A summary (consolidated) analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of tax payment
(A) the advantages of consolidated (consolidated) tax payment are mainly reflected in five aspects.
1. You can get the benefit of deferred tax payment. Summary tax payment can offset the profits and losses of internal branches or subsidiaries, that is, the loss of one enterprise in the group can offset the profits of other enterprises. Enterprises can use timing difference's deferred tax payment time to obtain certain tax benefits. This is equivalent to the tax authorities providing an interest-free loan, which is conducive to the development of enterprise groups.
2. It can improve the risk tolerance of enterprise groups. Summary (merger) tax payment makes the risks among members of the group relatively dispersed, and a large amount of losses of a single member can be shared by reducing the current tax burden of other members of the group, which objectively reduces the risk of enterprise groups entering other fields, enabling enterprise groups to realize diversification and globalization of operations, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of enterprise groups in the international market and enhancing the international trade status of domestic enterprises. Because of its strong risk tolerance, enterprise groups can become shock absorbers of the market and play a positive role in the stable economic growth. At present, the world-famous large enterprise groups are diversified, and they are more likely to survive than other small and medium-sized enterprises in the economic recession, showing strong market risk tolerance.
3. Dividend income in an enterprise group can be fully deducted from taxable income, and there is no problem of paying taxes according to tax rate differences.
4. It is conducive to strengthening the supervision of the head office or group parent company on the income tax declaration and payment of member companies, so that member companies can be more standardized and conscious in fulfilling their tax obligations.
5. For the tax authorities, it can reduce the collection objects, reduce the complexity of tax collection and management, reduce the level and workload of tax collection and management, and at the same time ensure that taxes are put into storage in full and on time, thus reducing tax costs and improving the efficiency of tax collection and management.
(2) The shortcomings of consolidated (consolidated) tax payment are mainly reflected in three aspects:
1. All companies in the group must use the same tax year, and it is difficult to change the consolidated tax method in future years.
2. To a certain extent, it will affect the tax revenue of the country, and it is also easy for enterprises to consciously carry out tax planning and avoid the same family tax. For example, the current tax law stipulates that affiliated enterprises are reorganized by selling assets. If the acquirer regards the acquired unit as a non-independent accounting unit, the profits or losses realized by the acquired company should be consolidated and taxed with the head office. Therefore, when the company is profitable, it can reduce the taxable income by acquiring the loss-making affiliated companies, so as to achieve the purpose of paying less or not paying taxes.
3. Summary (consolidated) tax payment is complicated in technology, which needs to be supplemented by advanced monitoring and auditing means, which may increase the tax cost.
Two, enterprise group summary (merger) problems in the actual implementation of tax payment
(A) policy issues
1. The conditions of member enterprises are too strict. Only the subsidiaries of the parent company with a shareholding ratio of 100% can participate in consolidated tax payment, and once the shareholding ratio changes, consolidated tax payment will be introduced in the year when it changes. This strict restriction is not conducive to the implementation of consolidated tax payment policy. With the deepening of enterprise reform in China, the shareholding system has become a development trend, and newly established enterprises mostly adopt the shareholding system form. In addition, many enterprises that were originally controlled by South Parent Company 100% have also been reorganized into joint-stock enterprises, and fewer and fewer enterprises meet the conditions of consolidated tax payment, which makes the consolidated tax payment policy lose its due significance for enterprise groups.
2. The parent company (head office) has two jobs, and the reporting workload is heavy. The parent company (head office) is not only a member enterprise that collects (merges) taxes, but also a remittance enterprise that shoulders the function of collecting all member enterprises, and declares and pays enterprise income tax to the tax authorities in a dual capacity. That is, on the one hand, as a member enterprise, it should submit the tax return of this department to the local tax authorities in accordance with the provisions of local prepayment, and pay the supplementary tax in advance; On the other hand, as a remittance enterprise, it is necessary to summarize the declaration forms of member enterprises on a monthly or quarterly basis, make monthly or quarterly remittance declarations, and pay the remittance tax. The workload of final settlement after the end of the year is even greater. In addition, the head office has declared two sets of returns, but the name of the reporting unit can only be the name of the parent company (Zonggongzhou). Because the consolidated (merged) tax paying enterprise has only one tax code in tax collection management, if a tax paying enterprise declares in two ways, the computer system does not support it, and the competent tax authorities can only accept manual declaration, and many data can only be completed with manual statistics such as manual accounts, which is inefficient and easy to cause errors.
