High-tech enterprise information is retained for future reference
After a high-tech enterprise obtains qualifications, the enterprise’s enjoyment of tax incentives shall be handled through the method of “self-judgment, declaration and enjoyment, and relevant information retention for future reference”. High-tech enterprises that enjoy tax incentives should properly keep the following materials for future reference during annual settlement and settlement:
High-tech enterprise qualification certificate; high-tech enterprise certification information; intellectual property-related materials; annual main products (services) ) A description that the technology that plays a core supporting role falls within the scope of the "High-tech Fields Supported by the State", high-tech products (services) and corresponding income information; annual employee and scientific personnel certification materials; research and development for the current year and the previous two fiscal years Total expenses and proportion to sales revenue for the same period, R&D expense management information and R&D expense auxiliary accounts, R&D expense structure details (see Annex 2 of the "High-tech Enterprise Recognition and Management Guidelines" for the specific format); other information specified by the provincial tax authorities.
Time coverage requirements for reference materials
The three years after an enterprise obtains a high-tech qualification certificate are not settled once and for all, and follow-up management work needs to be done. Generally speaking, for corporate income tax final settlement and settlement, the tax department rarely directly initiates a review. Instead, routine inspections by the science and technology department, environmental protection department, safety supervision department, financial department audit and other departments are more likely to find problems. Judging from the random inspections in a certain province in 2019, the problems that emerged are mainly concentrated in the aspects of scientific and technological personnel, R&D expenses, high-tech income, intellectual property acquisition time, etc.: Many companies did not reflect R&D expenses in their tax returns for the past three years; organized on-site spot inspections The passing rate of the defense is very low; among the intellectual property rights checked by the system, several companies were screened out for repeated use of their intellectual property rights...
The time point for review initiation and re-certification should be clarified here. High-tech enterprises usually apply for re-certification in the year of expiration, but this is not always the case. Some enterprises may not meet the certification requirements when the qualification period expires, and will only apply for re-certification after meeting the conditions in subsequent years. Compared with re-certification, the time point of review is more random and uncertain: if the relevant department finds that it does not meet the certification conditions during daily management, it will submit a written request to the certification agency for review. This review trigger time may be in the high-tech enterprise. During the validity period of the qualification, it may also be after the expiration of the high-tech enterprise qualification period, or even after the high-tech enterprise qualification is re-certified.
Therefore, whether it is for future re-certification or to cope with the daily management of relevant departments, enterprises need to pay close attention to the data quality of the relevant reference materials rolling for three consecutive years starting from the year of qualification.
Quality requirements for information for reference
Guokefahuo [2016] No. 32 and Guokefahuo [2016] No. 195 are both enterprise certification (re-certification) standards and maintenance standards. The following are Analysis one by one:
(1) Scientific and technological personnel
Explanatory materials on the company's employees and scientific and technological personnel, including the number of in-service, part-time and temporary employees, the educational structure of the personnel, the list of scientific and technological personnel and their Details of job positions, a table of the number of employees in the enterprise, and documentation proving the number of social security payers at the end of the previous year.
Some areas, such as Guangdong, not only require certified companies to attach information on company personnel at the end of each quarter, screenshots of the summary number of personal income tax payers or documentation proving the number of social security payers (only the summary number is stamped with the official seal of the company) ), and also need to provide the list of scientific and technological personnel of the enterprise and their positions, etc. Specific requirements for scientific and technical personnel should be consulted with the local science and technology department.
(2) Intellectual property rights
Generally speaking, recognition requires more than one Class I intellectual property right and more than five Class II intellectual property rights. In practice, this level can only be regarded as reaching the standard. For inventions, the authorization cycle for invention patents is relatively long. It is normal to take two or three years from acceptance, preliminary examination, publication, substantive examination to authorization. For companies that apply for a large number of invention patents, high-tech enterprises must make advance plans for intellectual property rights.
For an enterprise that has obtained a patent, the annual fee must be paid before the application date. If the patentee fails to pay the annual fee on time for the year or subsequent years when the patent right is granted, or the amount paid is insufficient, the annual fee shall be paid after the expiration of the annual fee payment period. Pay back within six months from the date of payment, and pay late fees at the same time. If the payment time exceeds the patent application date by less than one month, there will be no late payment penalty. If the payment time exceeds the prescribed payment time by one month, an additional 5% of the full annual fee for that year will be charged as a late payment fee for each additional month.
