From Financial Times:
China’s new Enterprise Income Tax law , passed by the National People’s Congress on March 8, should have surprised no one.
Beijing had long telegraphed its intention to unify the disparate tax rates paid by foreign-invested and domestic companies, with the former paying as little as 15 per cent and Chinese enterprises taxed at 33 per cent or even higher. Shanghai-based Bank of Communications , for example, is estimated to have paid a 70 per cent tax rate in 2004.
Under the new law, all companies will be taxed at 25 per cent. Foreign investors who have campaigned for “national” – by which they mean equal – treatment when it comes to market access could hardly complain. “The new tax law provides a level playing field,” says Becky Lai, a tax services partner with Deloitte . [Full Text]
