The general idea of tax planning is to study the tax law carefully, arrange economic activities carefully, and combine the two organically to finally realize the tax planning goal.
The specific thinking of tax planning is: tax planning should adopt different planning methods according to the characteristics of different taxes; The planning of tax elements should aim at different tax elements and adopt different planning techniques; The planning of economic activities should fully consider the tax burden differences of different schemes and make clever arrangements for economic activities; Regional planning should make full use of the tax differences between different regions and different countries (or regions) in China and make overall arrangements for domestic or transnational economic activities.
(1) The concept of tax planning is a bridge connecting the concept and practice of tax planning, and a link connecting the objectives, methods and technologies of tax planning.
In the maze of tax planning, tax planners and internal planners should always keep clear tax planning ideas, so as to carry out effective tax planning, avoid falling into the misunderstanding of tax planning, and realize taxpayers' tax planning goals.
The general idea of tax planning is: first, study the tax law seriously, including the current tax types and tax elements; Secondly, we should carefully arrange the economic activities of taxpayers. Domestic taxpayers should co-ordinate their economic activities in China, while multinational taxpayers should co-ordinate their economic activities in the world. Finally, the taxpayer organically combines its economic activities with the tax law, and finally realizes the taxpayer's tax planning goal.
Specifically, tax planning can be divided into tax types, tax elements, economic activities and regions.
(II) The idea of tax planning The idea of tax planning is to adopt different tax planning methods according to the characteristics of different taxes.
The current tax system is dominated by commodity tax and income tax, so the focus of tax planning is commodity tax planning and income tax planning.
Tax planning mainly includes value-added tax planning, consumption tax planning, business tax planning, tariff planning, enterprise income tax (including domestic enterprise income tax and foreign enterprise income tax) planning, personal income tax planning and comprehensive tax planning.
Such as value-added tax planning.
Value-added tax is the largest tax in China, which should be paid great attention to in tax planning.
The planning of VAT should start with the characteristics of VAT.
1. VAT taxpayers are divided into general taxpayers and small-scale taxpayers. There are differences between the two taxpayers in terms of calculation formula, invoice authority and tax burden.
Therefore, in tax planning, we should choose the appropriate taxpayer type.
Second, there are two tax rates for domestic VAT: 17% and 13%.
Therefore, in tax planning, it is best to choose appropriate accounting methods for goods or taxable services with different tax rates, and it is best to account separately.
Third, the tax object of value-added tax is the value-added amount, which is embodied in the implementation of the purchase tax deduction method for value-added tax.
Therefore, in tax planning, credit maximization can be achieved through property rights reorganization.
Fourth, the export goods are subject to zero tax rate, that is, the export tax refund (exemption) system is implemented, and there are specific policies such as "export tax exemption" and "export tax exemption".
The policy of "export tax exemption and refund" is applicable to the processing of incoming materials, but the input tax cannot be deducted; Feed processing can implement the policy of "export tax exemption and tax refund", and the input tax can be deducted, but the tax refund rate is often lower than the tax rate.
Therefore, in tax planning, we should choose the appropriate treatment methods.
For another example, the planning of enterprise income tax must also proceed from the characteristics of enterprise income tax.
First, corporate income tax payers are different from domestic-funded enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises, and their tax treatment is unequal. The tax burden of foreign-funded enterprises is about half that of domestic enterprises.
Therefore, in tax planning, we should choose the best taxpayer identity.
Second, the corporate income tax rates vary greatly. The actual tax rates of domestic enterprises are 33%, 27%, 18% and 15%, while those of foreign-funded enterprises are 30%+3%, 30%, 24%+3%, 15%.
Therefore, in tax planning, we should use the technology of tax rate difference to seek the lowest tax rate as much as possible.
Third, the tax basis of enterprise income tax is not sales or turnover, nor total income, but net income after deducting legal items from total income, that is, taxable income.
Therefore, in tax planning, it is necessary to maximize tax-free income and deduction, and try to avoid tax adjustments that are unfavorable to taxpayers.
Fourth, there are many tax incentives for domestic enterprises and many tax incentives for foreign-funded enterprises.
Therefore, in terms of tax planning methods, we should make full use of it, actively create conditions, enjoy tax incentives, and realize reasonable tax savings.
For example, the comprehensive planning of tax revenue should also proceed from its characteristics.
First, comprehensively plan commodity tax.
The current tax system mainly collects value-added tax on the secondary industry and business tax on the tertiary industry, with different tax burdens.
When a taxpayer's business involves the scope of these two taxes, it is called mixed sales; When a taxpayer's multiple businesses involve the scope of these two taxes respectively, it is called concurrent operation.
