This page offers independently translated, employer-relevant selections from the 1990 National Bureau of Statistics provisions on the composition of total wages. They define a statistical and accounting concept, not by themselves every item’s treatment for individual income tax or social-insurance contributions.
Original Chinese document: 关于工资总额组成的规定（1990年国家统计局令第1号）. Reviewed: 26 October 2026. This is a selected, independently prepared English translation and commentary, not a certified full text.
Table of Contents
Chapter I — Meaning and scope (Articles 1–3)
Selected Chinese provision, translated into English: Article 3: Total wages means the aggregate labor remuneration that an organization pays directly to all of its employees during a specified period. The total is measured by remuneration actually paid directly to employees. Articles 1–2 explain the purpose of standardizing the statistical and accounting scope of these payments.
Employer relevance: For an employer, the first task is to distinguish gross wage statistics from taxable income, pension base and accounting costs, which may follow different rules.
Chapter II — Six categories (Article 4)
Selected Chinese provision, translated into English: Article 4: Total wages comprise six categories: time-based pay; piece-rate pay; bonuses; allowances and subsidies; overtime pay; and pay made under particular circumstances.
Employer relevance: Payroll mapping should account for these components instead of using basic salary alone as a proxy for total wages.
What the categories include (Articles 5–10)
Selected Chinese provision, translated into English: Articles 5–6 describe remuneration measured by time or output. Article 7 addresses bonuses linked to performance or increased savings and efficiency. Article 8 covers allowances or subsidies that compensate for special or additional labor or address other specified needs. Article 9 identifies pay for additional working time. Article 10 covers pay in specific circumstances as defined by the regulation.
Employer relevance: Assess the actual nature of a payment; a payroll label is not a reliable exemption by itself.
Chapter III — Items outside total wages (Articles 11–12)
Selected Chinese provision, translated into English: Article 11 excludes certain awards, employee welfare and labor-insurance costs, pension or retirement-related benefits, labor-protection expenditure and specified travel, meal or relocation expense payments, among other listed items. Article 12 provides for separate statistics for the excluded categories.
Employer relevance: An exclusion from statistical ‘total wages’ is not an automatic exclusion from IIT, social-insurance contributions or employer reporting under another law.
Sources: Official Chinese policy text. This explanation is general information and does not replace legal, payroll or tax advice.
