Under the value-added tax system, enterprises purchase photographic printing services as part of their production and business activities. If the supplier can provide a legal and effective special VAT invoice, then the enterprise can deduct the VAT indicated on this invoice from its output tax. This is mainly because value-added tax is a kind of turnover tax, and its design principle is to tax only the value-added part, thus avoiding the problem of double taxation through the deduction mechanism.

In practice, enterprises need to ensure that the special VAT invoices obtained are true and effective, and the photographic printing service purchased is not a specific item that cannot be deducted from the input tax. According to the provisions of Annex 2 of the Notice of the Ministry of Finance in State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China on the Pilot Project of Changing Business Tax to Value-added Tax, the non-deductible input tax mainly includes the purchased loan services, catering services, daily services of residents and entertainment services. However, photographic printing service does not belong to these non-deductible items. Therefore, as long as the normal VAT deduction conditions are met, such as being used for taxable business and obtaining legal invoices, the input tax can be deducted.

To sum up, the input tax of photographic printing service can usually be deducted.

Legal basis:

Law of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection

Article

The collection and suspension of taxes, as well as the reduction, exemption, tax refund and overdue tax, shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the law. Where the law authorizes the State Council to stipulate, it shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of administrative regulations formulated by the State Council.