Mixed sales are taxed according to the taxpayer's main business, and part-time sales are taxed according to the accounting method.
Therefore, in tax planning, it is necessary to choose the appropriate main business for mixed sales and the appropriate accounting method for part-time business.
Second, comprehensive income tax planning.
The current tax system imposes income tax on different forms of production and operation organizations. Corporate income tax is levied on companies, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, and personal income tax is levied on dividends distributed by their natural person shareholders. For partnership enterprises, sole proprietorship enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households, no enterprise income tax is levied, only personal income tax is levied.
Therefore, in tax planning, it is necessary to make reasonable arrangements for the organizational form of production and operation.
Third, comprehensively plan commodity tax and income tax.
Individuals renting houses shall pay business tax, urban construction tax, education surcharge, property tax, personal income tax and other taxes.
If the rented house is used for business, the business tax rate is 5%, the property tax rate is 12%, and the personal income tax rate is 20%; If the rented house is used for residence, the business tax rate is 3%, the property tax rate is 4%, and the personal income tax rate is 10%.
Therefore, in tax planning, rental housing should consider its use.
(3) The idea of tax element planning is to adopt different tax planning techniques for different tax elements.
Tax element planning mainly includes tax scope planning, taxpayer planning, tax rate planning, tax base (income and expenses) planning, tax preference planning (tax reduction, exemption, tax refund and tax offset) planning, tax link planning, tax payment time planning, tax payment location planning, tax payment mode planning and tax authorities planning.
For example, tax base planning is the difficulty of tax planning.
The tax basis of enterprise income tax is taxable income, not total profit.
The taxable income calculated according to tax law is usually not equal to the total profit calculated according to accounting system.
Therefore, in tax planning, in order to maximize the after-tax profit, in the long run, it is necessary to maximize the total profit and minimize the taxable income.
Total profit is accounting income minus accounting expenses and losses, and taxable income is total income minus deductible items.
Therefore, we must maximize the accounting income and minimize the total income, minimize the accounting expenses and losses, and maximize the amount of deduction items, that is, maximize the deduction items, maximize the deduction amount, and minimize the deduction time.
Affiliates can also make appropriate use of transfer pricing to transfer income and expenses and realize legal tax avoidance.
Personal income tax planning can also use income splitting technology to divide income by month, time and person.
Another example is tax preferential planning, which is the highlight of tax planning.
Tax incentives include tax reduction, exemption, tax refund and tax credit.
The planning of tax reduction and exemption should maximize tax reduction and exemption as much as possible.
Tax refund planning, such as tax refund for value-added tax and consumption tax on export goods, and tax refund for reinvestment income tax, should maximize the tax refund items and amount as much as possible.
Tax credit planning, such as input tax credit, investment credit for purchasing domestic equipment, overseas income tax credit, preferential tax credit, domestic investment income tax credit, etc., should maximize the credit items and credits as much as possible.
It is worth noting that taxpayers use preferential tax policies in three types: passive acceptance, active use and active creation.
Therefore, in tax planning, we should make economic activities conform to policy orientation as much as possible and actively use preferential tax policies; For those who do not meet the preferential conditions temporarily, they can also actively create conditions and enjoy tax incentives.
Another example is tax planning, which is a dark horse of tax planning.
Value-added tax is paid in all aspects. The former link does not pay taxes or pays less taxes, and the latter link will pay more taxes, so it will not reduce the tax burden of the whole link.
The consumption tax shall be levied at one time. Generally, the initial link is chosen to pay taxes, and the subsequent links are no longer taxed.
In tax planning, as long as you don't pay taxes or pay less taxes in this link, you can reduce the tax burden of the whole link.
Therefore, manufacturers of taxable consumer goods generally implement independent accounting in their retail departments and reorganize their sales departments into sales companies, thus reducing their taxable sales and ultimately reducing consumption tax.
(4) Economic activities with different planning ideas have different tax exemptions, and different economic activities pay different taxes.
Therefore, the planning idea of economic activities is to comprehensively consider the tax burden differences of different schemes and make ingenious arrangements for economic activities.
Tax planning should run through not only all economic activities, but also all economic activities.
Taxpayers' economic activities can be divided into the establishment stage, expansion stage, contraction stage and liquidation stage from the perspective of the growth stage of enterprises; From the perspective of enterprise financial cycle, it can be divided into financing, investment and distribution; From the perspective of business processes, it can be divided into procurement, production, sales and accounting processes.
Therefore, economic activity planning mainly includes growth planning (establishment planning, expansion planning, contraction planning, liquidation planning); Financial planning (financing planning, investment planning, distribution planning); Business planning (procurement planning, production planning, sales planning, accounting planning).
(1). Growth planning.