3. The division between the head office and the remittance and payment enterprises brings about contradictions in the implementation of specific policies. In order to enhance the group's overall image, the enterprise group usually carries out overall publicity when it publicizes to the outside world. However, the current tax law stipulates that the pre-tax deduction of advertising fees in that year cannot exceed 2% of the operating income. Since the group is mostly a management organization and has no operating income, the advertising fees cannot be charged before tax because the group is managed as a member enterprise that collects taxes. The same is true of business entertainment expenses. The group company is mostly responsible for foreign reception and communication, but the business entertainment expenses are deducted according to a certain proportion of income. As an independent taxpayer, the group company must conduct separate assessment on various tax matters, so that the advertising expenses and business entertainment expenses cannot be deducted before tax.
4. Loss compensation and tax refund. Because member enterprises pay taxes in advance in different proportions in different places, if some members make profits and pay taxes in advance in the local area, and then lose money in the next quarter or other members lose money, the tax paid in advance in the local area will often be refunded locally and refused by the headquarters, which is contrary to the support policy for consolidated tax payment.
5. The prepayment ratio of member enterprises is diverse and difficult to operate. For enterprises that implement the "unified calculation, hierarchical management, on-site advance payment and centralized liquidation" summary (merger) tax payment, the General Administration adopts the method of one household and one batch, some of which are 15% of the taxable income, some are 15% of the taxable amount, and some are 60% of the taxable amount. After summary, the profit and loss are balanced, and the enterprise is fundamental.
(B) Management issues
1. Summary There are many tax uncertainties. The enterprises that implement consolidated tax payment are all large-scale enterprises in China, such as financial insurance, telecommunications, petrochemical industry, etc. Although the tax authorities from State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China to all levels attach great importance to the collection and management of consolidated tax payment enterprises, there are many levels of consolidated tax payment enterprises, that is, there are two, three or four member enterprises, and they are easily influenced by enterprise reorganization, restructuring and macro-policy adjustment. The tax source situation fluctuates greatly and there are many uncertain factors, which brings many problems to tax collection and management.
2. The supervision of enterprises by the tax authorities in the regulatory areas is not in place. Although the summary enterprises are subject to local supervision and the amount of violation is found to be paid on the spot, because there is no assessment index for tax storage, the tax authorities in the place of business do not pay attention to it, forming a situation of "leaving it alone". The local supervision of the summary tax paying member enterprises is often a mere formality, and strict substantive tax inspection cannot be carried out, nor can the problems found be punished according to the regulations. However, the tax authorities in the place where the tax-paying enterprises pay taxes are often "out of control" because of their own personnel strength, data collection, work coordination and other factors. This is not conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm and initiative of the tax authorities in the place where they operate to strengthen enterprise supervision, and is not conducive to the management and collection of the tax authorities in the place where they pay taxes.
3. The tax authorities' enforcement is not strong enough. Due to the distribution of remittance member enterprises in various places, different industries, more management levels, and different management methods and accounting methods, the tax authorities at the provincial, prefectural and county levels have the responsibility of supervision, which makes this work characterized by multiple levels of supervision and complicated policies and business. At present, many specific regulations have been formulated for the taxation and finance of remittance and payment enterprises according to different industries and groups. Due to the particularity of consolidated tax paying enterprises, tax officials are not familiar with the financial system, policies and regulations of such enterprises, and there are inconsistent policies in their work and insufficient law enforcement.
4. In the organizational arrangement of tax management, there is a phenomenon of management disconnection. For a long time, the expense standards of consolidated (consolidated) tax-paying enterprises have been completely approved by the higher authorities, and many enterprises have not counted or counted taxable income or expanded pre-tax deductions to varying degrees. The main manifestations are as follows: first, the wages and agency fees are charged beyond the prescribed standards; Second, the provision of trade union funds, education funds and employee welfare funds is beyond the norm; Third, capital expenditures such as fixed assets are charged before tax. The items that should be adjusted according to the tax law are not adjusted according to the regulations. The tax authorities responsible for summary (consolidated) payment can only calculate and pay by the summary table, and it is impossible to review whether the tax items to be adjusted are adjusted, whether the income amount and the deduction items are accurate.
