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