15 August 2018 
Amanda Darley, Head of Operations and Engagement
Hot on the heels of the recent change to the permanent establishment rules for overseas universities in China, the Chinese tax authorities issued additional guidance on the VAT education exemption, clarifying that officially-recognised Chinese-foreign cooperative education projects delivering education leading to recognised qualifications are exempt from Chinese VAT. The clarification updates regulations set out in 2016, which specified that officially approved education institutions providing education at the primary, lower secondary, high school or higher education (diploma, bachelor’s, master’s and PhD) levels were exempt from VAT but did not specifically address Chinese-foreign joint programmes or institutes.
We will shortly be publishing a revised tax guide for UK higher education institutions in China produced by Grant Thornton.
