China EOR Provider Due Diligence Checklist

Every EOR provider you talk to will tell you they are compliant. None of them will fail their own sales call. So the useful question is never "are you compliant?", it's "show me". This checklist is the show-me list: 42 questions across 14 areas, each with the evidence you should request and the reason it matters, so the answers you collect are documents rather than adjectives.

We built it from the buyer's side of the table, using the checks we would run on ourselves. Use it before you sign anything. It works equally on global platforms and local Chinese firms, including us. If you are still at the stage of deciding what matters and why, start with our guide to choosing a China EOR provider, then come back here to collect the evidence.

How to use this checklist

Send the workbook to your shortlisted providers, or work through it on calls. Every question has an "Evidence to request" column on purpose: an answer without a document is a promise, and promises do not survive labour arbitration.

Three practical rules. Give providers a deadline (48 to 72 hours is fair; the documents should already exist). Accept redacted samples, since client confidentiality is legitimate and redaction solves it. And record everything in the workbook, because the point is comparability: the same 42 questions, side by side, across every vendor.

Rate each answer pass, clarify, or reject. More than three "clarify" ratings in the legal and payroll modules usually means you are early in that provider's learning curve. You do not want to fund it.

Module 1: Buyer requirements and scope

Before interrogating vendors, fix your own facts. Four questions to answer internally:

Module 2: Legal entity and contracting party

Module 3: Employment and licence evidence

Module 4: Payroll, IIT and funding controls

Module 5: Social insurance and housing fund

Module 6: Employment contracts and HR policies

Module 7: Benefits, expenses and variable pay

Module 8: Employee data and PIPL

Module 9: Onboarding SLA and escalation

Module 10: Termination, severance and dispute support

Module 11: Pricing, deposits and hidden costs

A provider that will not put a full year-one number in writing is asking you to compare on the one figure it controls. For reference, our own published pricing states the EOR management fee up front — US$298 per employee per month, with salary, employer contributions and recruitment quoted separately.

Module 12: Business continuity and provider exit

Module 13: References and evidence room

Module 14: Final risk rating

Score the workbook: pass / clarify / reject per question. Then apply judgement where it belongs. Legal-entity and payroll-control failures are structural; do not talk yourself past them because the demo was good or the price was low. Pricing and service-model gaps are negotiable. Data answers that were fluent matter more than data answers that were long.

If two providers finish close, re-run questions 36 to 38 only. Termination support is where close races should be decided, because it is the module you will care about most on the worst day of the relationship.

The editable workbook (CSV/XLSX) with owner, status, evidence-link and risk columns is free to download, no email required. If you would rather pressure-test a completed workbook than fill one alone, we are happy to be one of the vendors scored: request our evidence pack and put us in the comparison.

FAQ

How long should EOR due diligence take? For one or two hires, a focused week: send the workbook, take two calls, verify the entity yourself. For larger teams or regulated industries, two to three weeks with legal review of the MSA and data terms. The checklist compresses the calendar because evidence requests run in parallel instead of surfacing one surprise at a time.

What is the single most important check? Question 5. Name the employing entity, then verify it independently on gsxt.gov.cn. Every other answer hangs off that one, because the entity that signs the labour contract is the entity carrying your employment risk.

Do these questions apply to global EOR platforms too? Especially to them. Platforms often deliver China through local partners, so questions 5 to 12 should be answered about the partner entity, not the brand on the invoice. A good platform will pass them without friction.

Is it rude to ask a vendor for payslips and contribution records? No, and their reaction is data. Redacted samples protect client confidentiality completely. A provider that treats basic evidence requests as an insult is telling you how post-sale conversations will go.

Can we skip due diligence for just one hire? The workload argument cuts the other way: one employee means one entity, one city, one quote to check, an afternoon of work. The downside, mishandled severance or unpaid contributions, is the same species of problem at any headcount. Small hires deserve the checklist most, because nobody else is watching.

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Sources

• Labour Contract Law of the People's Republic of China — written contract within one month (Art. 10), probation limits (Art. 19), statutory severance (Arts. 46–47)
• Social Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China — employer registration within 30 days of hire (Art. 58), contribution duties (Art. 60)
• Individual Income Tax Law — monthly withholding and remittance by the 15th (Art. 14)
• Interim Regulations on the Human Resources Market — licence and filing requirements for HR services
• Labour dispatch rules — RMB 2m minimum capital, temporary/auxiliary/substitute roles, 10% workforce cap
• Personal Information Protection Law Art. 38 and the March 2024 CAC cross-border data provisions

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