According to the explanations of China, China, State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China, official website and relevant tax experts, VAT is an indirect tax, which taxes the value-added part of goods and services.

Specifically, when McDonald's buys raw materials (such as bread, meat, vegetables, etc. ) From the supplier, the upstream VAT has been paid. When McDonald's processes these raw materials into hamburgers and sells them to consumers, it will calculate the value-added tax payable according to the sales volume and the applicable tax rate.

This tax amount will subtract the value-added tax of the upstream link that has been paid before, that is, the so-called "input tax amount", and finally pay the difference between "output tax amount" and "input tax amount".