China Stamp Tax: 2026 Rates, Taxable Documents, and Filing Guide for Foreign Companies

Stamp tax is one of the smallest taxes in China and, for that reason, one of the most frequently missed by foreign companies. Unlike corporate income tax or VAT, which appear prominently on a company’s filing calendar, stamp tax is levied on the documents themselves — contracts, leases, loan agreements, account books, and equity transfer instruments. Because the amounts are often tiny, many foreign-invested enterprises overlook it until a tax authority review flags the omission. This guide explains what China’s stamp tax covers, the 2026 rates that apply, how registered capital is taxed, and how foreign companies in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and across mainland China should file and pay.

What Is Stamp Tax in China?

Stamp tax is a documentary tax imposed on the execution of certain written instruments. Under the Stamp Tax Law of the PRC, the tax falls on the person or company that executes the taxable document, and in most cases both parties to a bilateral contract are jointly liable for their own copy. In practice, this means a foreign-invested enterprise that signs a supply agreement, rents an office, borrows from a bank, or records new paid-in capital will usually owe a small amount of stamp tax on each of those transactions.

Stamp tax sits alongside, rather than inside, China’s other major taxes. It does not replace VAT, which is charged on the supply of goods and services, nor corporate income tax, which is charged on profit. Instead, stamp tax is triggered by the document itself, regardless of whether the underlying transaction is profitable. That is why it catches so many companies off guard: a company can be loss-making in its first year and still owe stamp tax on the lease and supply contracts it signed to get started.

Which Documents Are Taxable and What Are the 2026 Rates?

The Stamp Tax Law sets out a schedule of taxable documents and their rates. The ones most relevant to foreign companies operating in China are summarized below.

Two points are worth emphasizing. First, the rates are applied to the amount stated in the document, so a sales contract for RMB 1,000,000 carries RMB 300 of stamp tax, while a property lease of RMB 500,000 over the lease term carries RMB 500. Second, the tax applies to both paper and electronic documents, so using e-signature platforms does not remove the obligation. Companies that rely heavily on electronic contracts should still capture them for stamp tax purposes.

How Is Stamp Tax on Registered Capital Calculated?

For a newly established foreign company, the capital account is often the largest single stamp tax item. When a company records paid-in registered capital — and again if it later increases capital or builds up capital reserve — the increase is subject to stamp tax at 0.025% of the amount recorded. The tax is charged on the combined total of paid-in capital and capital reserve, and it is paid once per increase, not repeatedly each year.

This is directly relevant when you inject registered capital into your China company. A USD 10,000 capital injection, for example, would attract a small stamp tax charge when the capital is recorded in the statutory books. The amount is modest, but it must be declared on time to keep the company’s tax records clean, especially ahead of the annual filings that foreign-invested enterprises complete each year.

How Do Foreign Companies File and Pay Stamp Tax?

Stamp tax is generally self-assessed and paid through the electronic tax bureau. Most companies declare and pay it together with their regular tax filings, either monthly or quarterly depending on their taxpayer status, using the online portal where they already file VAT returns. Because the amounts are small, the practical discipline is record-keeping: the finance team must maintain a log of every taxable contract, lease, loan, and capital change so that nothing is missed when the return is prepared.

Maintaining that log is easier when bookkeeping is handled systematically from the start. Dan Young’s bookkeeping, audit and tax service tracks taxable documents, calculates stamp tax alongside monthly and quarterly filings, and keeps the records that support a company’s compliance calendar throughout the year.

Common Stamp Tax Mistakes Foreign Companies Make

The most common errors are predictable, and all of them are avoidable with a consistent process. The first is treating stamp tax as optional or too small to bother with; late or missed payments can still draw penalties and interest, and a clean tax record matters for credit rating and future filings. The second is ignoring electronic contracts, which are taxable on the same basis as paper documents. The third is forgetting to tax each capital increase, not just the initial injection. The fourth is miscalculating the base — for example, applying the rate to the wrong amount on a lease or loan. A fifth is double-counting or under-counting when both parties to a contract are affiliated companies, where each party is still required to stamp its own copy.

Because stamp tax is charged per document rather than per year, the key is a reliable monthly routine rather than a once-a-year cleanup. Foreign companies that fold stamp tax into their regular bookkeeping process rarely have a problem, while those that handle it ad hoc are the ones most likely to be flagged in a later tax review.