183-day residence · Worldwide income · IIT hub · Tax flagship · Allowances.
If you have no China domicile, SAT generally exempts foreign-source income until you complete six consecutive tax years of 183+ mainland days with no single trip longer than 30 consecutive days outside the mainland. From the seventh such year (if you are again 183+), that exemption falls away — see worldwide income. The clock starts 1 January 2019; years before that do not count. First possible seventh year for an unbroken 2019 start was 2025. 2026 still matters if you have never taken a qualifying break. Reset with one continuous trip of more than 30 days or a year under 183 days. Two 20-day holidays do not add up.
At a glance
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| What starts? | 1 Jan 2019. Pre-2019 ignored. |
| What breaks it? | One trip >30 consecutive days, or <183 days in a year. |
| Two short trips? | No reset. |
| Still 183+ in a reset year? | Yes — you can be a resident and still reset the chain. |
| Year 7? | Worldwide page, if again 183+. |
Scope and legal framework
IIT Law + implementing regulations (non-domiciled residents). A resident individual without a domicile in China is, for a run of years, exempt from IIT on foreign-source income that is paid and borne outside China. The exemption is lost after six consecutive 183-day years without a qualifying absence, from the seventh year.
The 2019 restart. The current six-year count is widely administered from 1 January 2019. Time spent in China before 2019 does not fill the six boxes.
What a reset is. SAT practice: more than 30 consecutive days outside mainland China in a year, or fewer than 183 mainland days that year. Hong Kong / Macao / Taiwan presence is generally not mainland presence for this count — still document the trip.
Practical workflow
- Write years 2019–now: 183+ or not; longest single trip outside mainland.
- If any year already reset: chain is zero after that year.
- If six boxes are full and this year is 183+: open the worldwide page and payroll/tax counsel — do not take a forum holiday as the plan.
Common mistakes
- Adding up weekends in Hong Kong to “more than 30.”
- Counting 2015–2018 toward the six years.
- Using a 31-day trip to justify not reporting CRS-visible accounts in a worldwide year.
Action checklist
- Year-by-year 183 table since 2019.
- Longest continuous absence each year (nights + stamps).
- Reset year circled, or “year 7 risk” circled.
- If planning a 31-day trip: immigration status still valid when you return.
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