In order to further strengthen and improve the tax management of foreign companies' transportation income and the management of international shipping industry's external payment, State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange issued the Notice on Strengthening the tax management of foreign companies' transportation income and the management of international shipping industry's external payment on February 4 (Guo Shui Fa [2006 54 38+0] 139) (hereinafter referred to as the Notice). This circular shall be implemented as of 5: 00 in 2002. 1.
According to the notice, the units or individuals that directly or indirectly pay the freight to foreign companies that earn shipping income are withholding agents of the tax payable by foreign companies, including wholly foreign-owned shipping companies, national shipping agencies, international freight forwarding companies and other units or individuals that pay international shipping freight. The withholding agent shall, before each foreign payment of freight, take the total amount of freight paid abroad as the total amount of taxable income, and directly deduct the taxable amount from the taxpayer's total freight according to the prescribed tax string. At the same time, the withholding agent shall submit it to the local competent State Taxation Bureau (income tax return for withholding foreign company's shipping income) and the local taxation bureau (business tax return for withholding foreign company's shipping income) respectively.
According to the agreements concluded between China and other countries on avoiding double taxation and mutual exemption of international transportation income of maritime enterprises, maritime agreements and related agreements, or the provisions of the exchange of letters between Britain and other countries, foreign companies that can enjoy tax reduction and exemption must declare to the local competent state taxation bureau (certificate of exemption of enterprise income tax for foreign companies' transportation income), declare to the local competent local taxation bureau (certificate of exemption of business tax for foreign companies' transportation income) and provide other relevant supporting documents. Those who have not applied for tax exemption or provided relevant supporting documents shall not enjoy tax exemption treatment. Freight forwarders and foreign enterprises that fail to submit tax exemption certificates in time should pay taxes according to regulations first, and then apply for tax refund after obtaining tax exemption certificates.
When withholding agents pay freight to foreign companies under international trade export, they shall submit tax payment vouchers or tax exemption certificates to designated foreign exchange banks. If the tax payment certificate or tax exemption certificate cannot be provided as required, foreign exchange payment shall not be made. According to the Law on the Collection and Administration of Taxation and Animal Husbandry, if the withholding agent fails to collect tax according to law, the tax authorities shall recover the tax from the freight forwarder and other taxpayers and impose a fine of more than 50% and less than three times the tax collected.
Tax management of NVOCC
According to the International Meiyuan Regulations and related regulations, China enterprises as legal persons and overseas international shipping companies should apply to the Ministry of Communications for NVOCC business in China and submit relevant application materials to obtain the NVOCC Business Qualification Registration Certificate. The Notice of State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China on Issues Concerning the Use of Invoices in International Non-vessel Shipping (Guo [2002] No.404) stipulates that freight forwarding enterprises registered in China and legally obtained the registration certificate of the Ministry of Communications (non-vessel shipping business qualification) may apply to the tax authorities for the purchase and use of special invoices for international shipping.
For a period of time, the issue of whether the income of non-vessel shipping business should be paid according to the transportation business tax (the tax rate is 3%) or the service business tax (the tax rate is 5%) has become the focus of debate.
People who think that taxes should be paid according to the transportation tax items think that freight forwarding enterprises engaged in non-vessel shipping business, as carriers, accept loans from shippers, issue bills of lading or transport certificates on their own, collect freight from shippers, assume the responsibilities of carriers and engage in transportation business activities. Therefore, taxes should be paid according to the transportation tax items.
Those who think that taxes should be paid according to the service industry tax items think that transportation refers to the business activities of transporting goods or passengers to their destinations by means of transportation or manpower and animal power, so that their spatial positions are shifted. Although NVOCC acts as a carrier in NVOCC business, it does not engage in transportation business activities stipulated by tax law. In commercial activities, NVOCC only issues bills of lading in its own name, not in the name of the carrier. Although its income is called freight, its actual income is still the service fee income obtained by the organization activities that provide transportation operations, regardless of whether the income of freight forwarders is agency service fee income or other service fee income. Therefore, NVOCC business still needs to be taxed according to service tax items.
With the continuous expansion of the scale and strength of freight forwarding enterprises, their business scope is also expanding. Some freight forwarding enterprises are engaged in transportation, warehousing and other business activities in addition to loans and transportation agency business. Although these business activities are subject to business tax, they belong to different business tax items and have different tax rates. According to the provisions of the tax law, freight forwarding enterprises and taxpayers who have different taxable items shall separately account for the turnover of different tax items; If the turnover is not accounted for separately, a higher tax rate shall apply. Therefore; Freight forwarding enterprises should separately account for the income obtained from various business activities to avoid overpaying taxes due to improper accounting treatment.
In addition, freight forwarders engaged in business activities such as property leasing, cargo transportation or warehousing shall pay stamp duty. Such as motor vehicles, mechanical equipment, ships, etc. If it is leased, stamp duty shall be paid at one thousandth of the contract amount of the property lease. Engaged in the transportation of goods, stamp duty shall be paid at 0.5 ‰ of the contract amount of goods transportation. Engaged in warehousing business, stamp duty shall be paid according to one third of the warehousing contract. In freight forwarders, if documents are only issued without a contract, or if the contract is not standardized, stamp duty shall be paid according to the actually calculated amount.
In addition, the value-added tax increased by 6% from August 2065438 to August 2003, and the freight forwarder needs to adjust the freight price appropriately according to the overcharged fees of the shipping company.