Paid-in Capital in China
A source-and-date explanation of paid-in capital, including event disclosure, annual-report cut-offs, independent evidence, and missing-field meanings.
Paid-in capital is the amount a shareholder has actually contributed toward its subscribed commitment, measured at a stated date. In Chinese public-company information, the relevant shareholder field is often 实缴出资额. Financial documents may use related labels such as 实收资本 or share capital, but the source, scope, and cut-off must match before values are treated as equivalent.
Paid in versus subscribed
Registered capital records the subscribed amount for the company under the applicable registration framework. Paid-in capital records performance of that commitment to date. The two numbers can match, or paid-in can be lower while a valid future contribution deadline remains.
China's current Company Law requires companies to publicize each limited-company shareholder's subscribed and paid-in amount, contribution method, and contribution date. It also distinguishes money contributions from eligible non-cash property: money is paid into the company's bank account, while property contributions require the relevant rights transfer. Read Articles 40 and 48-49 in the official policy database.
That distinction matters. An RMB 2 million paid-in disclosure does not necessarily mean RMB 2 million of cash arrived, and it never means the same cash remains available today.
Three source clocks
1. Event-based public disclosure
Current SAMR measures require limited-company shareholder subscribed and paid-in amounts, methods, and dates to be publicized through the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System within 20 working days after the information arises. The company must keep the information true, accurate, and complete. See Articles 5, 6, and 11.
This is the most current public-disclosure clock when the event is properly filed. It is still company-reported information, not automatic bank verification or an audit opinion.
2. Annual-report disclosure
An enterprise annual report covers the previous reporting year. The disclosure regulation includes shareholder subscribed and paid-in amounts, times, and methods among annual-report fields. Read the official regulation.
Beijing's filing instructions explain that annual-report subscribed and paid-in figures are cumulative as of 31 December of the report year, with the last contribution date in that period. See the official filing instructions. A 2025 annual report viewed in mid-2026 may therefore be correct to 31 December 2025 yet omit a 2026 contribution. The detailed cross-year method belongs in Read a Chinese Company Annual Report.
3. Independent or transaction documents
Audited financial statements, a scoped audit workpaper, a capital-verification report where one exists, bank receipt evidence, and transfer or valuation documents for non-cash property can answer different questions. Record the document issuer, covered entity, period, currency, shareholder scope, contribution form, and any qualification.
Do not demand a “capital verification report” as though every limited company must file one at registration. Current SAMR measures say that ordinary limited companies and certain other formations generally do not submit one for registration, while publicly raised joint-stock companies and specially regulated cases can have different requirements.
Zero, unavailable, stale, and conflicting are different
- Explicit zero: the identified source reports zero for the covered shareholder and date.
- Unavailable: the source does not expose a value, no covered filing was found, or the report omits the field. Do not convert this to zero.
- Stale: the value has a clear older cut-off and a later contribution may exist.
- Conflicting: two sources with comparable scope and dates disagree. Preserve both and resolve the source chain.
A newly formed company may not yet have an annual report. A future subscription deadline may not yet require full contribution. A third-party profile may also capture one reporting year while a current public filing has moved on. None of these situations can be diagnosed from a blank number alone.
How to label paid-in evidence
Use a complete sentence in the review file:
The [source type] for [Chinese legal name and USCC], retrieved [date], reports cumulative paid-in contributions of [amount, unit, and currency] for [shareholder scope] as of [cut-off date], contributed by [method if shown]. The source is [company-reported / independently audited / other], and [limitations or conflicts] remain.
This wording prevents a source-limited field from becoming a timeless fact.
What it cannot prove
Paid-in capital is not current cash, revenue, net assets, solvency, a credit limit, factory capacity, or proof that a supplier will perform. Contributed money may have been spent in normal operations, and contributed non-cash property may not be liquid. For commercial interpretation rather than field definition, use What Registered Capital Tells Buyers.