(Promulgated by Order No. 259 of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China on January 22, 1999; amended in accordance with Decision of the State Council on Amending Some Administrative Regulations on March 24, 2019.)

Chapter I   General Provisions 

Article 1 In order to strengthen and regulate the collection and payment of social security contributions, and ensure the granting of social security benefits, the Regulations are hereby formulated.

Article 2 The Regulations shall be applicable to the collection and payment of basic pension insurance contributions, basic medical insurance contributions and unemployment insurance contributions (hereinafter collectively referred to as social security contributions).

The contributions-paying entities and individuals as mentioned in the Regulations refer to entities and individuals that shall pay social security contributions in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws, and administrative regulations and the requirements of the State Council.

Article 3 The scope of collection and payment of basic pension insurance contributions shall cover state-owned enterprises, urban collectively-owned enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises, urban privately-owned enterprises, and other urban enterprises as well as employees of the above-mentioned entities, and public institutions managed as enterprises as well as their employees.

The scope of collection and payment of basic medical insurance contributions shall cover state-owned enterprises, urban collectively-owned enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises, urban privately-owned enterprises, and other urban enterprises as well as employees of the above-mentioned entities; government agencies and state functionaries; public institutions and their employees; private non-enterprise entities and their employees, as well as social organizations and their full-time staff members.

The scope of collection and payment of unemployment insurance contributions shall cover state-owned enterprises, urban collectively-owned enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises, urban privately-owned enterprises, and other urban enterprises as well as employees of the above-mentioned entities; public institutions and their employees.

People’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government may, based on the actual situation, stipulate that the urban individual businesses can be included in the scope of basic pension insurance and basic medical insurance, and may also stipulate that the social organizations and their full-time staff members, private non-enterprise entities and their employees, as well as urban individual businesses with employees and their employees can be included in the scope of unemployment insurance.

The bases and rates of social security contributions shall be set in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations and the requirements of the State Council.

Article 4 Contributions-paying entities or individuals shall remit social security contributions on time and in full.

The social security contributions collected or paid shall be incorporated into social security funds, which are designated for specific purposes and shall not be misappropriated by any organization or individual.

Article 5 The labor and social security administrative department of the State Council shall be responsible for the nationwide collection, administration, supervision and examination of social security contributions. The labor and social security administrative departments of the local people’s governments at the county level and above shall be responsible for the collection, administration, supervision and examination of social security contributions in their administrative regions.

Article 6 Under the social security contributions system, the three categories of social security contributions shall be collected in a centralized and collective way. The collecting agencies of social security contributions shall be determined by the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government, which may either be tax authorities, or social security contributions collecting agencies established by labor and social security administrative departments in accordance with the requirements of the State Council (hereinafter referred to as social security agencies).

Chapter II   Administration of Collection and Payment

Article 7 Contributions-paying entities shall complete social security registration at the local social security agency to participate in social security.

The registration items shall include the entity’s name, domicile, business place, business type, legal representative or person-in-charge, business bank account number and other information prescribed by the labor and social security administrative department of the State Council.

Article 8 Enterprises shall simultaneously complete social security registration during the process of business registration.

Entities other than those mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall, within 30 days after the date of its establishment, apply to local social security agencies for social security registration.

Article 9 Where there are changes in social security registration information or upon legal termination, the contributions-paying entity shall report the changes or deregister with the social security agencies within 30 days of the changes or termination.

Article 10 Contributions-paying entities shall, on a monthly basis, report to the social security agency the amount of social security contributions payable and pay social security contributions within the prescribed time limit upon assessment by the social security agency.

Where a contributions-paying entity fails to file its social security contributions payable as prescribed, the social security agency shall determine the amount payable according to 110 percent of the amount paid by the entity in the preceding month. Where the amount of payment in the preceding month is not available, the social security agency shall determine the amount payable based on the entity’s operating conditions, the number of employees and other relevant circumstances. Where the contributions-paying entity completes the supplementary filing and pay the assessed social security contributions, the social security agency shall make the settlement in accordance with relevant regulations.

Article 11 Where tax authorities are mandated by people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government to collect social security contributions, social security agencies shall, in a timely manner, provide tax authorities with the contributions-paying entity’s social security information including registration, changes of registration, deregistration and filings and payments.

Article 12 Contributions-paying entities and individuals shall pay social security contributions in full and in monetary form.

Social security contributions to be paid by individuals shall be withheld and remitted from their salaries and wages by their employers.

Social security contributions shall not be reduced or exempted.

Article 13 Where a contributions-paying entity fails to either pay its own social security contributions or to withhold and remit those for its employees in accordance with relevant regulations, it shall be ordered by the labor and social security administrative department or the tax authority to make payments within a time limit; where it still fails to make the payments by the deadline, it shall, in addition to paying the amount it owes, pay a surcharge at the rate of 0.2 percent per day from the day the payments become due. Surcharges shall be included in the social security funds.

Article 14 Social security contributions collected shall be deposited into the designated financial accounts for the social security funds opened by the finance department at a state-owned commercial bank.

The social security funds shall be respectively established as the basic pension insurance fund, the basic medical insurance fund, and the unemployment insurance fund according to the scopes of different types of insurances. Each social security fund shall be separately accounted.

The social security funds shall not be subject to taxes and fees.

Article 15 Where tax authorities are mandated by the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government to collect social security contributions, tax authorities shall, in a timely manner, provide social security agencies with the social security contributions information of paying entities and individuals. Social security agencies shall gather the relevant information and report it to labor and social security administrative departments.

