What are the difficulties in taking advantage of China’s Double Tax Agreements?

China has assertively entered into Double Tax Agreements (DTAs) with numerous nations. These agreements provide benefits for companies with a presence in both nations as well as companies that may not have a permanent presence in China but still charge for services to a China-based entity. Despite these benefits, legal and tax professions are effectively split in China therefore law firms oftentimes do not possess knowledge of DTAs and consequently ignore them when structuring foreign investments into China. This serves as a major barrier to taking advantage of China’s DTAs and may lead to unnecessarily burdensome tax overheads.