If the payment is not made within 6 months, the National Office will issue a notice of termination of patent rights. Unless there is force majeure (within 2 months from the date when the obstacle is removed, and at the latest 2 years from the date of expiration), the patent must be Within 2 months, you must pay the patent restoration fee and the late payment fee of 25% of the patent annual fee and the full annual fee for the current year; if it has not been done within these two months, the patent right cannot be restored. Companies that want to give up a patent during the maintenance period must confirm whether the patent is really unnecessary and whether giving up will affect re-identification or routine inspections.
When there are multiple owners of the intellectual property, a statement from the other owners agreeing to the company’s use of the intellectual property to declare a high-tech enterprise must be provided, and the owner must affix an official seal. etc.
(3) Research and development activity materials
Enterprises should provide corresponding R&D investment supporting materials based on the different completion times of each RD project in the "High-tech Enterprise Certification Application".
The high-tech enterprise policy does not mandate that the R&D projects of applying companies must be approved by the government. R&D project identification adopts the principle of "enterprise aggregation and expert judgment". However, in order to enhance the credibility of enterprise R&D projects, It is recommended that enterprises actively apply for government science and technology projects at all levels and use red-headed government project documents to support their R&D activities. The enterprise must provide a summary table of "project name + project team members" and stamp it with the company's official seal. etc.
(4) Transformation of scientific and technological achievements
It is best to transform quantitative achievements for more than 5 years each year. Although this is already Grade A, considering that during the certification process, technical experts will question the quality of the transformation of results, appropriately increasing the quantity is currently a generally accepted practice in the practical community.
Scientific and technological achievements do not need to be applied for recognition, but the transformation of the achievements must be during this period. Taking the product research and development cycle as an example, for example, if re-certification is proposed in 2020, the certification period is from 2017 to 2019. It is generally believed that the last half year is the time for product small trials and pilot trials. Therefore, at this stage, we must pay attention to the periodic distribution of results formation and transformation. Expenditures incurred starting from the second half of 2019 need to be included in capitalized expenditures and carried forward as intangible assets; otherwise, it will affect the formation of high-tech products and results. The quality of conversions will also be greatly compromised.
Item-by-item explanatory materials and relevant supporting materials on the overall situation and transformation forms of the enterprise's scientific and technological achievements transformation in the past three years, as well as application results. Scientific and technological achievements, transformation forms, key technologies and technical indicators of the company's high-tech products (services) need to be attached with specific instructions, relevant production approval documents, certification accreditation and qualification certificates, product quality inspection reports and other materials. etc.
(5) Enterprise high-tech product (service) materials
The technical field used in the production of the product shall be used as the basis and reason for judging it to be a high-tech product (service). At the same time, it is necessary to Product accompanying documentation:
1. Description of high-tech products.
2． Enterprises can provide high-tech product certificates, relevant patent certificates or large-amount invoices, etc.
3. In order to enhance the credibility of high-tech products, it is recommended that enterprises participate in local high-tech product certification and obtain high-tech product certificates as authoritative evidence of high-tech products. etc.
(6) Management level of R&D activities
The management level of R&D activities is actually a comprehensive project. Enterprises can organize data with reference to the following aspects: an organizational management system for enterprise research and development has been formulated; Established an R&D investment accounting system and prepared auxiliary accounts for R&D expenses; established an internal scientific and technological research and development institution with corresponding scientific research conditions, and carried out various forms of industry-university-research cooperation with domestic and foreign research and development institutions; established an organization for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements Implement and motivate the reward system and establish an open innovation and entrepreneurship platform; establish the training and further training of scientific and technological personnel, employee skills training, the introduction of outstanding talents, and the talent performance evaluation and reward system.
(7) Other information required by the inspection department.
Practical issues regarding R&D aggregation, high-tech standards and declaration form data
Academia divides R&D expenses into accounting standards, R&D expense super deductions and high-tech enterprise recognition standards. However, in practical assessments, it is generally believed that the total amount of R&D expenses in the annual accounting statements, the total amount of R&D expenses in the "Annual R&D Expenses Structure Details" reported by high-tech enterprises, the "R&D Expenses Super Deduction Details" reported in corporate income tax, and the "Annual R&D "Expense subtotal" amount, there is a basically consistent basis among the three - this is actually an ideal state.
Theory exists to guide practice. On the basis of ensuring compliance with the high-tech ratio, enterprises can simplify the processing and try to achieve consistency between the added amount and the amount of high-tech R&D expenses with the data listed in tax returns and financial audit reports.