China — Individual Income Tax Law (个人所得税法) and its regulations, cumulative withholding (国家税务总局公告2018年第61号), annual bonus separate taxation until 2027 (财政部税务总局公告2023年第30号), special additional deductions (国发〔2018〕41号, 国发〔2023〕13号) and local social insurance and housing fund rules. Rules in force on 10/24/2026.

Estimate for guidance only: check the official sources or a licensed professional before relying on it.

More calculators for other countries: International Labor

Questions about 个税 and take-home pay in China

How much is taken from my salary?

Employees usually pay 8% for pension, 2% for medical insurance and 0.2% to 0.5% for unemployment insurance, plus 5% to 12% for the housing provident fund, all on a contribution base between the city minimum and maximum. 个税 is then charged on what is left after ¥5,000 a month and your special additional deductions.

Why does my 个税 go up later in the year?

Employers use the cumulative withholding method: each month the tax is worked out on your income since January with the yearly brackets, minus what was already withheld. When the total passes ¥36,000 or ¥144,000 of taxable income, the next months are taxed at 10% or 20%.

Should my annual bonus be taxed separately?

Until 31 December 2027 you can choose. Separate taxation divides the bonus by 12 to find the rate, which usually helps people with mid or high salaries. Adding it to wages is better when your yearly taxable income is low. Watch the jumps just above ¥36,000, ¥144,000 and ¥300,000 of bonus; the calculator compares both ways.

Which special additional deductions can I claim?

Since 2023: ¥2,000 a month for each child in education and each child under 3, ¥3,000 for supporting elderly parents (up to ¥1,500 each if shared with siblings), ¥1,000 for first-home loan interest or ¥800 to ¥1,500 for rent, ¥400 for degree studies or ¥3,600 for a vocational certificate, and serious illness costs above ¥15,000 up to ¥80,000 a year.

Why are city limits important?

Each city sets a minimum and maximum contribution base every year, usually from July, based on average wages. Contributions on a low salary use the minimum, and on a high salary they stop at the maximum, so the share of your pay that goes to social insurance changes with income.

How the China 个税 calculator works

This calculator is for employees in mainland China and for anyone weighing a job offer there. Choose a city (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan or Nanjing) or another city with your own rates, enter the monthly salary before tax, and optionally the contribution base, the housing fund rate, the annual bonus and your special additional deductions. The page shows the take-home pay of each of the 12 months, the totals for the year, the refund at the annual settlement when there is one, and a comparison of the two ways to tax the annual bonus.

The employee contributions are a percentage of the contribution base, which is your salary kept between the city minimum and maximum: pension 8%, medical insurance 2% (plus ¥3 in Beijing), unemployment insurance by city, and the housing provident fund from 5% to 12% (up to 7% in Shanghai). Each amount is rounded to the fen. The city limits are those of the 2026 contribution year (from July 2026 in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen); the housing fund has its own limits in each city, Shenzhen sets separate medical insurance limits, and the Hangzhou and Wuhan presets are reference values that may be out of date. You can replace the base or the rates with your own.

个税 follows the cumulative withholding method: each month the tax is calculated on the income since January minus ¥5,000 a month, the contributions and the special additional deductions at their 2023 amounts, using the yearly brackets from 3% to 45%. The annual one-time bonus can be taxed separately until 2027, when the bonus divided by 12 chooses the monthly bracket and one quick deduction is applied, or it can be added to wages. Serious illness costs and the vocational certificate are deducted only at the annual settlement, which may give you a refund.

Example: Beijing, salary ¥20,000, contribution base ¥20,000 and housing fund 12%. Each month you pay pension ¥1,600.00, medical insurance ¥403.00, unemployment insurance ¥100.00 and housing fund ¥2,400.00. 个税 is ¥314.91 in January, rising to ¥1,049.70 from May, and ¥10,076.40 for the year. Your take-home pay is ¥15,182.09 in January and ¥175,887.60 for the year. The calculator does not cover other income types, non-residents or district-level rules, and the result is an estimate.