Latest news: National departments have issued a tax-free policy for imported materials to prevent and control the new pneumonia epidemic

Announcement on the tax exemption policy for imported materials to prevent and control the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic

Ministry of Finance Announcement No. 6 of 2020

According to the Interim Measures for the Exemption of Import Taxes on Charitable Donations (Announcement No. 102 of 2015) jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the State Administration of Taxation, and other relevant regulations, imported materials donated by foreign donors to recipients for the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic (hereinafter referred to as the epidemic) are exempt from import taxes. In order to further support the prevention and control of the epidemic, a more favorable import tax policy will be implemented from January 1 to March 31, 2020. The announcement is as follows:

1. Moderately expand the scope of duty-free imports stipulated in the "Interim Measures for Exemption of Import Taxes on Charitable Donations", and exempt imported materials donated for epidemic prevention and control from import tariffs and value-added tax and consumption tax at the import stage.

(1) Imported materials include reagents, disinfectants, protective equipment, ambulances, epidemic prevention vehicles, disinfection vehicles, and emergency command vehicles.

(2) The scope of tax exemption is expanded to include relevant domestic government departments, enterprises, institutions, social groups, individuals, and foreign citizens visiting or in China who import from overseas or in special customs supervision areas and directly donate; and domestic processing trade enterprises who donate. Donated materials should be directly used for epidemic prevention and control and comply with the provisions of the above item (1) or the Interim Measures for the Exemption of Import Taxes on Charitable Donations.

(3) The recipients shall include the provincial civil affairs department or its designated units. The provincial civil affairs department shall notify the local customs and provincial taxation department of the list of designated units.

Donated imported materials without clear recipients will be received by the China Red Cross Society, the All-China Women's Federation, the China Disabled Persons' Federation, the China Charity Federation, the China Primary Health Care Foundation, the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation or the China Cancer Foundation as the recipients.

2. Imported materials directly used for epidemic prevention and control organized by the health and health authorities shall be exempted from customs duties. Imported materials shall comply with the provisions of Article 1, Item (1) above or the Interim Measures for the Exemption of Import Taxes on Charitable Donations. The provincial finance department (bureau) shall, together with the provincial health and health authorities, determine the list of import units and the list of imported materials, and notify the local customs and provincial tax authorities by letter.

3. For duty-free imported materials under this announcement, the tax that has been collected shall be refunded. Among them, for those who have already been taxed and have not yet declared the VAT input tax credit, they can apply to the customs for refund of the collected import tariffs and import VAT and consumption tax procedures with the "Certificate of Non-Deduction of VAT Input Tax on Imported Materials for Prevention and Control of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia Epidemic" issued by the competent tax authority (see attachment); for those who have declared the VAT input tax credit, they only need to apply to the customs for refund of the collected import tariffs and import consumption tax procedures. The relevant import units should go through the tax refund procedures with the customs before September 30, 2020.

4. Duty-free imported materials under this announcement can be registered and released first, and then the relevant procedures can be completed in accordance with or in accordance with the General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 17 of 2020.

Attachment: Certificate of non-deduction of input VAT for imported materials for the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic

Ministry of Finance General Administration of Customs State Administration of Taxation

February 1, 2020

(Source: Cross-border Black Technology)