Efficient company relocation in China "as one thing": New guidelines and practical implementation

published on 20 June 2025 | reading time approx. 3 minutes

In recent years, the challenges of the market economy have significantly increased the need for company relocations between different regions in China. Until now, however, such relocations have been associated with complex procedures, a great deal of time and repeated document submission.

In order to remove these hurdles, the National Administration of Market Regulation (AMR), the Ministry of HR and Social Security, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and the National Tax Authority have jointly published the "Guidelines for Promoting Efficient 'One Thing' Processing of Business Relocation Registration" ("Guidelines"). The aim is to optimize the business environment through simplified procedures and improved cooperation between authorities. In our practice, we have already observed the respective implementation in some cases.

Key contents of the guidelines

These guidelines are intended to achieve the following objectives：

Bundling of procedures: Previously separate processes such as business registration, social insurance, housing fund and tax are combined into a single process.
Single point of contact: The AMR takes the lead and forwards data to other authorities to avoid duplication of work.
Digitization: The transfer of registration is to be processed completely online via the national platform.
Cross-provincial coordination: A new mechanism regulates cooperation between the authorities at the old and new locations.
Simplified tax re-registration: Companies only have to deregister for tax purposes at their old location without having to carry out a complex liquidation.

Practical implementation: Example of a business license and tax registration

According to the guidelines, the transfer process is as follows: The company submits the transfer request to the AMR of the new location. The AMR of the new location sends an online "Approval for transfer" to the AMR of the old location - the company no longer has to take action itself. The AMR of the old location has 30 days to submit the documents. As soon as the electronic documents have been received, AMR can proceed with the registration change, even if the physical documents have not yet arrived. Neither authority shall delay the transfer unnecessarily, provided there are no legal obstacles. Once the transfer has been completed, the AMR automatically informs the tax authority, which in turn offers a "one-stop service" for tax re-registration.

The system for data transmission between the provinces should be fully implemented by the end of July 2025. Until then, files to be transferred may still be sent by post.

Practical experience and challenges

Initial experience shows that relocation across provincial borders is much faster. A practical example: a relocation initiated in April 2025 took less than two months to obtain the new business license - despite minor delays due to forgotten stamps or a lack of experience on the part of the authorities.

Nevertheless, there are still challenges and need for improvement:

The stability of data exchange between the authority platforms must be guaranteed.
Training courses for the authorities are necessary in order to avoid regional differences in implementation.
There are still many steps that are disconnected from each other, requiring companies to contact the relevant departments to resolve issues, especially the change of bank accounts.

Outlook and proposal

The guidelines mark an important step towards simplifying company relocations and reducing bureaucracy for the benefit of companies. In the long term, the reform should increase the mobility of companies, strengthen market activity and promote a uniform national market.

Companies should nevertheless undertake thorough planning, especially when changing bank accounts, so as not to jeopardize their payment transactions and financial flows.

With further digitalization and improved cooperation with authorities, business relocation will become even more efficient in the future - a great benefit for the economy in China.