Golden Tax Phase IV: Key Terms for Tax and Asset Planning (Part 3)

In tax planning, status comes first. Sound tax planning allows for sensible risk management under the Golden Tax Project and helps keep your assets secure. This third part of the series looks at the impact of Golden Tax Phase IV, what counts as non-tax business, and the advantages of Turkish citizenship.

How Golden Tax Phase IV goes further than Phase III

Golden Tax Phase III merged the data of the national and local tax bureaus. Golden Tax Phase IV goes further: it covers not only tax but also “non-tax” items, with the aim of building a multi-dimensional, all-round monitoring system that spans the whole process.

With Golden Tax Phase IV in operation, the tax authorities will hold far more of a company’s data, and monitoring becomes comprehensive and multi-dimensional.

It marks China’s shift from “managing tax through invoices” to “governing tax through data”, a model of categorized, precise oversight.

What counts as non-tax business

The non-tax side of Golden Tax Phase IV means bringing items that used to sit outside the tax system, such as government fees, social insurance contributions and land transfer fees, into the tax oversight system. They are then fully integrated and managed together with tax data.

Non-tax items include:

• social insurance contributions
• government funds, such as land transfer fees
• administrative fees

They are not taxes, but the way they are collected is linked to taxation. Through the system upgrade, Golden Tax Phase IV connects this non-tax data with tax information, creating an oversight chain that covers every type of business and every step of the process.

In tax planning, status comes first

Tax compliance risk management has become a key concern for high-net-worth individuals. Sound tax planning can help lower your tax burden, and it also guards against tax risk and keeps your wealth secure.

Advantages of Turkish citizenship

The advantages of Turkish citizenship fall under four goals:

Goal	Advantage of Turkish citizenship
Protecting your assets	Buying property gives you a full set of documents that meets the basic requirements for opening a bank account abroad.
Separating family and business	It helps you avoid risks at home, such as marital, legal and business-operation risks.
Sound tax planning	The property is not subject to Common Reporting Standard (CRS) information exchange, allowing sensible risk management under the Golden Tax Project.
Taking your company public overseas	Status planning for round-trip investment and protection against look-through.

If you are weighing whether a second status such as Turkish citizenship fits your tax and asset planning, talking to a consultant can help you understand what it involves and whether it suits your family.