In order to meet the needs of business, many enterprises want to set up business contact points nationwide. From the perspective of company management, it is generally hoped that such business contact points will only engage in business and not pay taxes locally. Therefore, some enterprises set up offices in the local area, or simply don't set up offices, rent one or two houses in the local area, and start to send and receive goods and collect payment from customers. If this kind of behavior is found by the tax authorities, the tax authorities will verify the tax payable for its business behavior and order it to pay taxes and fines. This mode of operation is actually very bad. Because after the goods have paid taxes at the place of sale, the head office has to pay taxes again, resulting in "double taxation", which is not worth the loss.

The reason for this situation is that these enterprises lack understanding of the provisions on how to pay taxes in branches and offices. After the enterprise develops to a certain scale, it is inevitable to set up branches in areas where sales business is relatively concentrated, based on the consideration of stabilizing supply channels, opening up new markets or facilitating customer service. There are two main forms of branches: one is a branch; One is the office. Branches can engage in business activities, while offices can generally only engage in business liaison activities within the business scope of the head office. The tax treatment of branches and offices is different, which is mainly reflected in enterprise income tax and turnover tax. From the perspective of enterprise income tax, the office has no taxable income and no need to pay enterprise income tax because it can't engage in business activities, has no business income and no profit; For a branch company, the enterprise income tax can be paid by the tax authorities where the branch company is located, or it can be collected and paid by the head office. For the consolidated payment by the head office, the State Taxation Bureau where the head office is located shall issue a certificate that the enterprise income tax has been consolidated and paid in the head office, and the branch shall go through the relevant formalities at the local State Taxation Bureau with this certificate.

Generally speaking, consolidated tax payment is superior to independent tax payment, because the profits and losses of the head office and branches can make up for each other. From the perspective of value-added tax, the office does not need to pay value-added tax locally because it does not engage in business activities; The business activities of the branch must pay VAT locally. Goods are often transferred between branches of an enterprise. In order to avoid paying value-added tax at the place where the branches are located, the head office can set up an office-like institution in accordance with the Notice on the Collection of Value-added Tax on Goods Transferred between Branches of an Enterprise (Guo Shui Fa [1998]13), without issuing invoices and receiving payment, and the payment will be remitted directly to the head office by the customer. The office is only responsible for the supervision and custody of the transfer of goods. In order to facilitate sales, some enterprises often set up or rent warehouses at the place of sale. There are two basic models: one is that the warehouse is managed by the head office, and the salary, operating expenses and warehouse rent of the managers are paid by the head office, and the managers contact the business in the name of the head office and sign contracts with the outside world. In this mode, in order to avoid paying VAT at the place of sale in a short time, the enterprise should apply to the tax authorities where the head office is located to issue the Certificate of Tax Collection and Management for Outgoing Business Activities, and the distribution personnel where the leased warehouse is located should carry out business activities with the Certificate of Tax Collection and Management for Outgoing Business Activities issued by the tax authorities where the head office is located, and the VAT can be paid by the tax authorities where the head office is located. The other mode is to rent a warehouse in a different place, and the head office does not send personnel to the warehouse or conduct business activities through the warehouse. In this case, there is no need to pay VAT locally. In short, when enterprises set up branches in different places, they should not only consider the business needs, but also consider the different tax treatment of different institutions, and make reasonable plans to avoid tax risks.