5. Policy propaganda and business training are not in place, and there is a lack of coordination, contact and cooperation between tax enterprises. On the one hand, the tax authorities can't keep up with the policy propaganda and explanation of enterprises, some accounting personnel of enterprises are not familiar with tax policies and certain financial regulations, and some tax personnel are not fully aware of the new policies and regulations; On the other hand, enterprises lack the consciousness of voluntary declaration and supervision, and think that the profits and losses of enterprises are summarized by the superior in the middle of the year, and the daily accounting can be done as long as it conforms to the accounting system, and the feedback information after remittance and tax payment is not provided as required.
Third, the enlightenment of foreign summary (merger) model to China
After more than half a century's development, the system and management of income tax consolidation in western countries have been standardized. Its practice mainly includes:
1. mainly shows consolidated tax payment, while summary tax payment generally does not exist. Since the income tax in western countries is corporate income tax or corporate income tax, and the independent legal person is the taxpayer, rather than the independent accounting enterprise as the taxpayer in China's income tax, the unincorporated branch does not need to pay income tax. Therefore, the income tax in western countries generally does not exist in China's general branches.
2. For consolidated tax payment, there are generally strict restrictions. For example, the United States stipulates that the consolidated declaration and tax payment must meet four conditions: first, the parent company is a resident company; Second, the parent company owns 80% or more of the voting shares of its subsidiaries; Third, subsidiaries registered abroad (except Canada and Mexico) cannot be merged with American groups to declare and pay taxes; Fourth, the parent company and the subsidiary company agreed in writing to jointly file income tax returns. Judging from the tax policies of various countries, the restrictive conditions for consolidated (consolidated) tax payment mainly focus on the controlling interest, that is, the size of the subsidiary shares held by the parent company becomes the key to whether consolidated tax payment can be carried out. Although the results of tax collection (consolidation) are different, the effect of * * * is that the profits and losses of different members of the company group can offset each other. However, this kind of tax treatment generally only involves domestic member companies, not including foreign subsidiaries. In terms of the conditions for allowing consolidated tax payment, countries are also different.
3. Different countries have different group taxation systems. Generally can be divided into three categories:
(1) Complete tax consolidation system. The group itself is regarded as a taxpayer, and the transactions among all members of the group have nothing to do with tax payment, and the taxable income is calculated from the perspective of the whole group. The Netherlands and Australia adopt this system. The applicable conditions are that the parent company must hold more than 95% of the shares of its subsidiaries, and the fiscal year and financial system of all companies must be consistent. The assets and liabilities of each member of the group can be distributed to the parent company, and the balance sheet and income statement of each member can be merged financially, and corporate income tax can be levied on the parent company. However, subsidiaries can still pay corporate income tax frequently, which is the tax treaty right of the entities that make up the group. In the case of corporate income tax, companies can carry out business restructuring, and dividend distribution among companies belonging to a unified tax consortium can be tax-free according to the provisions of tax exemption for equity participation.
(2)*** With the sharing system, the taxable income is calculated separately according to the actual situation of each entity that constitutes the group, and then added up, which is counted as the taxable income of their company at the next higher level. At present, countries that adopt this system are common, mainly Italy, Germany, France, Japan and the United States. Holding companies and controlled companies can choose to pay taxes together.
(3) Group sharing system. According to the actual level of each company in the group, the taxable income is calculated. The transactions within the group should follow the principle of independent transaction, but the profit-making company can transfer its profits to the loss-making company free of charge, so that the taxable income of the profit-making company can be reduced or even zero, and the loss-making company can also make up its losses with the profits of other companies. Sweden adopts this system. It is stipulated that profits and losses can be redistributed among the companies in the group, and that the payment company is allowed to deduct the group share from the recipient company, and the recipient company must include the income of the company in the taxable income, so the taxable income of the payment company will be reduced by the amount equivalent to the share, and the losses of the recipient company can also be offset by the share.
4. The management of consolidated tax payment is relatively standardized. The qualifications for consolidated tax payment and the scope of member enterprises are clearly defined by laws and regulations and do not require the approval of the tax authorities. For member enterprises, there is no problem of entrusting the local tax authorities to supervise, let alone the division of the warehousing ratio between the local and the location of the parent company and the resulting low enthusiasm of the local tax authorities for supervision.
In the long run, consolidated tax payment is an international unified direction. In the modern economy, the interests linked by equity (affiliated enterprises and company collectivization) have overwhelming potential in stimulating investment, increasing total demand and promoting economic growth. Governments of all countries have formulated policies to encourage enterprise groups according to their own financial resources and development requirements, one of which is to allow group enterprises to pay taxes on a consolidated basis. From the perspective of tax fairness, consolidated tax payment can better reflect the overall tax payment ability of the group, and will not lead to differences in tax treatment because taxpayers choose different investment forms (such as head office and parent company).
