July 2022 / China

July 29 2022

China’s economy expected to improve amid supportive policies in H2: report

China's economy is expected to gradually overcome the negative impacts of the epidemic in the second half of this year, with economic indicators showing improvement amid a raft of supportive policies, according to a report by the Bank of China.

Noting that risks including rising global inflation, geopolitical tensions and volatile international financial markets might continue to weigh on the economic outlook, the report said domestic demand will play a key role in stabilizing the country's growth during the second half of the year.

It added that China's economic fundamentals and potential for long-term growth remain unchanged.

Despite the challenges, the country's employment has remained stable and the price rise has been kept within a moderate range, leaving more room for authorities to maneuver macro policies, according to the report.

Going ahead, the report has suggested leveraging fiscal and monetary policies further to help enterprises tide over difficulties, and expand effective investment and stabilize growth.

More efforts should be made to spur consumption, promote the steady development of the real estate sector, and foster long-term competitiveness through technological upgrading and innovation, the report said.

Reference: Xinhua
July 29 2022

China’s Hainan sees trade grow with RCEP members

South China's island province of Hainan saw its trade with members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) grow rapidly in the first five months of this year, local authorities said.

Exports and imports of goods between Hainan with RCEP member states reached 25.79 billion yuan (about 3.85 billion U.S. dollars) during the period, up 44.1 percent year on year, according to a media briefing held Tuesday by the information office of the Hainan provincial government.

Foreign trade in services between the province with RCEP member countries exceeded 2.7 billion yuan, accounting for 21.64 percent of the total imports and exports of services in Hainan.

From January to May, Hainan has attracted 47 million U.S. dollars of investment from RCEP member states and established 79 new foreign-funded enterprises mainly from countries including Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Thailand.

As one of the country's major opening-up measures in the new era, China aims to build the whole of Hainan Island into a globally influential and high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.

An increasing number of foreign-funded companies have shown interest in the policies related to the Hainan free trade port, and the province has made positive results in seizing the opportunities brought by the implementation of RCEP and promoting the two-way investment, said Li Xie, deputy head of the provincial department of commerce.

Source: Xinhua

July 26 2022

GAC Waives Administrative Penalties on Importers and Exporters Voluntarily Disclosing Tax-related Violations

The General Administration of Customs ("GAC") released on July 1, 2022 the Announcement of Waiving Administrative Penalties on Voluntary Disclosure of Tax-related Violations, to be effective from July 1, 2022 until December 31, 2023.

According to the Announcement, importers and exporters will be waived from administrative penalties if they:

(1) make a voluntary disclosure of tax-related violations to the customs within six months from the date of the violations; or

(2) make a voluntary disclosure of tax-related violations to the customs after six months but within one year from the date of the violations, provided that the evaded or underpaid amount of taxes account for less than 30% of the taxes payable, or the evaded or underpaid amount of taxes is less than 1 million yuan.

July 29 2022

Online shopping spree mirrors consumption recovery

As the June 18 shopping festival has come to an end, Chinese consumers have set off a mid-year consumption boom.

During the festival, the total amount of orders placed on JD.com, China's e-commerce behemoth, hit a record high of 379.3 billion yuan (about 56.7 billion U.S. dollars). The total hours of livestreaming on the e-commerce platform Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, reached 40.45 million hours, which helped the sales of its online shopping mall surge 514 percent year on year.

Targeting some small and medium-sized enterprises facing the pressure of rising costs, multiple e-commerce platforms launched a slew of supportive policies during the shopping spree. JD.com provided the enterprises with a variety of financial services, including deferred repayment as well as reduction or exemption of interests and fees.

Douyin invested 2.5 billion yuan worth of subsidies to support those businesses affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. Pinduoduo bailed out some enterprises through logistics subsidies and other measures. Those platforms also benefited consumers during the event. JD.com issued nearly 1 billion yuan worth of coupons in Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Changsha and other cities.

In addition to the e-commerce platforms, local authorities across the country have also adopted similar policies to further promote consumption.

From May to August, the southern metropolis of Shenzhen will offer the consumers who buy eligible household appliances subsidies worth 15 percent of the sales price. Each consumer can receive a subsidy of up to 2,000 yuan in total. The provinces with abundant tourism resources, including Sichuan, Hainan and Fujian, have been taking measures such as the issue of subsidies and coupons to boost consumption.

