Import Tariffs
A comprehensive guide to China’s customs regulations is The Customs Clearance Handbook (2007), compiled by the General Administration of Customs (China Customs). This guide contains the tariff schedule and national customs rules and regulations.
1. Tariff Rates
China Customs assesses and collects tariffs. Import tariff rates are divided into six categories: general rates, most-favored-nation rates, agreement rates, preferential rates, tariff rate quota rates and provisional rates. As a member of the WTO, imports from the United States are assessed at the most-favored-nation rate. The five Special Economic Zones, open cities, and foreign trade zones within cities offer preferential duty reductions or exemptions. Companies doing business in these areas should consult the relevant regulations. China may apply tariff rates significantly lower than the published MFN rate in the case of goods that the government has identified as necessary to the development of a key industry. For example, China's Customs Administration has occasionally announced preferential tariff rates for items in the automobile industry, steel, and chemical products.
2. Customs Valuation
The dutiable value of an imported good is its Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) price, which includes the normal transaction price of the good, plus the cost of packing, freight, insurance, and seller's commission. On January 1, 2002, Customs Order 954, the Administrative Regulation on Examination and Determination of the Dutiable Value of Imported and Exported Goods, came into effect. Under the regulations, China Customs has been tasked with assessing a fair valuation to all imports. To assess a value, all Customs officers now have access to a valuation database that lists appropriate valuations for various imports, based on international market prices, foreign market prices and domestic prices. Customs officers check the price reported by the importer against this database. Normally, Customs officers will accept the importer’s price. However, if the reported value is too far out of line with the database, the Customs officer will estimate the value of the goods based on methods listed in Article 7 of the PRC Administrative Regulations.
3. Tariff classification
Before July 2004, China Customs exclusively used eight-digit codes in its harmonized tariff system, as opposed to a more detailed ten-digit code system. Without detailed codes, Customs officers have wide discretion to classify each import. On July 1, 2004, the Ministry of Commerce announced the use of ten-digit codes for certain items including rare earth, chemicals, internal combustion engines, pumps and automobiles.
4. Taxes
On top of normal tariff duties, both foreign and domestic enterprises are required to pay value-added taxes (VAT) and business taxes. VAT is assessed on sales and importation of goods and processing, repairs and replacement services. Business taxes are assessed on providers of services, the transfer of intangible assets and/or the sales of immovable properties within China. VAT is assessed after the tariff, and incorporates the value of the tariff. China is bound by WTO rules to offer identical tax treatment for domestic and imported products. VAT is collected regularly on imports at the border. Importers note that their domestic competitors often fail to pay taxes.
China offers a variety of tax incentives and concessions. The general VAT rate is 17 percent but necessities, such as agricultural products, fuel and utility items, are taxed at 13 percent. Enterprises regarded as small businesses (those engaged principally in production of taxable goods or services with annual taxable sales of less than RMB 1 million (USD 146,000) or those engaged in wholesaling or retailing of goods with annual sales of less than RMB 1.8 million (USD 263,000) are subject to VAT at the rate of 4 percent or 6 percent, depending on the nature of the business. Unlike other VAT payers, small businesses are not entitled to claim input tax credits for VAT paid on their purchases. Certain limited categories of goods are exempt from VAT. Likewise, many foreign-invested processing enterprises are exempt from certain taxes if they export their products. VAT rebates up to 17 percent (a full rebate) are available for certain exports. The Chinese government frequently adjusts VAT rebate levels to fulfill industrial policy goals.
Exporters complain that it takes months to obtain the rebates and amounts are often miscalculated. Also, rebates are limited by the local budgets, and coastal provincial authorities often run out of funds for rebates well before the end of the year. The applicable rebate method varies and is a function of the establishment date of the enterprise.
The National People's Congress passed a new unified Corporate Income Tax Law in March 2007 that eliminates many of the tax incentives that had typically been available to foreign invested manufacturers. The change, which took effect on January 1, 2008, introduced an overall 25 percent corporate income tax rate in lieu of a previous split between domestic (33 percent) and foreign-invested enterprises (15 percent) rates. There will be a five-year grace period during which foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) will be grandfathered into the new tax rate. The law includes two exceptions to the new 25 percent flat rate: one for qualified small-scale and thin profit companies, which will pay 20 percent, and another to encourage investment by high tech companies, which will pay 15 percent. Additional incentives are available for investments in resource and water conservation, environmental protection, and work safety. Preferential tax treatment for investments in agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, and infrastructure development will continue to apply.
FIEs will likely see narrower profits as a result of the tax changes. However, the law provides new incentives to enterprises with high-wage labor costs. Under the new law, financial services, securities, consulting, and other high-wage professional services firms will be able to deduct all wage outlays from their taxable income, which had previously been limited to RMB 1600 (USD 234) per month, per employee.
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