However, high-tech qualifications are not so easy to get. According to public information, the application system for high-tech qualifications needs to meet a series of hard conditions, which is not difficult for ordinary enterprises. However, under the temptation of huge tax incentives, many enterprises choose to take risks, falsify their application materials and financial data, and package themselves into high-tech enterprises.
However, under the strict investigation in 2022, some "fake high-tech" were disqualified.
Recently, the Shanghai High-tech Enterprise Accreditation Steering Group announced the list of the first batch of enterprises that revoked the qualification of high-tech enterprises in 2022. The revocation years were 2020 and 20021year, including Alipay (China) Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Alipay (China)"), Shanghai Digital Certificate Certification Center Co., Ltd., Shanghai Youye Information Technology Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Xingqi Electromechanical Technology Co., Ltd.
Among them, Alipay (China) was cancelled as a high-tech enterprise because "the proportion of R&D expenses is not up to standard".
What's the use of the title of high-tech enterprise?
The accreditation of high-tech enterprises refers to the Administrative Measures for Accreditation of High-tech Enterprises (hereinafter referred to as the Measures) formulated by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation, and it has been 14 years since 2008.
According to the regulations, high-tech enterprises are recognized as adopting the enterprise initiative declaration system, and the certification qualification is valid for 3 years. During this period, enterprises enjoy preferential tax policies. If the qualification expires, if the application for review is not made or the review is unqualified, the qualification of high-tech enterprises will automatically expire when it expires.
This is a guiding policy, the main purpose is to support and encourage the development of high-tech enterprises. The most direct benefits are: recognized high-tech enterprises can implement the preferential tax rate of 15% (25% before recognition), with the tax rate reduced by 10 point and the tax amount reduced by 40%.
For enterprises, in addition to real benefits such as tax reduction and exemption, financial subsidies, it is still a national honor to be recognized as a "national high-tech enterprise". This indicates that an enterprise has the ability of technological innovation and R&D, high government recognition, advantages in loan financing, and core employees can enjoy the policy of identifying local talents, and enjoy certain policy dividends in settling down and buying houses.
R&D expenses are disqualified if they are not up to standard.
The advantage of having high-tech enterprise qualification is obvious. Alipay (China) has been disqualified from high-tech enterprise, which means that it can enjoy a series of tax benefits and is no longer allowed to use it.
Enterprise investigation shows that Alipay (China) was established in 2004, and it is the licensee of Alipay payment license. Its registered place is in Shanghai, and its technical developers account for more than 50%. The registered capital is1500 million yuan. By the end of 20021,the number of participants was 1875.
According to the relevant person of Ant Group, Alipay (China) did not take the initiative to apply after the qualification of Shanghai high-tech enterprise expired. Alipay (China) is a payment license company owned by Ant, and its R&D expenditure only accounts for a part of the overall R&D expenditure of Ant.
How can a financial technology company fail to meet the standard in R&D expenses? What's behind this?
It is worth noting that there are two companies under the Ant Group called Alipay. Established in 2004, Alipay (China) is the licensee of Alipay payment license, mainly engaged in payment business, and registered in Shanghai. Another "Alipay (Hangzhou) Information Technology Co., Ltd." registered in Zhejiang (referred to as "Alipay (Hangzhou)") is the main operator of Alipay App, mainly engaged in Internet business, that is, hundreds of small programs linking merchants and consumers on Alipay and thousands of life services belong to Alipay (Hangzhou) Company.
This time, Alipay (China) was revoked the certification of high-tech enterprises. Alipay (Hangzhou) was recognized as a national high-tech enterprise according to the high-tech enterprise recognition management network. Both companies are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Ant Technology Group.
According to the "Measures", it is mentioned in the part about R&D expenses that enterprises need to meet the conditions that the proportion of total R&D expenses in the last three fiscal years to total sales revenue in the same period is between 3% and 5% according to different sales revenue.
People close to Ant Group said that Alipay (China) was established in 2004 because of its pure payment, and the payment forms such as fast payment, code scanning payment and face-brushing payment have also matured, so its R&D and sales ratio may not meet the requirements in the past two years.
According to the global patent database and Wisdom Bud, a fast patent retrieval platform, the number of patent applications for Alipay (China) is 2 1, all of which are non-appearance patent applications. The earliest patent application is 20 1 1 year, and the longest continuous application period is 6 years. After 20 17 years, there is no application or authorization. In addition, the total number of software copyright registrations of Alipay (China) is 104.
According to the data of Wisdom Bud, the total number of patent applications of Alipay (Hangzhou) is 8 135. The earliest patent application was in 2005, and the longest continuous application period was 9 years. Due to the patent examination system, there will generally be an authorization examination cycle of 0- 18 months. Excluding the influence of this factor, the number of patent applications of enterprises in 2020 is the largest, with 3282 and the patent authorization rate of 44.64%. In addition, the total number of registered software works is 82.
There are still four entities belonging to high-tech enterprises in Shanghai.
Alipay (China) was disqualified for "the proportion of R&D expenses is not up to standard". According to industry insiders, some group companies may choose to voluntarily give up their applications if they adjust their R&D investment and expenditure to other business sectors because it is an enterprise initiative application system.
On August 1 this year, the legal representative and chairman of Alipay (China) was changed from Jing Xiandong to Ni Xingjun. Earlier, the director of Alipay (Hangzhou) changed, and Li Juan, the head of Alipay App, became the general manager.
It is worth mentioning that at present, there are four entities under the Ant Group that belong to the list of high-tech enterprises in Shanghai, including ant chain and ant security technology. The R&D expenses of the four entities have increased by about 50% every year since 2020.
According to the sustainable development report released by Ant Group in 20021year, more than 6,600 patents were granted in 20021year, and the total number of patents granted worldwide increased by 37 times in five years. Its R&D investment has increased by over 39% for three consecutive years, with 202 1 year exceeding 188 billion yuan. In the past two years, Ant Group has increased its investment in basic technology fields such as privacy computing, blockchain, database and security risk control. In terms of talent investment, by the end of 20021,the proportion of technical talents among employees in Ant Group has reached 63%.