Article 16 Social security agencies shall establish contributions payment records, and the basic pension insurance and the basic medical insurance shall be included in individual accounts in accordance with relevant regulations. Social security agencies shall be responsible for keeping contributions payment records and ensuring their completeness and security. Social security agencies shall send notices of the individual accounts about the basic pension insurance and the basic medical insurance to the contributions-paying individuals at least once a year.

Contributions-paying entities and individuals shall have the right to inquire about their contributions payment records in accordance with relevant regulations.

Chapter III   Supervision and Examination

Article 17 Contributions-paying entities shall, on an annual basis, disclose to their employees the payment details of social security contributions for the whole year, and be subject to the supervision of their employees.

Social security agencies shall announce on a regular base to the public information concerning collection of social security contributions, and be subject to the social supervision.

Article 18 In accordance with the relevant regulations of the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government on the collecting agencies of social security contributions, when an labor and social security administrative department or a tax authority conducts examinations on the contributions payment status of an entity in accordance with the law, the entity shall trustfully provide information relevant to the payment of social security contributions such as employment details, payrolls and financial statements, etc., and shall not refuse examination or provide false information or conceal information. The labor and social security administrative department or the tax authority may take notes and make tape-recordings, video-recordings, photographs and duplicates of relevant particulars, with the duty of keeping confidentiality for the contributions-paying entity.

When exercising the authority mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the officials of the labor and social security administrative department or the tax authority shall present their official ID.

Article 19 Where an labor and social security administrative department or a tax authority investigates the illegal acts related to the collection and payment of social security contributions, the relevant departments and entities shall offer support and assistance.

Article 20 Social security agencies may, upon the authorization of labor and social security administrative departments, conduct examinations and investigations related to the collection and payment of social security contributions.

Article 21 Any organization or individual shall have the right to report illegal acts related to the collection and payment of social security contributions. The labor and social security administrative department or the tax authority shall investigate the acts in a timely manner, handle it in accordance with relevant regulations, and keep confidentiality for the whistle-blowers.

Article 22 The social security funds shall be subject to separate management in terms of revenues and expenditures, and be subject to the supervision of the finance department in accordance with the law.

The audit department shall supervise the social security funds in terms of revenues and expenditures.

Chapter IV   Penalty Provisions

Article 23 Where a contributions-paying entity fails to complete its social security registration, registration changes or deregistration in accordance with relevant regulations, or fails to file social security contributions payable in accordance with relevant regulations, it shall be ordered by the labor and social security administrative department to make rectification within a time limit; where the circumstances are serious, the person in charge who bears direct responsibilities and other persons with direct responsibilities shall be subject to a fine of more than 1,000 yuan but less than 5,000 yuan; and where the circumstances are extremely serious, the person in charge who bears direct responsibilities and other persons with direct responsibilities shall be be subject to a fine of more than 5,000 yuan but less than 10,000 yuan.

Article 24 Where a contributions-paying entity violates relevant financial, accounting or statistics laws, administrative regulations or state regulations, and it forges, falsifies or intentionally destroys the relevant accounts or materials, or fails to establish accounts, thus making it impossible to determine the base number for the collection and payment of social security contributions, it shall be subject to administrative penalties, disciplinary sanctions and/or criminal penalties as prescribed by the relevant laws and administrative regulations, and make the payment in accordance with Article 10 of the Regulations. When it fails to pay social security contributions on time, the overdue payment surcharge shall be levied by the labor and social security administrative department or the tax authority in accordance with Article 13 of the Regulations, and the person in charge who bears direct responsibilities and other persons with direct responsibilities shall be subject to a fine of more than 5,000 yuan but less than 20,000 yuan.

Article 25 Where a contributions-paying entity or individual raises an objection to the penalty decision made by the labor and social security administrative department or the tax authority, they may apply for administrative reconsideration. Where the entity or individualraises an objection to the reconsideration decision, they may file a lawsuit in accordance with the law.

Article 26 Where a contributions-paying entity refuses to pay its social security contributions or the overdue payment surcharge within the time limit, the labor and social security administrative department or the tax authority shall apply to the people’s court for enforced collection in accordance with the law. 

Article 27 Where the staff of labor and social security administrative departments, social security agencies or tax authorities abuse their power, engage in malpractices for personal gain or neglect their duties, resulting in losses to social security contributions, the labor and social security administrative departments or the tax authorities shall recover the lost social security contributions. Where their acts constitute a crime, they shall be held accountable criminally in accordance with the law; where their acts do not constitute a crime, they shall be given administrative penalties in accordance with the law.

Article 28 Where an entity or individual misappropriates the social security funds, the misappropriated social security funds shall be recovered. Where there are illegal incomes, they shall be confiscated and incorporated into the social security funds. Where their acts constitute a crime, the aforesaid entity or individual shall be held accountable criminally; and where their acts do not constitute a crime, the person in charge who bears direct responsibilities and other persons with direct responsibilities shall be given administrative penalties in accordance with the law.

Chapter V   Supplementary Provisions

Article 29 People’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the central government may, based on the actual condition, determine whether the Regulations shall be applicable to the collection and payment of employment injury insurance contributions and maternity insurance contributions within their respective administrative regions.

Article 30 Tax authorities and social security agencies shall not make any appropriations of the social security funds for the purpose of collecting social security contributions. The relevant expenses shall be budgeted and funded by the treasury.

Article 31 The Regulations shall enter into force from the date of promulgation. 

All information in this document is authentic in Chinese. English is provided for reference only. In case of any discrepancy, the Chinese version shall prevail.