Five main categories of foreign individuals can directly open an A-share account:

1 Foreigners holding China's permanent resident ID card.

2 Foreigners who have legally established foreign-invested joint-stock companies within China and listed them on the A-share market.

3 Foreign employees working in A-share listed companies in China and participating in stock incentives as per the Equity Incentive Measures for the Administration of Listed Companies.

4 Foreign natural persons working in China.

Foreign employees of A-share listed companies working abroad who are involved in equity incentive plans.

Required materials include:

1-A completed Securities Account Opening Application Form.

2-Foreign passport and its copy.

3-Employment certificate from a domestic institution and a copy of that institution's business license or unified social credit code certificate (both stamped).

4-If applying via a proxy, a notarized power of attorney from a domestic notary public and the proxy's valid ID and a copy is required.

Required materials include:

1-A completed Securities Account Opening Application Form.

2-Copy of valid ID of foreign employee involved in the equity incentive (stamped by the listed company).

3-Copies of the company's business license, legal representative's certificate and authorization documents for the representative handling the account (all stamped by the company).

4-Documents proving that the investor is part of the equity incentive plan, such as approval of the plan and certification the company (stamped by the listed company).

5-A self-regulatory commitment letter signed by the employee.

When handling an account opening for foreign individuals working in China, the account opening agent must confirm that the securities regulator of the investor's country (or region) has established a regulatory cooperation mechanism with the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Accounts cannot be opened for investors whose country's regulatory agency has not signed a regulatory cooperation memorandum with the CSRC. To date, the CSRC has signed bilateral regulatory cooperation agreements with 67 countries and regions.

Foreign individuals must comply with relevant laws such as the Securities Law of China and the Measure for the Administration of Securities Registration and Settlement when opening and using A-share securities accounts, as well as with CSRC regulations and the business rules of the securities company, ensuring truthful reporting and proper documentation submissions.

The tax paid by the company includes additional tax of education. The company can apply to the government for a partial refund of the addition tax of education paid for employee training.

According to Paragraph (4) of Article 26 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Enterprise Income Tax, the income of qualified non-profit organizations is tax-free income, thus no enterprise income tax is levied.

According to the Notice on Extending the Income Tax Policy for Advanced Technology Service Enterprises throughout China (CS [2017] No.79) and the Notice on Extending the Income Tax Policy for Advanced Technology Service Enterprises throughout China in Pilot Areas for Innovative Development of Service Trade (CS [2018] No.44), eligible advanced technology service enterprises can still enjoy the preferential tax rate of 15%.

The land value increment tax may not be paid provided that regulations in Notice on Continuing to Implement Land Value Increment Tax Policies for Restructuring and Reorganization of Enterprises (CS [2018] No. 57) are satisfied.