What are the preferential tax policies for the software industry?
1. Preferential tax policies in terms of value-added tax
In my country's current tax system, the turnover taxes levied on computer software products are mainly value-added tax and business tax. Business tax is levied on computer software that has been registered with the National Copyright Administration and whose copyright and ownership rights are transferred when sold. Value-added tax is levied on general VAT taxpayers who sell self-developed and produced software products.
In view of the fact that VAT taxable business accounts for the main position of software companies’ business operations, we can analyze the current VAT system and the characteristics of software companies themselves to consider the adoption of preferential tax policies. rationality and necessity.
Compared with foreign value-added tax systems, my country’s value-added The tax has several notable characteristics: First, it is a production-type VAT that allows the input tax paid on the purchase of raw materials to be deducted, while the consumption-type VAT can deduct the corresponding input tax on both fixed assets and raw materials. . Secondly, when deducting input VAT, the purchase tax deduction method is implemented, and enterprises are required to hold legal special VAT invoices. Finally, a multi-link and multiple collection method is adopted, that is, taxes must be levied at every value-added circulation link.
Specifically for software companies, such tax policies are unreasonable to a certain extent. First, the direct material costs included in the software products themselves are relatively low, and most of the cost expenditures of software companies are concentrated on technology development. According to the characteristics of the value-added tax system, a considerable part of the asset cost expenditures of software companies cannot be recorded as input tax for deduction. buckle. Second, the most valuable asset of a software company is talent. Direct labor investment in the development process of software products accounts for a very important part of the product cost, but this part cannot be deducted from the corresponding input tax. Third, software product development cycles are long and have high added value. Some complex and large-scale software products require revenue recognition based on the completion of the project.
High value-added products will cause sales revenue and output tax to be relatively high in a certain period. The timing of sales revenue recognition and the proportion of the corresponding input tax will have a greater impact on the actual tax burden of software companies. Fourth , there is a large amount of division of labor and collaboration among software companies. For software companies, the value-added circulation links are quite different from other manufacturing industrial companies. For software products developed through outsourcing, the main materials are provided by the client. In this case, the trustee must pay value-added tax rather than business tax on the full amount of its actual income, which is not conducive to promoting a professional and collaborative software industry orientation.
In response to the above situation, the state has made many adjustments to the VAT tax policy applicable to software companies. Caishuizi [1999] No. 273 stipulates that general VAT taxpayers who sell self-developed and produced software products are subject to a tax rate of 17%. After levying value-added tax at the legal rate, the actual tax burden of more than 6% of the value-added tax will be refunded immediately. Caishui [2000] No. 25 further stipulates that the actual tax burden of software companies after the levy of value-added tax exceeds 3%. Part of the tax will be refunded. This ratio is close to the average actual tax burden level of China's manufacturing enterprises. Considering the state's support for the development of the software industry, there is still room for this ratio to continue to decrease.
2. Preferential tax policies on corporate income tax
Compared with other industrial and regional income tax preferential policies, Preferential income tax policies for software companies should take more into account the characteristics of the software industry. Preferential income tax benefits for software companies can be reflected in the preferential period of tax reduction and exemption and the calculation method of taxable income.
Periodic tax reduction and exemption is a commonly used method in preferential income tax policies. For software companies, this method is simple and effective. The current preferential income tax policy for software companies adopts "two exemptions and three half reductions" According to the regular tax exemption method, the tax exemption period is calculated from the year of profit. In view of the long development cycle of software products, large initial investment, and the actual profit time of software companies, the current policy does not adopt the usual calculation from the year of opening or production. This method is quite appropriate, and avoids the situation where software companies are in the tax reduction and exemption period when their early profits are not good, but when they start to make profits, they are unable to enjoy the preferential policies because the five-year preferential period has expired.
Reducing the income tax burden by reducing taxable income is another important way to formulate preferential income tax policies for software companies. The increase or decrease in taxable income can be achieved by adjusting the tax front This can be achieved by adjusting the scope of expenses and the depreciation and amortization life of assets, or it can be adjusted directly. The above adjustment methods are all reflected in the current preferential policies, and they will not be repeated here.As mentioned above, only the direct adjustment method is analyzed.
In terms of direct adjustment, the preferential policies applicable to software companies are mainly pre-tax deductions for technology development fees. The Measures stipulate that enterprises should record actual expenditures for technology development before tax (included into administrative expenses). If such expenditures increase by more than 10% in the current year compared with the previous year, 50% of the actual amount incurred can be directly deducted for the current year. Taxable income, which can obviously promote the enthusiasm of enterprises to invest in R&D. However, the author believes that there is still room for improvement in this policy. Technology development fees are not an independent accounting account. When companies conduct tax treatment, they need to consolidate the occurrences of relevant accounting accounts against the scope of items listed in the tax law, and at the same time Establish a special subject for technology development fees for future reference. Due to some differences between the financial caliber and the tax caliber, when enterprises implement this preferential policy, the workload of financial accounting is large, and the super deduction declaration procedures are also complicated; the efficiency of tax authorities in approval is low, and it is difficult to audit and monitor before and after the event. If the calculation basis for the super deduction part of this policy can be directly replaced by one or two simple and easy-to-verify financial indicators such as the salary of R&D personnel, which accounts for a large proportion of technology development expenses, it may increase the operability of the policy.
At present, my country's software manufacturers generally lack brand advantages and mainly focus on developing application software products. Based on this reality, it is necessary to adopt appropriate tax preferential policies. Only when preferential policies are in place and are fully implemented using scientific collection and management techniques and means can we truly promote the development of my country's software industry.
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