China’s 183-Day Tax Residency Rule
China's domicile test comes first. Without domicile, 183 full days in a calendar year establish tax residence; arrival and departure days do not count.
Last verified: October 2026
If you are domiciled in mainland China, you are tax resident whatever your day count. For someone without domicile, residence begins at 183 full days in a calendar year. A date counts only if all 24 hours are spent in mainland China.
- Domicile
- Residence regardless of day count
- Without domicile
- 183 full days or more
- Counting window
- 1 January to 31 December
- A day counts if
- You spend the full 24-hour calendar day in mainland China
- Legal basis
- Individual Income Tax Law, Article 1; Announcement 2019 No. 34
The rule
Domicile means habitual residence through household registration, family or economic ties. It is not simply the address of a hotel or a rented apartment. The 183-day test is the alternative for someone who does not have that domicile.
For that day-count test, total the qualifying dates from 1 January to 31 December. Exactly 183 days is enough; you do not need day 184. Days in Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan are outside this mainland count.
How to count full days
Count complete calendar days, not blocks of 24 hours accumulated across a trip. Arrival and departure dates are excluded because they are not full days of presence.
Only complete calendar days count
Arrive 1 MarchLeave 5 March
3 full days
Commuter example. You live in Hong Kong and travel to Shenzhen each weekday, returning to Hong Kong every evening. None of those visits contains a full calendar day in mainland China, so they contribute zero full days to this presence count. That does not by itself exempt your earnings from tax.
Beyond the day count
For a person without domicile, a separate six-year rule affects foreign-source income paid from abroad. In a year with at least 183 days, that income becomes taxable if each of the preceding six years also had at least 183 days and none had a single absence exceeding 30 days. A year below 183 days or an absence of more than 30 consecutive days breaks that sequence. Years before 2019 are not included.
Being below 183 days does not make all earnings tax-free. Work performed in mainland China can still be taxable; a narrower 90-day exemption for foreign-paid employment income may apply.
AtlasDays tracks China’s full days automatically
Choose China mainland Tax Residency to count full days from your logged trips in each calendar year. Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are separate places. AtlasDays excludes arrival and departure days; it does not decide domicile or track the six-year rule.
Get AtlasDaysFAQ
Does everyone get a 183-day allowance in China?
No. A person domiciled in mainland China is tax resident regardless of days. The 183-day test applies to a person without domicile.
Do arrival and departure days count?
No. Only dates containing a full 24 hours in mainland China count toward this residence test.
Does commuting from Hong Kong to Shenzhen add full days?
Not if you return to Hong Kong the same day. Such visits contain no full mainland calendar day, although the income from work there may still be taxable.
About this article: AtlasDays provides general information, not legal, tax, or immigration advice. Rules change and outcomes depend on your circumstances, so never rely on it alone: check the linked official source or ask a qualified professional.