Foreign Invested Commercial Enterprise (FICE)

A Foreign Invested Commercial Enterprise is a foreign company, which does not concentrate on production in China but on import and export. A FICE is a Wholly Owned by Foreign Enterprise (WOFE) with import and export rights. Like a WOFE, a FICE could be completely financed by a foreign investment and a Chinese partner is not required. Exceptions are products like books, sugar, salt, oil etc. For these products a Joint Venture with a Chinese Partner is required. In general a FICE has no rights for tax advantages and is being taxed like a Chinese invested company. This means tax planning at the pre-incorporation stage must be part of the investment structuring process.

The incorporation procedure of a FICE differs from the incorporation procedure of a WOFE because a FICE needs a pre-approval of Chinese import and export authorities.

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