In the establishment stage, different forms: state-owned enterprises, foreign-funded enterprises, private enterprises, different liability forms: sole proprietorship enterprises, partnerships, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, different registered addresses and business premises: high-tech development zones, special economic zones, bonded areas, different investment industries and employees: production enterprises, advanced enterprises, export enterprises, welfare enterprises, labor services enterprises, and different investment methods: monetary capital investment and inventory.
In the expansion stage, there is a considerable tax difference in setting up branches or subsidiaries, expansion or acquisition, and expansion planning is needed.
In the restructuring stage, it is possible to reduce taxable sales, increase deductions or credits, reduce tax rates, enjoy preferential treatment, and change taxes; There are two ways of merger: cash payment and securities payment, and their tax treatment is different, so separate planning and merger planning are needed.
In the liquidation stage, different liquidation methods have different tax burdens, so liquidation planning is needed.
(2) financial planning.
In financing, short-term financing includes commercial credit, short-term loans, etc. Long-term financing includes stocks, bonds, long-term loans and financial leasing.
Different financing structures and methods have different tax burdens, so financing planning is needed.
In the investment link, internal investment includes short-term investment and long-term investment, external investment includes direct investment and indirect investment, and indirect investment includes equity investment and debt (national debt) investment.
Different investment structures and methods have different tax burdens, so investment planning is needed.
In the distribution link, different distribution methods: cash dividends, stock dividends, product dividends, different distribution objects: distribution to natural persons and legal persons, distribution to domestic investors, foreign investors or foreigners, their tax burden is different, so it is necessary to carry out distribution planning.
(3) Business planning.
In the process of purchasing, different purchasing scale and structure, different purchasing units, different purchasing time, different settlement methods and different purchasing contracts all have different tax burdens, so purchasing planning is needed.
In the process of sales, different sales scale and structure, different product prices, different sales revenue realization time, different sales methods and different sales locations have different tax burdens, so sales planning is needed.
In the process of accounting, different accounting and non-accounting, different methods of bad debt write-off, different methods of inventory issuance, different methods of depreciation of fixed assets and different methods of amortization of bond surplus and discount all have different tax burdens, so accounting planning is needed.
(5) The regional tax burden of different regional planning ideas is often different.
The idea of regional planning is to make full use of the differences in tax burden between different regions and different countries (or regions) in China and make overall arrangements for domestic or transnational economic activities.
Regional planning includes domestic regional planning and international tax planning.
1. Domestic regional planning.
At present, China's tax legislative power is basically concentrated in the central government, and the tax law is unified.
However, the differences in tax treatment in different places are objective, even very different.
There are some low-tax zones in China, or "domestic tax havens", such as special economic zones under the policy of reform and opening-up, coastal (even riverside) economic open zones, economic and technological development zones under the policy of primary productivity, high-tech industrial development zones under the policy of encouraging exports, "poverty-stricken areas for the young and the old" under the policy of poverty alleviation, western development under the policy of large-scale western development, and northeast revitalization under the policy of northeast.
These areas enjoy different levels and types of tax incentives.
Therefore, taxpayers should choose the place of registration, place of business, place of establishment of branches or subsidiaries to reduce the tax burden.
You can also use the transfer pricing method to avoid taxes legally.
Moreover, with the deepening of the reform of the market economy system, local governments will have greater tax authority, and different tax policies may be introduced in various places, and then domestic regional planning will be of great use.
2. International regional planning.
After China's entry into WTO, China's foreign economic exchanges have been expanding, more foreign investors have invested in China, more domestic enterprises have gone global, and transnational economic activities have become increasingly frequent.
Therefore, the prospect of international regional planning is very broad.
The idea of international regional planning is to make full use of the differences between national tax laws and international tax agreements to comprehensively arrange transnational economic activities.
The difference of international tax burden is often greater than that of domestic tax burden, and there are some low tax areas in the world, that is, international tax havens.
Some countries and regions do not levy any income tax, such as Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands and Nauru. Some countries and regions levy income tax but the tax rate is low, such as Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Jersey and Guernsey. Some countries and regions, such as Hong Kong, Panama and Cyprus, only levy income tax on geographical jurisdictions. Some countries and regions levy normal income tax on domestic general companies, but provide special tax concessions to some companies, such as Luxembourg and the Netherlands Antilles; Some countries and regions have signed a large number of tax agreements with other countries, such as the Netherlands.
These countries and regions are collectively called international tax havens.
International regional planning often uses international tax havens to set up intermediary international holding companies, intermediary international finance companies, intermediary international trading companies and intermediary international licensing companies in international tax havens, and uses transfer pricing and other means to minimize the total tax burden of multinational companies in global operations.