A: Article 3 of the Provisional Regulations on Business Tax stipulates that taxpayers shall separately account for the turnover, transfer amount and sales of different tax items when providing taxable services, transferring intangible assets or selling real estate. If the turnover is not accounted for separately, a higher tax rate shall apply.

Therefore, if an insurance company accounts for training services separately, it can declare and pay business tax according to the tax rate of 3% in the culture and sports industry, otherwise, it will pay business tax according to the financial insurance items starting from the high tax rate of 5%.

Article 15 of the Measures for the Administration of Invoices stipulates that units or individuals that have gone through tax registration according to law shall apply to the competent tax authorities for receiving and purchasing invoices after obtaining the tax registration certificate.

Therefore, if an insurance company has training business in the column of tax registration business scope, it can apply for purchasing special invoices for cultural and sports industries after obtaining the tax registration certificate.

If there is no such content in the column of business scope of tax registration certificate, units or individuals that need to use invoices temporarily according to Article 17 of the Measures for the Administration of Invoices may directly apply to the tax authorities for handling. It can also be stipulated in Article 26 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Measures for the Administration of Invoices that all units and individuals that need to apply to the tax authorities for issuing invoices shall provide written certificates of purchase and sale business, service acceptance or other business activities. If the tax law stipulates that taxes should be paid, the tax authorities shall collect taxes at the same time as issuing invoices.

Further reading: How to buy insurance, which is good, and teach you how to avoid these "pits" of insurance.