Source: Xinhua

July 26 2022

Tax Authority announced on the administration of stamp tax collection to make the declaration term clear

We remind you that the Stamp Duty Law of the People's Republic of China, adopted at the 29th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on June 10, 2021, has became effective from July 1, 2022.

Tax authority of Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen have make announcements on the administration of stamp tax collection respectively to make the declaration term clear.

Shanghai Tax Authority:

  1. Stamp tax of taxable contracts shall be declared and paid quarterly. Taxpayers who do not often file taxable contracts can choose to declare and pay based on each transaction.
  2. Stamp tax of taxable documents for transferring property rights shall be declared and paid based on each transaction. Taxpayers who have to often file such documents and feel difficulty to declare based on transaction, can choose to declare and pay on a quarterly basis.
  3. Stamp tax of taxable business books shall be declared and paid on a yearly basis.
  4. Stamp tax for overseas enterprises or individuals shall be paid based on each transaction. Taxpayers who have difficulty can choose to declare and pay on a yearly basis.

Beijing Tax Authority:

  1. Stamp tax of taxable contracts and documents of transferring property rights shall be declared and paid based on each transaction; Taxpayers who are enterprises can choose to declare and pay on a quarterly basis.
  2. Stamp tax of taxable business books shall be declared and paid on a yearly basis.
  3. Stamp tax for overseas enterprises or individuals shall be paid based on each transaction. Taxpayers who have difficulty can choose to declare and pay on a yearly basis.

Shenzhen Tax Authority:

  1. Taxpayers who are enterprises shall declare and pay the stamp duty of taxable contracts and documents of transferring property rights on a quarterly basis.
  2. Stamp tax of taxable business books shall be declared and paid on a yearly basis.
  3. If the declaration cannot be fulfilled within a fixed period, the stamp duty can be declared and paid based on each transaction;

d.         Taxpayers who are individuals shall declare and pay the stamp duty based on each transaction.

July 26 2022

MOF and STA Clarify Issues on Implementation of Preferential Stamp Duty Policies and the Catalog of Effective Rules

The Ministry of Finance ("MOF") and the State Taxation Administration ("STA") released on June 29, 2022 the No.22 Announcement and the No.23 Announcement in 2022, clarifying some issues on the implementation of the preferential stamp duty policies, as well as the issues on the transition to the relevant preferential policies after implementation of the stamp tax law.

The No.22 Announcement clarified three types of documents that are excluded from the levy of the stamp duty, including effective legal documents issued by people's courts, arbitration documents issued by arbitral authorities, and the supervisory documents issued by supervisory organs; contracts, agreements or administrative documents prepared by people's governments at or above the county level or their subordinated departments for expropriation, recovery, compensation or relocation of real estates based on their administrative authority; or any proof document signed between a parent company and its branches or between branch companies for implementation of a plan.

July 29 2022

China rolls out measures to spur automobile consumption, circulation

China has unveiled a slew of measures to invigorate automobile circulation and boost auto consumption, as multiple factors have weighed heavily on the industry.

The Ministry of Commerce and 16 other government departments have detailed 12 specific measures in six aspects to inject impetus into the auto sector, Vice Minister of Commerce Sheng Qiuping announced at a press conference on Thursday.

Steps have been initiated to build a unified national market for automobiles that is rule-based and features interconnectivity, with efforts to remove local protectionism in the new-energy vehicle (NEV) market and promote NEV sales in rural areas.

Efforts will be made to bolster the large-scale development of the used car market. For used non-commercial light-duty vehicles, restrictions on the cross-regional transfer of those vehicles that meet the national stage V emission standard will be lifted nationwide starting from August 1.

Such measures aim to promote efficient automobile circulation in the market and facilitate the cross-regional operation of related enterprises.

More parking facilities will be built in cities and more battery charging facilities will be added in parking lots, gas stations and expressway service areas, among other spots, to meet NEVs' charging demand, the vice minister noted.

Measures will also be taken to boost the green and low-carbon transition of the auto industry, with efforts to stimulate NEVs consumption and improve the recycling system for scrapped vehicles.

The move to unleash the auto industry's potential is part of China's policies aimed at maintaining economic stability, Sheng said, noting that auto sales play a vital role in boosting consumption and stabilizing economic growth.

Source: Xinhua