Four, improve our country enterprise group summary (merger) tax thinking.
1. Relax the conditions for participating in consolidated (consolidated) tax payment of member enterprises appropriately. Because the development of enterprise groups is of great significance to China's economic development, consolidated tax payment is one of the national policies to support the development of enterprise groups. Therefore, in order to better reflect the advantages of this policy, we should consider appropriately relaxing the proportion of holding assets of the parent company, expanding the scope of member enterprises, and giving enterprise groups more room to collect (merge) taxes, so that the collection (merge) tax policy can play a greater role.
2. Simplify the role of the parent company (head office) in tax collection (consolidation). When the parent company (head office) makes tax returns, it only appears as a remittance enterprise, and no longer makes tax returns and prepays according to the dual identities of member enterprises and remittance enterprises. That is, the parent company (head office) only declares and prepays taxes as a remittance enterprise, and all pre-tax deductions of the enterprise are uniformly calculated by the head office.
3. Corporate enterprises, such as banks, insurance companies and securities companies, pay taxes in a unified way, which is consistent with the income tax provisions of foreign-invested enterprises and peripheral enterprises, preparing for the unification of income tax for domestic and foreign-funded enterprises, and also conforms to the business risks and profits and losses of corporate enterprises.
4. Strengthen supervision. First, it is necessary to strengthen the daily collection and management, and according to the collection and management ideas put forward by State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China, such as "transferring the main body, clarifying responsibilities, providing good services and strengthening inspection", urge taxpayers to declare vigorously and fulfill their tax obligations according to law. Second, it is necessary to improve various management systems such as tax declaration, examination and approval of property losses, tax payment feedback, etc., strictly follow procedures, actively accept, examine and approve relevant tax-related projects of enterprises, ensure that the rights that enterprises can enjoy are in place, and earnestly perform their supervisory duties. Third, on the basis of self-examination, self-verification and self-payment, enterprises should focus on annual tax inspection, intensify the investigation and punishment of violations of laws and regulations, urge enterprises to strictly enforce tax laws and regulations and financial accounting systems, and consciously safeguard the unity and seriousness of tax laws.
5. Do a good job in publicity and optimize services. Service is the basis of standardized management. Only when tax authorities at all levels provide publicity services in place, provide taxpayers with new tax policy information in time, and do a good job in tax counseling, can taxpayers understand tax policies and regulations, consciously carry out tax payment operations, and actively cooperate with tax authorities in law enforcement.
6. Improve the quality of collection and management personnel. Starting from the requirements of specialization, we should strengthen the business training of tax personnel and enterprise financial personnel, and cultivate a group of compound talents with strong professionalism. The General Administration should organize special tax training for local tax authorities, remittance and payment enterprises and member enterprises, strengthen tax guidance, and unify the understanding and implementation of consolidated tax policies in various places. It is suggested that the consolidated tax policy and some estimated practical operations can be clearly defined, so that local tax authorities can coordinate and be conducive to strengthening tax collection and management.
The summary tax payment of branches must meet the conditions.
In order to strengthen the management of branches and improve the efficiency of capital operation, taxpayers who implement unified accounting open deposit accounts in the name of the head office all over the country. The sales realized in various places are directly invoiced by the head office to the buyers, and the payment is directly deposited into the deposit account of the head office by the buyers, or chain operation is implemented. How should such behavior be taxed?
Article 4 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Provisional Regulations on Value-added Tax stipulates that the following acts of taxpayers shall be regarded as sales of goods, and value-added tax shall be levied: First, the goods shall be delivered to others for consignment; Second, sell goods on a commission basis; Third, taxpayers with more than two institutions and unified accounting transfer goods from one institution to other institutions for sale, except that the relevant institutions are located in the same county (city); Fourth, use the self-produced or commissioned goods for non-taxable items; Fifth, the self-produced, commissioned processing or purchased goods are provided as investment to other units or individual operators; Sixth, distribute the self-produced, commissioned or purchased goods to shareholders or investors; Seventh, use the self-produced and commissioned goods for collective welfare or personal consumption; Eighth, the goods produced, processed or purchased are given to others free of charge.
