Tax Holidays for Popular Activities

2004-06-13 15:07

To implement the PRC Law on I Science and Technology Diffusions and to stimulate the development of the S&T diffusion activities in the nation, the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation of China, the Customs General Administration of PRC, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the National Copyright Administration of PRC with the approval of the Chinese State Council, have jointly published the "Policies on Taxation Holidays to Encourage S&T Diffusion Activities. " The policies came into force on June 1, 2003. The preferential taxation treatment as defined in the Policies is as follows:

1. By the end of 2005, S&T newspapers falling under the comprehensive category and S&T related audio and video products will enjoy tax refunds upon the payment of value - added tax for the revenues accrued from distributions. However, the press and newspaper publishers that have made illegal publications or have operated against laws or regulations shall not be entitled to the above mentioned tax holidays.

2. The revenues accrued from tickets sold by S&T halls, nature museums, observatories, weather stations, seismological stations, universities, and research institutions that are designated open to public visits, and ticket revenues collected by governmental agencies and scientific associations at the county level or above from organizing popular scientific activities shall be exempted from the business tax.

3. By the end of 2005, popular science bases such as S&T halls, nature museums, observatories, weather stations, seismological stations, universities, and research institutions that are designated open to public visits, when importing popular science film copies or work copies from abroad for the purpose of staging on their own premises, shall be exempted from paying the added — value tax for such importation, as well as from paying the business tax for the assignment of the staging right to overseas institutions. These popular science bases are also entitled to exemption from paying the added — value tax to Customs and the import link for the importation of film or video products in other forms for their own use.

4. According to the Law of Donations, when making their donations, to S&T halls, nature museums, observatories, weather stations, seismological stations, universities and research institutions designated for public visits through non — profit social groups or governmental agencies, the industrial enterprises, governmental agencies or social groups may enjoy a 10 % reduction of their income taxes payable in the year in line with the provisions of Article 12 under the "Implementation Details for the PRC Interim Regulations on Enterprises' Income Tax."

The "Policies on Taxation Holidays to Encourage S&T Diffusion Activities" are the first of their kind in the nation, since the founding of the People' s Republic of China, dedicated to supporting popular science activities through taxation leverage. They will become an important stimulus to strengthening popular science diffusion, constructing high level popular science educational bases, organizing major popular science activities, and encouraging all walks of life to take an active part in the popular science diffusion campaign. The certification criteria and implementation details to accommodate the tax holiday policies are now being prepared for their timely debut.