Being listed as having abnormal business operations is a yellow card; being listed as a serious bad faith entity is a red card. Many business owners think being listed as having abnormal business operations is just a minor issue, so they put it off. But once three years have passed, they’re automatically moved to the serious bad faith list—and the consequences are on an entirely different scale. These rules were updated in 2026; the new regulations are stricter and cover a broader scope. The sooner you understand them, the better you can avoid these pitfalls.

When starting a business in Beijing, the first step isn’t coming up with a name—it’s choosing a district. Within the same industry, whether you set up shop in Haidian, Chaoyang, or Tongzhou can result in differences of tens of thousands in subsidies, tax rebates, and rent reductions. In 2026, many districts in Beijing are competing to attract businesses, but their policies have different focuses; choosing the wrong district means missing out on these benefits.

Many business owners believe that if they stop running their company and leave it unattended, it will automatically be dissolved. This is the most common misconception, and the consequences are often far more severe than the dissolution process itself. A company does not automatically disappear simply because it is no longer in operation; failing to file tax returns or annual reports for an extended period will only lead it to gradually be classified as an “abnormal taxpayer” or have its business operations flagged as “abnormal,” ultimately causing problems for the legal representative.

Mr. Wu, who runs a business on South Africa’s Takealot, wanted to switch from direct shipping to the official warehouse to speed up delivery, but he didn’t realize that warehousing required labeling and inspection—as a result, his first shipment was returned in its entirety because the barcodes were incorrect. He had previously only calculated the commission fees and hadn’t considered the details of warehousing and fulfillment.

去香港开户的深圳老板刘先生，身份证、住址证明、公司文件都带了，却在视频面签被当场中止，理由是「职业属性与账户预期活动不匹配」。