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HONG KONG — As Chinese individuals and companies head overseas in greater numbers, the country’s tax authorities are starting to follow.
香港——随着更多的中国公民和企业到海外发展，中国税务机关也紧随其后。
The Beijing billionaires who set up cryptically named companies in the British Virgin Islands to hold their fortunes are in the cross hairs. So are the Guangdong salesmen living and working in Africa and Latin America. China’s tax officials are now demanding that citizens start reporting exactly how much money they earn overseas.
为了隐藏巨额财富，在英属维尔京群岛以隐晦的名称注册公司的北京亿万富翁，以及在非洲和拉丁美洲工作的广东推销员，都成为了中国税收官员的目标。他们现在开始要求公民报告自己在境外究竟赚了多少钱。
In asking for this information, national and municipal tax agencies in China are quietly beginning to enforce a little-known and widely ignored regulation: Citizens and companies must pay domestic taxes on their entire worldwide incomes, not just on what they earn in China.
要求公民提供这些信息，是因为中国国家和地方税务机关已经悄然开始执行一项鲜为人知、普遍遭到忽略的监管规则：公民和企业不仅要为在中国取得的收入纳税，也必须为在其他国家和地区取得的收入缴纳国内税。
The nascent campaign this winter puts China on the same side as the United States in a global debate over whether taxation should be primarily national or global. On the other side of the issue are European nations, Japan, Australia and Canada, all of which tax people within their borders but exempt most expatriates and overseas subsidiaries from paying income taxes in their home countries.
应该在国内还是全球范围内征税，各国对这个问题存在争论，中国在今年冬天刚刚开展的这些活动，让它和美国处在了同一个阵营。欧洲国家、日本、澳大利亚和加拿大属于另一个阵营，这些国家在本国境内向公民课税，但是它们对大多数外派人员和海外子公司，豁免了本国国内的所得税。
“The newest element is the Chinese tax authorities’ deciding to more strictly enforce this worldwide taxation, which has always been required of Chinese individuals,” said Edmund Yang, a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner in Beijing for international assignments. “The level of compliance among Chinese nationals overseas has been relatively low.”
“最新动向是，中国税务机关决定更加严格地执行全球征税政策，中国法律一直都要求个人这样做，”普华永道(PricewaterhouseCoopers)在北京负责国际业务的合伙人杨治中(Edmund Yang)说。“驻外中国公民的合规度一直比较低。”
Economists and accountants have long questioned the fairness of taxing citizens and companies overseas. Europeans have argued that expatriates use fewer government services, like state-run health care, while playing a big role in promoting exports.
经济学家和会计师长期以来一直在质疑，向驻在境外的个人和企业征税是否公平。欧洲人认为，外派人员使用的政府服务较少，如公立的医疗体系，而且他们在促进出口方面发挥了很重要的作用。
Critics have contended that such exemptions are regressive and hurt lower-income individuals, as many expatriates are bankers and other high earners in finance. Expatriates may also benefit if their home countries are prosperous, well-run places with solid tax bases to which they can return someday.
批评者争辩道，这种豁免是累退性的，伤害了低收入人群，很多外派人员都是银行从业者，或金融领域的其他高收入人士。如果本国经济繁荣、运转良好，而且课税基础稳固，那么外派人员也可以受益，毕竟他们有朝一日会返回本国。
The roots of China’s decision to embrace worldwide taxation trace to the early 1990s. Still a very poor country then, China sent teams of tax officials to the United States, Britain, Germany and other nations to seek advice on drafting a modern tax code.
中国作出这个决定的根源，可以追溯到它在上世纪90年代初，与全球税制接轨的努力。当时中国仍然非常贫穷，它派出税务团队到美国、英国、德国及其他国家考察，征询建议，以便起草一部现代化的税法。
One team sent to the United States visited state tax officials in California and New York, said Lili Zheng, a Deloitte accountant who coordinated the visit and is now co-leader of the firm’s Asian international investment practice. The team paid a long visit to the Internal Revenue Service and was given a two-volume bound copy of the United States tax code and a five-volume copy of I.R.S. regulations.
德勤(Deloitte)会计师郑莉莉说，前往美国的一个团队在加利福尼亚州和纽约州拜会了州级税收官员。协调这次访问的郑莉莉，现在已经成为德勤亚洲国际投资实务部门的联席领导人。该团队在美国国税局(Internal Revenue Service)考察了很长一段时间，获赠了两卷一套的美国税法和五卷一套的国税局规章。
Chinese officials chose the American definition of income, with its worldwide scope, in issuing their tax code in 1993. It remains in force today, although with many amendments.
中国在1993年颁布自己的税法时，选择了美国人对收入的定义，也认同了全球性的课税范围。这部法律一直沿用至今，不过进行过多次修订。
Now, China is taking the first steps to enforce that broad definition.
现在，中国正在为落实这种宽泛的定义，而采取最早的举措。
The government of Guangzhou, the commercial hub of southeastern China, has summoned executives from 150 of the largest corporations based there to a meeting on Jan. 28 to discuss the obligation of their overseas employees to pay Chinese taxes. Municipal governments in Beijing and other big cities are also contacting big companies in their jurisdictions and telling them to provide detailed information on the expatriates’ incomes, tax advisers said.
