Registered companies and sole proprietorships must submit their annual reports between January 1 and June 30 each year, even with zero revenue; annual reporting is completely free of charge

Every registered company and individual sole proprietorship must file an annual information report online during the first half of each calendar year. Missing the deadline causes the business to be placed on the official "List of Entities with Abnormal Operations," which can be removed only after rectifying back filings. Official annual reporting is completely free. Phone callers claiming your business is overdue and directing you to paid mini-programs or third-party agencies are criminals: multiple fraudsters have been sentenced to over 10 years in prison for running annual reporting fee scams.

Zero monetary cost. Complete the filing online once per year via the official National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System. Sole proprietors may alternatively submit paper forms. Annual reporting to market supervision authorities is entirely separate from periodic tax returns to the tax bureau. Filing zero-tax returns does not fulfill your annual reporting obligation. The difficulty is remembering an annual requirement that occurs only once per year.

Under the Interim Regulations on Enterprise Information Disclosure (State Council Decree No. 777), enterprises must submit their previous year's annual report to market regulation authorities via the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System between January 1 and June 30 each year for public disclosure. Entities failing to file on time are placed on the List of Entities with Abnormal Operations and subject to statutory administrative penalties. Abnormal enterprise listings are publicly queryable nationwide; listed entities are restricted or barred from government procurement, public engineering bids, commercial leasing, and bank financing. Sole proprietors must likewise file annual reports between January 1 and June 30, with newly registered entities commencing the subsequent year. For companies failing to file annual reports for two consecutive years while remaining unreachable at their registered premises, market supervision authorities are legally mandated to revoke their business licenses. Official Fraud Prosecutions: Market regulators have warned of imposter syndicates posing as official market supervision staff calling business owners to demand "overdue filing fees" via unauthorized mini-programs. In an official case adjudicated by Jingde County Court, Anhui, a front agency tricked 10,099 sole proprietors nationwide into paying 98 to 398 RMB in bogus filing fees totaling 3.19 million RMB; three ringleaders were convicted of fraud and sentenced to between 10.5 and 10.7 years in prison. In another case in Nanhu District, Jiaxing, fraudsters who concealed that online filings are free while threatening fictitious fines were convicted of fraud with sentences up to 4 years.

Primary beneficiary is yourself. If you receive a telephone call alleging an unfiled annual report, hang up immediately and check your entity status directly on the official National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (gsxt.gov.cn) or contact your local market supervision bureau. Never follow unverified SMS links or pay fees through third-party mini-programs. This scam mirrors fake tax collector schemes (see Chapter 12, Rule 14). Submitting periodic zero-tax filings is covered in Chapter 12, Rule 12. If a company's license is revoked for non-compliance, its legally responsible representative is barred from serving as a corporate director, supervisor, or legal representative for three years nationwide (see Chapter 12, Rule 23). If you cease business operations, execute a formal simplified deregistration rather than abandoning filing obligations. Benefit magnitude is categorized as Moderate based on avoiding administrative blacklisting and criminal fraud fees. Primary beneficiary is yourself.

国务院 (2024 修订). 企业信息公示暂行条例（国务院令第 777 号修订，第八、十八、十九条）. https://flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=ff8081819c46fcc5019cd18fc6e9557d（国家法律法规数据库）；市场监管总局 (2025). 关于修改《个体工商户年度报告办法》等四部规章的决定（市场监管总局令第 108 号，附重新公布的个体工商户年度报告办法第三、五、八、十、十三、十六条，企业经营异常名录管理办法第六、十一条）. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2026/issue_12546/202602/content_7057451.html；市场监管总局 (2023). @所有经营主体，这些都是假的（中国政府网部门动态转载，原发市场监管总局「市说新语」微信公众号）. https://www.gov.cn/lianbo/bumen/202311/content_6917465.htm；市场监管总局 (2024). 市场监管总局发布提示：年报不收费，切勿受骗上当（滨州市市场监督管理局转载）. http://amr.binzhou.gov.cn/art/2024/12/16/art_164869_10306521.html；安徽省旌德县人民法院 (2025). 冒充市场监管人员以年审申报收费诈骗个体工商户案（无锡市市场监督管理局转载）. https://scjgj.wuxi.gov.cn/doc/2025/03/20/4524579.shtml；嘉兴市南湖区人民法院 (2024). 企业年报要费用？莫入「年报诈骗」陷阱. http://nhcourt.gov.cn/art/2024/7/23/art_1217290_58718476.html