February 2025 / China

On February 4^th, 2025, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council issued the Announcement on Imposing Additional Tariff on Certain Imported Goods Originating from the US (the "Announcement").

The Announcement specifies that, according to the Tariff Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and regulations, as well as the basic principles of the international laws, and upon approval by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), additional tariff shall be imposed on certain imported goods originating from the US, starting from February 10, 2025.

Relevant matters are notified as below:

• An additional 15% tariff shall be imposed on coal and liquefied natural gas;
• An additional 10% tariff shall be imposed on crude oil, agricultural machinery, large-displacement cars, and pickup trucks; and
• The additional tariffs on the corresponding imported goods from the US, as listed in the appendix, shall be based on the current applicable tariff rates, the existing bonded and tax reduction policies shall remain unchanged, and the additional tariffs imposed will not be subject to reduction or exemption.

The full announcement is available here: https://www.mof.gov.cn/zhengwuxinxi/caizhengxinwen/202502/t20250204_3955222.htm

The State Taxation Administration (STA) released the Announcement on Relevant Matters Concerning the Certificate of Chinese Fiscal Resident (the "Announcement"), with effect from April 1, 2025.

The Announcement proposes the following optimizations：

• Expanding the applicable scenarios for the Certificate of Chinese Fiscal Resident: applicants shall select the purpose of their application based on actual circumstances, whether to claim treaty benefits or not, with the latter covering various overseas scenarios taxpayers have encountered in recent years.
• Enabling full-process online handling: enterprises and individuals may apply for the Certificate of Chinese Fiscal Resident entirely online via the e-tax website and the e-tax website for natural persons, thereby streamlining the application process.
• Adjusting the content in the Certificate of Chinese Fiscal Resident: the certificate now includes additional information such as the taxpayer identification number, removes the signature of the responsible official from the tax authority, and allows for notes on partnerships or other relevant details as needed by applicants, thereby meeting potential personalized demands.
• Reducing processing time: if the competent tax authority may independently determine fiscal residency status, the processing time will be reduced from the current ten working days to seven working days.

The announcement is available here: https://fgk.chinatax.gov.cn/zcfgk/c100012/c5238262/content.html

The State Taxation Administration (STA) has issued the Announcement on Adjusting Matters Related to the Filing of Value-added Tax Returns (the "Announcement"), with effect on February 1, 2025.

According to the Announcement, tax authorities will provide taxpayers with data aggregation services for exported goods subject to applicable value-added tax (VAT) policies. When filing VAT returns for exported goods that are subject to VAT policy, taxpayers must log in to the unified national electronic tax office to complete the confirmation of the purpose of the exported goods data. Taxpayers engaged in processing and re-export businesses are required to report the value of imported materials used in the exported goods when confirming the purpose of the exported goods data. The Announcement also includes adjustments to the instructions for filling out the Value-added Tax and Additional Tax Return (for General Taxpayers) and its attached documents, as well as the instructions for filling out the Value-added Tax and Additional Tax Prepayment Form and its attached documents.

The announcement is available here: https://fgk.chinatax.gov.cn/zcfgk/c100012/c5238176/content.html