# Services agreement checklist for a freelancer in China

Edition October 2026. Not legal advice. A checklist to review a draft with your own lawyer. Every article cited was read at its official source on October 18, 2026.

## Part A. Who and what

- [ ] **Parties.** The freelancer’s full legal name as it appears on their official documents, their address, and the exact entity that signs for you. Leave out the freelancer’s identity card number: you don’t need it to name them, and the copy you store abroad is safer without it. *Why:* a Chinese court only takes a claim against a clearly identified defendant, so a nickname or a chat handle won’t do. *Law:* Civil Procedure Law art. 122 (a claim needs a definite defendant) and art. 124 (the complaint gives the defendant’s name and address).
- [ ] **Scope and deliverables.** Each deliverable named, with its format and the test it has to pass to be accepted. *Why:* a defined result that the freelancer organizes is what makes this a services contract rather than a job. *Law:* the 2005 labor-relationship notice, test 2, which asks whether the person works under your management doing paid work you arrange. [How to write a brief a freelancer in China can bid on](https://www.chinatalentdesk.com/en/insights/write-a-brief-freelancers-can-bid-on) shows how to set out the scope.
- [ ] **Milestones and acceptance.** A date, a fee and a review window for each milestone, and a line saying that silence after the window counts as acceptance. *Why:* it limits what is at stake at once and stops finished work sitting unapproved. *Law:* general contract law; no single article.
- [ ] **Independence.** The freelancer sets their own hours, place and tools, may work for other clients, isn’t bound by your staff rules or attendance and holds no title in your organization. *Why:* these are the facts China’s labor test looks at when it decides whether a relationship is employment. *Law:* the 2005 notice (all three tests, and the evidence it lists, from pay records to attendance); the 2021 guidance, which puts self-directed freelance work under civil law. [Contractor or employee in China](https://www.chinatalentdesk.com/en/rules/contractor-or-employee) explains the tests, and [the employee-or-freelancer check](https://www.chinatalentdesk.com/en/tools/do-you-need-an-employee) runs them on your case.

## Part B. Money

- [ ] **Fee, currency and invoice.** The amount for each milestone, the currency and who invoices whom. *Why:* the money meets limits on the freelancer’s side, and the currency decides which ones. *Law:* State Administration of Foreign Exchange rules: each person can convert USD 50,000 a year with just an ID, and more with proof of the transaction; an inbound transfer of USD 3,000 or more needs a balance-of-payments declaration first. [What freelancers in China cost](https://www.chinatalentdesk.com/en/costs/freelancers) helps you set the fee.
- [ ] **Payment route and purpose.** The route named (a bank wire, a licensed remitter to Alipay or UnionPay, or a payer in China in RMB) and the payment described as what it is: a fee for services. *Why:* a payment labeled as something it isn’t, or split to stay under a limit, breaks the rules of the route. *Law:* Measures for the Administration of Individual Foreign Exchange, art. 7 (no splitting to evade limits, no false commercial documents). On one remitter’s published terms, a business paying an individual in CNY uses UnionPay or Alipay, not a plain bank transfer; its Alipay route takes business payments only as “Salary” or “Services,” at most 50,000 CNY per transfer; and a person can receive at most 300,000 CNY a year for services, counting every provider.
- [ ] **Tax.** A line on who declares the freelancer’s income. *Why:* Chinese law makes the payer the withholding agent, but a foreign payer with no Chinese tax registration normally can’t withhold, so in practice the freelancer usually declares the income themselves. *Law:* Individual Income Tax Law art. 9 (the payer withholds) and art. 13 (with no withholding agent, the taxpayer files by the 15th of the following month); Implementing Regulations art. 3 (pay for services performed in China is China-source income, wherever it is paid).
- [ ] **Expenses.** Which costs you reimburse, against which receipts, and the cap. *Why:* a trip or a courier fee agreed in a chat is the first thing argued about later. *Law:* general contract law; no single article.

