Foreign companies have by an ever-growing large number of their head offices been strongly felt in Beijing. But one third of these has not been all that satisfactory for their individual income tax payment.

Till mid July, Beijing Morning Post told, over 2,300 foreign representative offices have checked into individual income payment by themselves of which one third has been in a deplorable state. So far a total of 63.56 million yuan (US$7.68 million) of individual income taxes overdue or evaded have been traced, collected and turned over to the state treasury as a result of the checks made.

Tax departments in Beijing have since this year kept a close watch over individual income tax collection and see to it that a high-handed tax policy be carried out: When overdue taxes are collected tax evasions are punished.

Problems found are generally in three respects with foreign representative offices in individual income tax collection in Beijing. One is no special or an insufficient force having been arranged or put in charge of the taxation work in those foreign representative offices. Two, subsidies from foreign representative offices have not been counted in as part of individuals' wages in paying income tax. Three, a number of foreign personnel have their income in two parts both from their offices and general companies and no individual income taxes have even been asked from many of these individuals.

(People's Daily July 30, 2002)