广州是中国东南部的商业中心。1月28日，当地政府召集辖区内最大的150家企业的高管开会，讨论其驻外员工在中国交税的义务。在北京等大城市，市政府也与辖区内的大公司联系，要求提供外派人士详细的收入信息，税务顾问透露。
The State Administration of Taxation in Beijing has begun a separate campaign to curb tax evasion by Chinese companies as they start to make big overseas investments. New rules taking effect on Feb. 1 will ban a wide range of international investments deemed to be tax shelters. The rules could indirectly hit many wealthy Chinese individuals, who commonly make their overseas investments through specially created companies, often located in the Caribbean.
北京的国家税务总局也开始了另外一项举措，在中国企业刚刚开始在海外做出重大投资之际，遏制它们的避税行为。2月1日生效的一项新规章，将禁止一系列被视为避税安排的国际投资方式。中国富人经常在加勒比海等地注册专门的公司，来进行海外投资。新规章可能会对他们造成间接的打击。
Enforcement of the tax regulation and compliance have been low partly because China lacked data on its citizens’ overseas earnings and investments. But the Chinese government has seized on the continuing United States effort to gather more information on the overseas activities of American companies and citizens. China has simultaneously been negotiating with the United States and other countries to share information on overseas bank accounts belonging to Chinese citizens.
税收法规的执行度很低，合规程度也很低，部分原因在于中国缺乏公民海外收入和投资的数据。美国一直在努力收集本国企业和公民在海外活动的更多信息，中国政府把这当成了一个契机。中国政府正在同时与美国和其他国家协商，请求分享属于中国公民的海外银行账户的信息。
The Chinese tax enforcement effort comes as the country’s economy starts to slow. With overseas investments by Chinese individuals and companies surging, national tax officials are looking for ways to collect on that trend. And local governments are seeking to develop a new source of tax revenue to offset dwindling revenue from other sources.
中国在税收执法上开展行动，正值该国经济增长开始放缓之际。中国个人和企业在海外的投资激增，国税官员正在寻找各种方法，从这种趋势中获益。地方政府则在大力开辟新的税收来源，以弥补其他渠道日益减少的税收收入。
The finances of local governments across China have deteriorated considerably in the last two years. Sales of government-owned land to developers for apartment buildings and office towers have dropped as real estate prices have fallen and housing starts have tumbled. At the same time, Beijing has overhauled its system of business taxation to the disadvantage of local governments.
过去两年里，中国各地地方政府的财政收入大幅下降。把国有土地出售给开发商修建公寓楼和写字楼的收入也减少了，因为房地产价格下跌，新楼开工数量大幅下挫。与此同时，北京对企业税收制度的修改，也令地方政府收入下滑。
Local governments used to assess a tax of 5 percent on the revenue of most businesses in service industries and real estate, and shared part of the proceeds with the central government. Beijing is phasing out these taxes in favor of value-added taxes, which go directly to the central government.
过去，地方政府会对服务业和房地产业的大多数企业，征收5%的营业税，然后将其中部分收入上缴中央。北京方面正计划逐步取消这种方式，改为征收增值税，后者直接流向中央。
That has given municipalities a powerful incentive to step up enforcement of individual and corporate income taxes, which they still collect and then split with the central government. Sam Pang, a tax partner at Ernst & Young, is helping Guangzhou draft a tax enforcement brochure to give companies at the January meeting.
这强烈推动了地方政府在个人和企业所得税方面的征收力度，所得税仍然由地方收取，然后部分上缴中央。安永(Ernst & Young)税务合伙人彭绍龙(Sam Pang)帮助广州政府起草了税收执行手册，在今年1月的那次会议上分发给了与会者。
China’s decision could increase pressure for similar action by countries that face sizable budget deficits and have large numbers of affluent expatriates, like Australia, Britain, France and Ireland. Although none of the countries have shown signs yet of switching to a different model, there has been a broad increase in interest by governments around the world in sharing more information on overseas financial accounts.
对于那些面临庞大财政赤字，并且富裕外派人员众多的国家，比如澳大利亚、英国、法国和爱尔兰，中国的决定可能构成压力，促使它们采取类似的行动。虽然没有任何迹象显示，这些国家有兴趣改用不同的模式，但对于更多地分享海外金融账户的信息，世界各国的政府表现出了广泛兴趣。
While China is taking a page from the United States playbook, Beijing’s tax policies in some ways are even tougher.
虽然中国效仿了美国的做法，但北京的税收政策在某些方面甚至比美国还严苛。
The top income tax bracket in China is 45 percent, compared with 40 percent in the United States. That top bracket for the Chinese also kicks in at $12,900 a month after deductions.
中国所得税的最高税率是45%，美国是40%。此外，中国人每月最终收入达到1.29万美元（8万元人民币）就需要按照最高税率纳税。
The United States also allows expatriates to exempt $99,200 of foreign earned income, then taxes them on the rest. In China, overseas citizens are eligible only for an extra deduction of $210 for each month they are overseas.
在美国，外派人员境外收入的免税额为9.92万美元，超过这个数字的部分会被征税。中国公民在境外的收入，每月只能得到210美元的额外减免额。
Ms. Zheng at Deloitte predicted that China would pursue a few prominent cases to persuade other Chinese companies and individuals to declare their overseas income and pay taxes on it.
德勤的郑莉莉预测，中国会追查一些影响力很大的案例，从而促使其他中国企业和个人申报海外收入并据此纳税。
“The law has always been there — the enforcement has previously been lacking because of limited resources,” she said. “China is going to enforce some cases to let people know.”
“法律一直都有这样的规定，过去一直因为资源不足而没有执行，”她说。“中国会利用一些执行案例，来让大家知道这件事。”
