It is a general trend to strengthen the tax collection and management of high-income people. If last year was characterized by the star anchor tax investigation storm, this year may be some investors who evaded taxes by means of approved taxation.
This judgment is supported by the announcement on the collection and management of individual income tax on income from equity investment and operation (hereinafter referred to as the announcement) recently issued by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of taxation. In view of the problem of tax evasion by some high-income personnel applying the approved collection method in the early stage, the announcement offers a killer mace: individual proprietorships and partnerships (hereinafter referred to as “sole proprietorship partnerships”) holding equity, stocks, partnership property shares and other equity investments shall apply the audit collection method to calculate and levy individual income tax.
The impact of changing the taxation of sole proprietorship partnership with equity investment from approved taxation to audit taxation has become apparent. Before the announcement, more than 100 people paid more than 800 million yuan in taxes, and 80000 enterprises were adjusted to audit and levy taxes. After the announcement, some investors asked how to comply with the new regulations and hoped to report the investment to the tax bureau before January 30 to avoid potential tax related risks.
Wang Zheng, human capital partner of Ernst & Young tax consulting, told China first finance that she recently encountered some people asking about compliance under the announcement. The announcement is only for the sole proprietorship partnership holding equity investment. If other sole proprietorship partnerships meet the regulations, they can still apply for paying individual income tax by means of approved collection. The impact of the announcement on wholly-owned partnerships holding equity investment varies from person to person, and it has a great impact on some wholly-owned partnerships that originally adopted the approved collection method.
approved tax is abused for tax avoidance
Equity investment refers to the investment made to obtain the rights and interests or net assets of other enterprises. This is a basic financial tool for enterprises to raise funds. For example, the purchase of enterprise common shares and preferred shares is a common equity investment.
Wang Zheng said that due to various considerations, some individuals indirectly hold the equity of the company through the establishment of sole proprietorship enterprises or partnerships. In the later stage, they can obtain dividends and other income as well as income from stock and equity transfer. At present, the form of sole proprietorship partnership of equity investment is relatively common.
Since the income of the sole proprietorship partnership belongs to the category of operating income in the individual income tax, the individual income tax shall be paid according to the individual tax law rather than the enterprise income tax. The specific tax calculation method is to calculate the tax according to the excess progressive tax rate of 5% ~ 35% after deducting the costs and expenses from the total income. Where the taxable income exceeds 500000 yuan, the maximum marginal tax rate of 35% will apply.
In order to reduce the tax burden, some high-income people behind equity sole proprietorship partnerships have made a “crooked idea” of verifying and levying taxes. They use this means to reduce taxable income and essentially achieve the purpose of paying less tax.
According to the current tax law, for enterprises that do not have account books or whose accounts are chaotic and difficult to check, the tax department can verify the amount of tax payable, which is also known as verified taxation. Verification taxation is a common method, which uses the method of verification of taxable income rate to verify taxation. At present, the tax department sets different application ranges of taxable income rate according to different industries, such as 5% ~ 15% for manufacturing, 4% ~ 15% for wholesale and retail trade and 15% ~ 30% for entertainment.
Wang Zheng believes that due to the incomplete account books of some small and micro enterprises, the tax authorities will adopt the simple collection method of verification and taxation. However, in recent years, the approved tax has been overused, and some enterprises that do not meet the approved tax use this form to avoid tax.
“At present, the taxable income rate approved for taxation varies from industry to industry and region to region. Assuming that the taxable income rate of a wholly equity investment partnership is 10%, then the total income multiplied by 10% is the taxable income, and then the tax is calculated at the tax rate of 5% ~ 35%. After checking the accounts and taxation according to the facts, if the profit rate of the enterprise is higher than 10%, compared with the approved taxation, it is less expensive More taxes are required. ” Wang Zheng said.
In recent years, the stock market transactions have been active, and the equity investment income behind some companies to be listed is quite rich. By using the approved collection, the tax burden can be greatly reduced. Some places often give preferential policies such as verification and taxation for attracting investment, which also contributes to this unhealthy trend to some extent.
Wang Weiqing, an industry tutor with a degree in taxation from the school of economics of Fudan University, told first finance and economics that a wholly-owned partnership with equity investment is not a small enterprise and is fully capable of establishing accounts, which does not comply with the principle of approved collection. It should be audited and collected and should not abuse the approved collection. The approved collection is mainly aimed at some small and micro enterprises and start-ups. Because they do not have standardized operation and are unable to establish accounts, the approved collection can reduce the burden of enterprises and help enterprises grow. There is no problem with the approved collection itself. The problem lies in the abuse of this method.
