Circular of the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation on Adjusting the Export

Circular of the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation on Adjusting the Export Rebate Rates

CaiShui[2003] No. 222 October 13, 2003 The departments (bureaus) of finance and the bureaus of state taxes of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and cities directly under State planning, the bureau of finance of Sinkiang Production and Construction Army Corps: Upon approval of the State Council, structural adjustments shall be made on the current export rebate rates for value-added tax, and the notice on the relevant issues is given as follows: 1. The current export rebate rates for the following goods shall remain unchanged: (1) The agricultural products whose current export rebate rates range between 5% and 13%; (2) The industrial products processed from agricultural products whose current export rebate rate is 13% (except for those prescribed in Articles 3 and 4 of the present Circular); (3) The goods whose VAT rate as prescribed in the current taxation policies is 17%, and tax refund rate is 13% (except for those prescribed in Articles 3 and 4 of the present Circular); (4) Ships, automobiles and their key components and parts thereof, aircrafts and spacecrafts, digital control machines, processing centers, printed circuits, railway engines, etc. whose current export rebate rate is 17% (refer to Annex 1 for the HS codes and commodity names); 2. The export rebate rate for wheat flour, maize (corn) flour, severed ducks, severed rabbits and other goods as listed in Annex 2 shall be raised from 5% to 13%. 3. The policies on export tax refund of crude oil, wood, paper pulp, fine goat hair, eel fries, rare earth metal minerals, phosphorus ores, natural graphite and other goods listed in Annex 3 shall be cancelled. As to the goods subject to the consumption tax, the policies on export rebate or exemption of consumption tax shall be cancelled accordingly. 4. The export rebate rates for the following goods shall be lowered: (1) The export rebate rate for gasoline (HS code: 27101110) and unwrought zinc (HS code: 7901) shall be lowered to 11%; (2) The export rebate rate for unwrought aluminum, yellow phosphorus and other phosphorus, unwrought nickel and iron alloy, molybdenum ores and concentrates, and other goods listed in Annex 4 shall be lowered to 8%; (3) The export rebate rate for coke and semi-coke, coking coal, fused magnesia, dead-burned (sintered) magnesia, feldspar, talc, steatite and other goods listed in Annex 5 shall be lowered to 5%; (4) Except for the goods prescribed in Articles 1 through Article 3 and Paragraphs (1) through (3) of the present Article, the export rebate rate of any goods, whose current export rebate rate is 17% or 15, shall be lowered to 13%. The export rebate rate of all the goods whose current tax rate and tax refund rate is 13% shall be lowered to 11%. 5. With regard to the export contracts signed by export enterprises with foreign parties before October 15th, 2003 on whole sets of equipment (whose export value is 2 million USD or more) or large mechanical and electronic products (whose unit price is 1 million USD or more) falling within the scope of Paragraph (4) of Article 4 of the present Circular whose prices are unchangeable, where the export date stipulated in the contract is later than July 1, 2004, such contracts must be registered and put into record before November 15th , 2003 with the competent tax refund organs upon the strength of their original export contracts and counterparts. The provincial bureau of state taxes shall, after examination and verification, submit the qualified export contracts and pertinent documents to the State Administration of Taxation by November 30th, 2003. After joint examination and approval of the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of Finance, the local bureau of state taxes shall handle the tax refund at the pre-adjusted tax rebate rate. With respect to any whole set of equipment or large mechanical and electronic product whose registration and record fail to be made before November 15th, 2003, the export rebate shall be handled at the adjusted tax refund rate. 6. The administrations of finance and taxation in all regions shall earnestly study and grasp the present Circular, and take effective measures to seriously implement the relevant policies in the present Circular, handle tax refund in jure, and seriously defend the benefits of the State and the enterprises. They shall, in the meanwhile, closely cooperate with the competent departments of commerce, customs, foreign exchange, and the enterprises to further do well in export. 7. As of July 1st, 2004, any enterprise that exports goods by any means shall be subject to the export rebate rates prescribed in the present Circular. The date of specific implementation shall be based on the departure date as indicated by the customs on the customs declaration list for the exported goods.