Hong Kong. Three days a week count. Over 52 weeks that is 156 days, so 27 days are left before 183.
Atrium reaches the same count: it counts Tuesday to Thursday only. The authorities' own example confirms part days at entry and exit are not counted.
Worked example (illustrative): a five-day business trip
Mei lands in Shanghai at 10:00 on 3 March 2026 and leaves at 14:00 on 8 March. She is in China for the whole of 4, 5, 6 and 7 March. Under Atrium's method 3 and 8 March do not count, so the trip adds 4 days to her 2026 total, even though she was in China on 6 dates.
Entry and exit days drop out. A trip of N dates adds N minus 2 counted days when both end days are partial.
Sources
- Individual Income Tax Law, STA policy library
- Implementing Regulations of the Individual Income Tax Law (State Council Decree 707), gov.cn
- MOF and STA Announcement 2019 No. 34, gov.cn
- Official Q&A on Announcement 2019 No. 34 (Guangdong STA copy)
- STA reply: how to count residence days for individuals without domicile
Based on the sources above, last reviewed on 2026-10-04. Educational content, not tax advice. Atrium counts days; whether those days make you resident is for you and your adviser to decide.