I use swapsy.

Google that.

It works wonderfully.

It's basically a way to swap money cross border in a secure way.

Thanks. Sounds good. Has anyone else around here used it?

I know some ways work well!

I Googled Swapsy. I would be very wary of that service for transferring large amounts of cash within a single calendar year. The way the service functions, I would think that each party in the "swap" would be liable for income tax on the money they receive from the other, and the Swapsy website does nothing to address that issue.

I heard that foreigners can transfer money (without limit) as long as they can prove it has been earned AND taxed in China. Anyone tried that?

Yes about ten years ago. I had to provide payslips and forms from tax authority showing income and tax paid (equivalent of a British P60). It worked.

Ocean, that is mostly correct -- I believe the cap is 70% of your annual income. I have transferred funds exceeding the usual thresholds within the last few months.

To recap what I wrote previously on this thread, you need to show the bank three documents: your current employment contract, a certificate of monthly income (收入证明) from your employer, and a tax payment certificate (税收完税证明) from the government tax office.

You should obviously bring the two employer documents when you go to get the tax payment certificate. I don't have the exact address of the tax office, but if memory serves, it is in an office tower on Sanheying Lu just off of Dongfeng Xi Lu.

Although in extreme cases (for example business transactions worth billions) even if you have paid all taxes due, Chinese foreign exchange authorities may be reluctant to take the hit on China's foreign currency reserves citing restrictions that do not apply to regular employees and salary income.

Very useful. Thanks for the advice.

Slightly off topic but gives an insight on "Declaring, Paying Profits and Dividend Out of China." The key concept to keep in mind is that China views repatriation of funds as inconsistent with GDP growth.

www.lehmanbrown.com/[...]