Generally speaking, a wholly-owned partnership with relatively sound accounting books, vouchers and financial accounting systems shall declare and pay taxes according to the actual business situation, and then go through the audit and verification of the tax department. If it is inconsistent, more will be refunded and less will be made up. Audit taxation can truthfully reflect the business tax burden of the enterprise. Therefore, the audit taxation of equity wholly-owned partnerships is only to reiterate that high-income people pay taxes according to law and give play to the effect of tax reasonably regulating high-income.
After the announcement, some people exclaimed that the approved taxation had withdrawn from the historical stage, and the tax planning industry no longer existed, which was obviously a misreading.
Wang Zheng said that it is obviously a misunderstanding that all individual partnerships must adopt audit taxation at present. The audit taxation in the announcement is only for sole proprietorship partnerships with equity investment. Judging from the current tax collection and management law and other regulations, the approved tax collection method still exists. A wholly-owned partnership enterprise with qualified non equity investment may still apply to the tax bureau for verification and taxation. However, from the perspective of trend, the tax authorities will be more cautious about the approved tax collection method.
the impact begins to appear
In fact, the problem of tax evasion by some high-income people through the approved tax method of equity investment in wholly-owned partnerships has aroused the vigilance of the regulatory authorities.
Last year, the audit office found that some high-income personnel evaded taxes by applying the approved collection method, which was rectified by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of taxation.
The rectification of the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation on the illegal return of tax revenue and other issues (hereinafter referred to as the rectification) released by the National Audit Office in December last year showed that on the issue of “loopholes in the verification and collection of individual income tax, and some high-income personnel evade tax through this”, the State Administration of Taxation verified the main ways of tax evasion by relevant personnel, Through in-depth analysis, demonstration and evaluation, the treatment methods of tax adjustment and tax recovery are studied and determined. Local tax departments strengthened internal and external coordination and took multiple measures to promote rectification.
According to the rectification, as of November 20 last year, among the 197 people involved, except 3 seriously ill and 37 lost contact, the remaining 157 people have declared tax supplement of 840 million yuan. At the same time, in accordance with the work deployment of “pilot first, then expansion, and then promotion”, the State Administration of Taxation has standardized the approved collection of individual income tax. The pilot has been carried out in two batches in 15 provinces, and nearly 80000 enterprises have been adjusted and standardized, which will be promoted to the whole country in due time.
The aforementioned announcement made it clear that the audit and taxation of equity wholly-owned partnership enterprises will be comprehensively promoted throughout the country from this year. According to the requirements of the announcement, if the sole proprietorship partnership has held equity investment before the implementation of the announcement, it shall report the holding of equity investment to the tax authority before January 30, 2022. Where the tax authority receives the report on the equity investment held by the sole proprietorship partnership enterprise, it shall adjust the collection method to audit the accounts.
Wang Zheng believes that from this statement, it only requires enterprises to report equity investment from this year, and adjusts the collection method to audit and tax, without referring to the retrospection of previous tax payment. If the equity investment is not truthfully reported before the end of January, the enterprise may face punishment according to the tax administration law. It is recommended that individuals of wholly-owned partnership enterprises with relevant equity investment sort out their investment, timely and truthfully report relevant information in accordance with the requirements of the announcement, achieve compliance and eliminate potential tax related risks.
Many Lbx Pharmacy Chain Joint Stock Company(603883) may think that the tax on the audit of equity wholly-owned partnership is affected by the early star and anchor tax evasion case. However, according to the analysis of first finance and economics by experts, in the tax evasion methods disclosed by stars and anchors, wholly-owned partnerships have indeed been established, but they are mainly business, not equity, so they have little direct relationship with the announcement, but the underlying purpose is the same, that is, to strengthen the tax supervision of high-income earners.
Wang Zheng said that in fact, in recent years, the tax department has been strengthening the tax supervision of high-income people. The tax department has made full use of smart tax technology means such as tax big data to make the supervision more accurate and efficient. The strengthening of tax collection and management for high-income people is the general trend.
Last year, the general office of the CPC Central Committee and the general office of the State Council issued the opinions on further deepening the reform of tax collection and management, calling for strengthening tax services and supervision for high-income and high net worth personnel according to law. When the national tax work conference at the end of last year deployed this year’s work, one of the priorities was to strengthen tax supervision and tax inspection. All kinds of tax evasion will be severely punished. At the Symposium on tax reduction and fee reduction held by the State Council recently, it was also mentioned that we should resolutely crack down on tax evasion and tax fraud.
(First Finance)