## Part C. The work you are paying for

If you only have time for one part, make it this one.

- [ ] **Assignment of copyright.** A written assignment of the economic rights in each deliverable, taking effect when the milestone is paid. List the rights in Copyright Law art. 10, items 5 to 17: reproduction, distribution, rental, exhibition, performance, screening, broadcasting, online dissemination, filming, adaptation, translation, compilation and the rest. Name the work, the rights, the territory, the price and when and how it is paid. *Why:* without a written assignment the freelancer owns the copyright in what you paid for, and any right the contract doesn’t name stays with them. *Law:* Copyright Law art. 19 (a commissioned work belongs to its maker unless the contract says otherwise), art. 27 (a transfer needs a written contract, and lists its contents) and art. 29 (rights not expressly transferred can’t be used without consent). [Who owns commissioned work in China](https://www.chinatalentdesk.com/en/rules/who-owns-commissioned-work) goes through the rule.
- [ ] **Moral rights.** How attribution and integrity will be handled: for example, the freelancer agrees not to be named and consents to your edits. *Why:* the rights to publish, to be named, to revise and to keep the work intact are not on the list of rights that can be transferred. *Law:* Copyright Law art. 10, items 1 to 4 and paragraph 3.
- [ ] **Inventions.** If the work could produce an invention, who holds the right to apply for a patent, and the freelancer’s duty to sign the assignment and help register it with CNIPA, China’s patent office. *Why:* the inventor holds that right unless the contract says otherwise, and a transfer only takes effect once it is registered. *Law:* Patent Law art. 8 (commissioned inventions) and art. 10 (written contract, CNIPA registration, effect from registration, further formalities for a transfer to a foreign party).
- [ ] **Pre-existing material.** The freelancer’s own tools, code libraries, fonts or templates used in the work, listed, with a license to you rather than an assignment. *Why:* you need to use them inside the deliverable, and they need to keep using them for other clients. *Law:* Copyright Law art. 10, paragraph 2 (an owner may license the rights in items 5 to 17).
- [ ] **Source files and handover.** Which files come with each milestone (source code, layered design files, editable documents) and where they are delivered. *Why:* owning the rights in a design is of little use without the files to change it. *Law:* general contract law; no single article.
- [ ] **Confidentiality.** What counts as confidential, how long the duty lasts after the project ends, and how your material is returned or deleted. *Why:* the project ends, but your files stay on the freelancer’s laptop unless the contract says what happens to them. *Law:* general contract law; no single article.

## Part D. People’s data

- [ ] **Personal data.** If the freelancer handles personal information about people in China for you (customer lists, survey answers, user tests), or you receive theirs: the purpose, the kinds of data and who receives them abroad, with separate consent where the law asks for it. *Why:* sending personal information out of China has its own conditions, and the exemptions don’t remove all of them. *Law:* Personal Information Protection Law art. 13 (lawful grounds), art. 38 (conditions for a transfer abroad) and art. 39 (notice and separate consent); CAC Order 16 art. 5 (when the filings are not needed) and art. 10 (notice, separate consent and an impact assessment still apply).

## Part E. When things go wrong

- [ ] **Language of the contract.** Both languages, with one clause naming the version that prevails. *Why:* if a dispute reaches a Chinese court, the case runs in Chinese, and any translation is at your cost. *Law:* Civil Procedure Law art. 273.
- [ ] **Governing law and disputes.** The law chosen and the forum: a named court, or arbitration. *Why:* a contract claim against a person in China is heard where they live or where the contract is performed, a foreign judgment needs recognition in China under a treaty or reciprocity, and your litigation lawyer in a Chinese court must be a PRC lawyer. *Law:* Civil Procedure Law arts. 22 and 24 (where to sue), 274 (a PRC lawyer), 277 (a written choice of a Chinese court), 288 (a written arbitration clause keeps a foreign-related trade dispute out of court), 298 and 299 (foreign judgments) and 304 (foreign arbitral awards); Supreme People’s Court Guiding Case 235 (February 2026), in which a Shanghai court recognized English judgments on the ground of reciprocity.
- [ ] **Termination and handover.** The notice period, payment for work accepted to date and the handover of work in progress. *Why:* a project that stops halfway should leave you with what you paid for. *Law:* general contract law; no single article.
- [ ] **Subcontracting.** Whether the freelancer may hand any part of the work to someone else, and only with your written consent. *Why:* a subcontractor holds your files, and what they make is theirs unless a written contract passes it on. *Law:* Copyright Law art. 19, which applies to the subcontractor’s work too.
- [ ] **Signatures.** Each party’s name, the date and the signing method agreed: ink, a signed scan or an electronic signature. *Why:* in a dispute you’ll need to show who signed, and when. *Law:* general contract law; no single article.

