Transfer payment, also known as free expenditure, mainly refers to the transfer of fiscal funds between governments at all levels through certain forms and channels in order to solve fiscal imbalances. It is used to supplement public funds. A kind of free expenditure provided by purchasing goods is a unilateral free transfer of government financial funds, which reflects a non-market distribution relationship. It is a means of secondary distribution.

Transfer payment is a financial method to balance the level of economic development and solve the gap between rich and poor, including government transfer payments, corporate transfer payments and inter-governmental transfer payments.