Legal News

From Aug. 1 2012, the scope of the pilot work of levying value-added tax(“VAT”) in lieu of business tax shall be expanded from Shanghai to Beijing , Tianjin, Jiangsu Province, Anhui Province, Zhejiang Province (including Ningbo), Fujian Province (including Xiamen), Hubei Province and Guangdong Province (including Shenzhen). Levying value-added tax in lieu of business tax shall be conducted in the transportation industry and some modern service industries, which are transportation, R&D and technology, information technology, cultural innovation, logistics supports, lease of corporeal movables, attestation and consulting. The VAT rate for R&D and technology, and lease of corporeal movables is 17%,…

On 16th September, 2012, the State Council released “Suggestions on the Promotion of a Stable Growth in Foreign Trade”, in which two points are highlighted as following: (a)Speed up the relevant processes, reduce the relevant fees. For example, extend the scope of territorial declaration and port clearance under effective supervision; waive the printing costs for paper of verification of export earnings, import payments and the drawback copy of export declaration; waive the custom supervision cost. (b)Optimize the structure of trade, mainly including encourage the imports of advanced technological equipments, key parts and components and daily necessities that are closely related…

“Notice on Individual Income Tax Policies for Work-Related Injury Insurance Benefits Obtained by Employees Injured while Working”(No. 40 [2012] of the Ministry of Finance) has stipulated that work-related injury insurance benefits obtained by employees and their close relatives in accordance with the Regulation on Work-Related Injury Insurance (Order No. 586 of the State Council) shall be exempt from individual income tax. This regulation shall be effective on 1 January, 2011. If the employees injured while working and their close relatives have paid the tax, they can apply to the competent tax authorities, and the authorities shall return the tax accordingly.

The amended “AR” comes into force on 1st Sep. 2012. Compared with the original “AR” came into force on 1st Sep. 2002, the biggest highlights of the revised “AR” is that the scope of the administrativeacts which can be applied for administrative reconsideration is amended from 19 specific administrativeacts and 1 miscellaneous provision to 4 categories of administrativeacts and 1 miscellaneousprovision, which are as follows: (1)refuse to accept the specific administrativeacts conducted by the State Intellectual Property Office(SIPO) concerning the application of patent, patent right; (2)refuse to accept the specific administrative acts conducted by SIPO concerning the application of Layout-Designsfor…