## The law behind each clause

| Clause | Law | Article | Source | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scope, independence | Notice on Matters Concerning the Establishment of Labor Relations (劳社部发〔2005〕12号) | 1 (three tests), 2 (evidence) | [Official copy](https://rsj.xuchang.gov.cn/uploadfile/74484b8b-4301-47b0-8848-967ee54f94a5/20221231121135820.pdf) | October 18, 2026 |
| Independence | Guiding Opinions on Workers in New Forms of Employment (人社部发〔2021〕56号) | Part 1, item 2 | [gov.cn](https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2021-07/23/content_5626761.htm) | October 18, 2026 |
| Copyright, moral rights, pre-existing material, subcontracting | Copyright Law | 10, 19, 27, 29 | [WIPO Lex](https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/zh/legislation/details/21065) | October 18, 2026 |
| Inventions | Patent Law | 8, 10 | [CNIPA](https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2020/11/23/art_97_155167.html) | October 18, 2026 |
| Fee, payment route | SAFE policy explanations (8); individual foreign exchange guide; Measures for the Administration of Individual Foreign Exchange | Annual quota; USD 3,000 declaration; art. 7 | [SAFE](https://www.safe.gov.cn/ningxia/2022/0929/1997.html), [guide](https://www.safe.gov.cn/ningxia/file/file/20170728/3efb62e0597a40439ec303225fdfd22d.pdf), [Measures](https://www.safe.gov.cn/safe/2022/0818/21330.html) | October 18, 2026 |
| Fee, payment route | Wise’s own published limits (a provider’s rules, not law) | Alipay route; CNY guide | [Alipay](https://wise.com/help/articles/2kTApouGnjRj6JM1yduMIL), [CNY](https://wise.com/help/articles/2955298) | October 18, 2026 |
| Tax | Individual Income Tax Law; Implementing Regulations | 9, 13; 3 | [Law](https://fgk.chinatax.gov.cn/zcfgk/c100009/c5193028/content.html), [Regulations](https://fgk.chinatax.gov.cn/zcfgk/c100010/c5194444/content.html) | October 18, 2026 |
| Personal data | Personal Information Protection Law; CAC Order No. 16 | 13, 38, 39; 5, 10 | [PIPL](https://www.cac.gov.cn/2021-08/20/c_1631050028355286.htm), [Order 16](https://www.cac.gov.cn/2024-03/22/c_1712776611775634.htm) | October 18, 2026 |
| Parties, language, disputes | Civil Procedure Law (2023 amendment) | 22, 24, 122, 124, 273, 274, 277, 288, 298, 299, 304 | [Official copy](https://fgw.sh.gov.cn/cmsres/2f/2f008e6cf40e44afadb05f4e8a09357d/bf0ed6e54b9153c78d2cebabcdac207c.pdf) | October 18, 2026 |
| Disputes | Supreme People’s Court, Guiding Case No. 235 | Whole case | [court.gov.cn](https://english.court.gov.cn/2026-02/10/c_1160177.htm) | October 18, 2026 |

ChinaTalentDesk editorial team. Edition October 2026. Not legal advice. https://www.chinatalentdesk.com/en/templates/freelance-services-agreement