Recently, the State Council issued the Opinions on Further Optimizing the Foreign Investment Environment and Increasing Attracting Foreign Investment (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions") around the outstanding problems in the field of business environment that foreign-invested enterprises are concerned about, and put forward a new batch of policies and measures to stabilize foreign investment with strong pertinence and high gold content from six aspects, such as improving the quality of foreign investment utilization and ensuring the national treatment of foreign-invested enterprises.
Chen Chunjiang, Assistant Minister of Commerce, said at the regular briefing on the State Council policy held by the State Council Office on August 14 that, on the whole, the Opinions have four main characteristics: First, expand the breadth and depth of opening up; The second is to improve the level of investment and operation facilitation; Third, strengthen the guidance of foreign investment; The fourth is to strengthen foreign investment promotion and service guarantee.
We will thoroughly implement preferential tax policies.
Foreign trade and foreign investment is an important hub connecting domestic and international double cycles. Fu Jinling, director of the Economic Construction Department of the Ministry of Finance, said that in recent years, the Ministry of Finance, together with relevant departments, has introduced policies and measures from three aspects to actively stabilize foreign investment expectations and boost foreign investment confidence in China.
Specifically, the first is to thoroughly implement preferential tax policies. Foreign-funded enterprises pay the corresponding taxes according to tax laws and regulations, and can also enjoy the current preferential tax policies according to regulations. On this basis, in order to attract foreign investment in China, some special preferential tax policies have been introduced. For example, for the profits distributed by foreign investors from resident enterprises in China, qualified direct investment will not be subject to withholding income tax for the time being; The self-use equipment imported for foreign investment projects encouraged by the state shall be exempted from import duties except for the goods listed in the catalogue of goods that are not duty-free; Qualified foreign-funded R&D centers shall be exempted from import duties, import value-added tax and consumption tax for scientific research and technological development supplies that cannot be produced in China or whose performance cannot meet the demand.
The second is to increase financial support. The central government arranges special funds for foreign trade and economic development, and increases the scale of funds year by year, making overall plans to increase support for foreign-funded landmark projects, and promoting the implementation of projects as soon as possible. At the same time, guide local financial departments to make good use of their own funds and increase investment services for key industrial chains.
The third is to optimize the business environment by benchmarking international first-class standards. Continue to introduce world-class standards and advanced experience, and do a good job in preparing for the World Bank's "Business Environment Maturity Report" to provide reference for promoting reforms in related fields in China and accelerating the creation of a market-oriented, rule-of-law and international first-class business environment. Take practical and effective measures to ensure that domestic and foreign-funded enterprises participate in government procurement activities on an equal footing.
"In the next step, the Ministry of Finance will do a good job in implementing relevant fiscal and taxation policies in a timely manner in accordance with the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and the relevant requirements of the Opinions, and further publicize and interpret policies based on financial responsibilities, track the implementation of policies in a timely manner, optimize and improve relevant policies and measures in a timely manner, and strengthen support for foreign investment to maintain stability and improve quality."
