Individual income tax filing process: Five-step checklist for withholding and prepayment of wages and salaries

Individual income tax filing process: Enterprises check withholding and prepayment of wages and salaries in five steps

This article discusses enterprises handling withholding and prepayment of resident individual wages and salaries as withholding agents; it is not the same as an individual handling the annual comprehensive income settlement, nor does it cover all business income or non-resident individual situations. Filing entry points, forms, and functions may be adjusted with upgrades to the Natural Person Electronic Tax Bureau, and enterprises should rely on the current official system and the interpretation of the competent tax authority.

▍Step 1: Personnel information - First maintain basic taxpayer data

When a withholding agent first pays income to a taxpayer, it should collect and submit basic information such as the taxpayer identification number in accordance with regulations; when employees join, leave, change employment status, or change basic information, updates should also be made within the applicable period. During operation, verify the personnel list, ID information, employment status, and department to avoid continuing to include departed employees in normal wages and salaries or collecting the same person twice.

▍Step 2: Deduction collection - Base it on information confirmed by the taxpayer

Special additional deduction information is filled in, confirmed, and submitted by the taxpayer to the withholding agent in accordance with regulations. Information for the 2026 tax year can be confirmed through official channels such as the Individual Income Tax App; if the information changes, the taxpayer should update it promptly. Enterprises may receive relevant information within the scope of authorization and official system support, but should not treat OCR-recognized supporting materials directly as deduction conclusions, nor should they fabricate or modify deduction items for employees without authorization. Reference may be made to2026 special additional deduction confirmation instructions issued by tax authorities。

▍Step 3: Income deductions - Unify the scope of wages and legally permitted deductions

Before filling in normal wages and salaries, finance and tax personnel should reconcile current-period income, tax-exempt income, special deductions, special additional deductions, and other legally determined deductions with the payroll system, social security and housing fund records, and employee change records. Cross-month adjustments, retroactive wage payments, departure settlements, and corrected data must have explanations and approvals. Data from different sources cannot be matched only by name; unique personnel identifiers, periods, and versions should be set.

▍Step 4: Tax calculation - Calculate using the cumulative withholding method and review anomalies

Basis"Measures for the Administration of Individual Income Tax Withholding Filing (Trial)", when the withholding agent pays wages and salaries to resident individuals, the withholding tax is calculated according to the cumulative withholding method and withholding filing is handled monthly. After system calculation, still check cumulative income, cumulative deductions, cumulative withheld tax, negative numbers or jumps, connection with the previous period, and other anomalies; if necessary, identify the cause before submission.

▍Step 5: Filing and payment - Confirm submission, feedback, payment, and correction separately

Official operating instructions show that comprehensive income filing on the withholding end of the Natural Person Electronic Tax Bureau usually includes steps such as filling in income and deductions, tax calculation, filling in schedules, and submitting the return form, subject to the current interface. Reference may be made toTax authority operating instructions for comprehensive income filing. Enterprises should separately confirm submission feedback, tax payment results, and exception handling status; "report generated" does not equal "filed," and "filing successful" does not equal "payment completed."

Software acceptance points: If Kailing Technology or other systems are used to assist with data collection, review, or multi-entity task management, verification should cover interface authorization, scope of regions and filing types, failure rollback, manual confirmation, operation logs, permission isolation, and data export. "Automatic data retrieval" must not be promoted as requiring no verification, nor should "batch processing" be described as filing without login in all regions and businesses.

Privacy and archiving: Wages, identity, and deduction information are sensitive business data, and access permissions should be configured on the principle of least necessity with operation logs retained. If electronic materials related to accounting vouchers are archived electronically, they should also satisfyCai Kuai [2020] No. 6 noticeConditions regarding legality and authenticity, safety and reliability, metadata, review and signature, prevention of duplicate posting, and archive management.

(This article is compiled according to currently public rules and is only for process verification; it does not constitute tax advice. For special personnel, special income, corrected filings, and system discrepancies, please refer to the competent tax authority and the latest official guidance.)

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