Regarding whether the business activities of the institutions that accept the transferred goods (hereinafter referred to as the receiving institutions) belong to the provisions of the third paragraph above, State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China has issued the Notice on the Collection of Value-added Tax on the Goods Transferred between Enterprises (Guo Shui Fa [1998] 137), which clearly stipulates that, The term "for sale" as mentioned in Item (3) of Article 4 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Provisional Regulations on Value-added Tax refers to the business behavior of the receiving institution under one of the following circumstances: First, the invoice is issued to the buyer; The second is to collect payment from the buyer. In any of the above two cases, the consignee shall pay VAT to the local tax authorities; If the above two situations do not occur, the value-added tax shall be uniformly paid by the head office. If the consignee only issues invoices or collects payment for part of the goods from the buyer, it shall calculate and pay taxes to the head office or branch office respectively according to different situations.
With the further development of the market economy, various new management modes and management modes are constantly emerging. For example, in order to strengthen the management of branch funds and improve the efficiency of fund operation, taxpayers with unified accounting signed an agreement with financial institutions where the head office is located to establish a fund settlement network, and opened deposit accounts in the name of the head office all over the country (the account opened is the account where the branch office is located, and only deposits, transfers and withdrawals can be made), and the sales realized in various places,
The head office directly issues an invoice to the buyer, and the buyer directly deposits the payment into the online bank deposit account of the head office. In this regard, State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China's "Notice on the Tax Location of Taxpayers Receiving Value-added Tax on Goods by Fund Settlement Network" (Guo Shui Han [2002] No.802) clarifies how to determine the tax location of this new settlement method: taxpayers open accounts in various places in the name of the head office, collect sales money from buyers in various places through the fund settlement network, and the head office directly issues invoices to buyers. If the receiving institution fails to issue an invoice to the buyer or collect payment from the buyer as stipulated in the Notice of State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China on the Collection of Value-added Tax on Goods Transferred between Enterprises (Guo Shui Fa [1998] 137), its taxable income shall be subject to value-added tax at the place where its head office is located.
Regarding the tax payment of chain operation, the Notice of the Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China on the Location of VAT Payment for Chain Operation Enterprises (Caishui [1997] No.97) stipulates that for direct chain enterprises operating across regions, that is, chain stores are all wholly owned or controlled by the headquarters and operated under the leadership of the headquarters. In accordance with the requirements of the Opinions of the Ministry of Internal Trade on the Standardization of Chain Store Operation and Management (No.24, Domestic Trade Regime Law [1997]), the head office and branches can be sent to the local competent tax authorities by the head office for unified procurement and distribution of goods, unified accounting, unified standardized management and operation (hereinafter referred to as "four unifications") and approved by the relevant departments (the State Administration of Taxation jointly with the Finance Bureau). For voluntary chain enterprises, that is, chain stores are independent legal persons, and chain enterprises and franchise chain enterprises with the same ownership of their assets, that is, chain stores have signed contracts with the headquarters and obtained the franchise to use the trademarks, trade names, business technologies and sales of goods developed by the headquarters, their tax payment locations remain unchanged, and the independent accounting stores still report and pay VAT to the local competent tax authorities respectively.
The Notice of the Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China on Tax Issues Concerning Chain Enterprises (Caishui [2003] 1No.) stipulates that in order to support the development of chain operations, the issues related to the unified payment of value-added tax and income tax for chain enterprises are further clarified as follows: First, the chain enterprises operating in provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government and cities with separate plans are subject to unified accounting, Where it is necessary for the head office to uniformly declare and pay the value-added tax to the local competent tax authorities, it shall be handled in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Notice of the Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China on the Location of Value-added Tax Payment for Chain Enterprises (Caishuizi [1997] No.97). Second, according to the relevant provisions of the Provisional Regulations on Enterprise Income Tax and the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Provisional Regulations on Enterprise Income Tax, the headquarters shall pay enterprise income tax to the local competent tax authorities in a unified way for the direct-operated stores established in the province and across regions under the leadership of the headquarters, without setting up bank settlement accounts and preparing financial statements and account books. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Income Tax Law on Foreign Investment and Foreign Enterprises and the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Income Tax Law on Foreign Investment and Foreign Enterprises, the head office shall uniformly pay enterprise income tax to the local competent tax authorities for foreign-invested enterprises engaged in cross-regional chain operations.
To sum up, we should pay attention to two points in the tax treatment of branches that implement unified accounting: first, if branches do not issue invoices to buyers or collect payment from buyers, they can pay taxes in summary; Secondly, if the chain operation mode of "four unifications" is implemented in operation and no separate accounting is carried out in finance, tax payment can be summarized. References:
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