Income Tax on Enterprises with Foreign Investment and Foreign Enterprises
April 6, 2009
(1) Taxpayers
a. Enterprises with foreign investment include Chinese-foreign equity joint ventures, Chinese-foreign contractual joint ventures and wholly-foreign owned enterprises.
b. Foreign enterprises include foreign companies, enterprises and other economic organizations which have establishments or places in China engaged in production or business operations or which, though without establishments or places in China, have income from sources within China.
(2) Tax base
The enterprises with foreign investment with head office in China pay income tax on their world-wide income. Foreign enterprises pay income tax only on their income derived from sources within China.
The income tax base for enterprises with foreign investment and foreign enterprises is the taxable income which is the amount remaining from its gross income in a tax year after allowable deduction for costs, expenses and losses.
Any foreign enterprise which has no establishment or place in China but derives income of profits, interest, rental, royalties and other income from sources within China or which, though it has an establishment or place in China, the said income is not effectively connected with such establishment or place, is taxed on the basis of the gross amount of such income.
(3) Tax rates and calculation of the amount of tax payable
The income tax on enterprises with foreign investment and foreign enterprises is 30% of the taxable income plus 3% local income tax, totalling 33% rate. Any foreign enterprise which has no establishment or place in China but derives income of profits, interest, rental, royalties and other income from sources within China or which, though it has an establishment or place in China, the said income is not effectively connected with such establishment or place, pays tax of 20% on such income. The formula for computing the amount of tax payable is:
Amount of tax payable = Taxable income ×Applicable tax rate
(4) Main tax incentives
a. Tax exemptions or tax reductions may be granted to enterprises with foreign investment of a production nature, export-oriented enterprises with foreign investment, technologically advanced enterprises with foreign investment, and enterprises with foreign investment and foreign enterprises established in the Special Economic Zones, the Economic and Technological Development Zones, the Coastal Open Economic Zones and the New and High-technology Industrial Development Zones specified by the State.
b. The share of profits earned by foreign investors from their invested enterprises may be exempted from tax. The foreign investor who reinvests its share of profits from enterprises with his investment directly into that enterprise by increasing its registered capital or who uses the profit as capital investment to establish another enterprises with foreign investment may receive some tax refund.
c. The exemption from or reduction of local income tax for any enterprise with foreign investment engaged in an encouraged industry or project may, in accordance with the actual situation, be granted by the People’s Government of the relevant Province, Autonomous Region or Municipality directly under the State Council
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Sinosteel Wins Nod for Aussie Merger
January 25, 2009
Sinosteel Corp, China’s second-biggest iron-ore trading company, won Australian government approval to buy as much as 49.9 percent of Murchison Metals Ltd.
The Chinese company had previously sought approval to acquire up to 100 percent of Perth-based Murchison, Australia’s Treasurer Wayne Swan said yesterday. That application was withdrawn, he said, according to Bloomberg News.
A 49.9 percent stake in Murchison would be worth A$251 million (US$202 million) based on the stock’s last traded price.
Sinosteel controls Midwest Corp, a neighboring iron ore producer to Murchison in Western Australia state’s mid-west region. Murchison is seeking to develop a A$3.5 billion port, rail and mine project with Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp at Oakajee in the state.
“Overseas investment develops assets,” Andrew Forrest, chief executive officer of iron-ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd, said in an interview broadcast on Sky Business News before the approval was issued. “I think you will continue to see growth in foreign investment in Australia because we are resource rich and capital poor.”
Murchison climbed 11 percent to A$1.22 on the Australian Stock Exchange on Friday in Sydney.
The shares fell to the lowest in almost two years the previous day amid concerns that the cost of borrowing funds, needed to develop the project, will increase.
An initial study into developing the Oakajee project is scheduled to be completed by the middle of next year and, if approved, the port may open as early as 2012. Murchison and Mitsubishi won a tender to develop the port in July, beating a rival proposal from a China-backed venture.
“In approving Sinosteel’s application, I have determined that a shareholding of up to 49.9 percent in Murchison will maintain diversity of ownership within the mid-west region,” Swan said in an e-mailed statement.
“The development of such potentially significant new resource areas should occur through arrangements that are open to multiple investors.”
Source: Shanghai Daily
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China Tightening Foreign Investment Restrictions
September 7, 2008
Under pressure from nationlists, China’s government is expected to continue blocking approval of foreign investments in key sectors. In particular, any involving “national strategic industries,” a definition which now specifically includes the bearing industry. And while rejecting more foreign investors outright, it is also consolidating many sectors under state control.
The China Industrial Security Center, part of the State Economic and Trade Commission, said its studies now show foreign merger and acquisition activity in China has reached the point where it has led to essential monopolies in some industries, threatening domestically owned and controlled businesses.
In addition, foreign investment is seen as potentially weakening China’s control over its own destiny in developing infrastructure and supplying defense-related needs.
CISC holds that foreign investments have not produced the often-promised results — access to new technology, international synergies, productivity gains — or delivered operating advantages, or any special improvement in the business at all.
Instead, CISC says allowing foreign direct investment has many risks :
• Market manipulation. It now claims foreign investors use the Chinese companies as tools to control specific domestic Chinese markets, earn outsized profits, then ship those profits out of China and overseas to the parent company.
• Impact on local economies. CISC said China’s economic safety is at risk in allowing foreign financing and ownership of raw materials supplied to domestic energy, transportation, and similar infrastructure dependencies. Similarly, autonomy is at risk when foreigners own key support businesses in the finance and publication sectors.
• Hindering local industry. When they come to relying on foreign funding, input and control, the Chinese businesses become too passive in developing their own skills, products and technologies. This threatens the future of business and may ultimately threaten China’s defense security.
The bearing manufacturing industry was specifically cited as an example of one where foreign involvement should be limited. In the bearing industry, foreign ownership should spark concern — because reliance on foreign resources hinders organic domestic development of skills and resources, and also because it creates the potential for China to rely on foreign-owned bearing manufacturers for the availability of key components needed for domestic security.
• Foreign ownership of large businesses in China, with no government controls, is a threat to the traditional economic system, which relies on many small-scale manufacturers. CISC said foreign-owned multinationals have unfair advantages over local businesses which can be short of technology savvy, and/or do not have much export sales built up.
In China, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account for as much as 70% of domestic manufacturing output. Their access to capital has been hurt by recent government reforms aimed at tightening inflation and throttling back overheated growth.
Recent statistics issued by the State indicate manufacturing businesses are involved in nearly a quarter of all foreign-funded M&A activity in China. Overall, there were 169 M&A deals in China during second quarter 2008 — up 225% from first quarter.
Despite the central government’s stance on majority foreign ownership, locally-solicited foreign investment has been accelerating in manufacturing-heavy provinces. For example, FDI in Sichuan Province this year is up 108% to USD $1.8 billion, despite May’s devastating earthquake. Over 180 new foreign-funded businesses were given approval to begin operations in Sichuan, down 13 percent from 2007. But those businesses have agreed to invest more than $4.2 billion, up 208% from 2007.
Arcelor Mittal was recently rebuffed in its efforts to become more deeply involved in the highly fragmented Chinese steel industry. The Chinese government is consolidating steel producers; it wants the 10 largest, currently at 35% market share, to be at 50% by 2010, and 70% by 2020. Lakshmi Mittal said; “I do not see that in a year or so, the Chinese government will change their strategy where they do not want foreign companies to have a majority control.”
Source: bearings-china.com.cn
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