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By Guo Sun Lee  Hayden Flinn, King & Wood Mallesons’ Hong Kong Office

lee_guosunOn 10 July 2015 the Hong Kong Legislative Council agreed to extend the existing profits tax exemption for offshore funds to PE funds. The new exemptions, set out in the Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill 2015 (the “Bill”), will come into effect shortly when the Bill is gazetted and will apply to transactions carried out after 1 April 2015.

The amendments, designed to address the concerns of offshore PE funds and promote Hong Kong’s status as an asset management hub, broaden the existing exemption to cover transactions in securities of certain private companies incorporated outside Hong Kong, to remove the requirement to transact through SFO licensed entities for ‘qualifying funds’ and to extend coverage to include special purpose vehicles.
Continue Reading Amended profits tax exemption a welcome change for private equity funds

By  King & Wood Mallesons’ Tax Group

On 31st October, 2014, the Ministry of Finance, State Administration of Taxation (SAT) and China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly published Cai Shui [2014] No.79 (Circular 79) to clarify enterprise income tax (EIT) policy for capital gains with respect to QFIIs/RQFII. Under Circular 79, QFIIs/RQFIIs are temporarily exempt from EIT on China-sourced capital gains derived from transfer of equity investment assets (including shares) effective from 17th November, 2014. However, at the same time, it provides that the abovementioned capital gains derived prior to 17th November, 2014 shall be subject to Chinese EIT. 
Continue Reading Chinese Tax Authorities will recently commence tax cleaning-up activities targeting incomes of QFIIs/RQFIIs

By Zhao Yan and Daisy Duan , King & Wood Mallesons’  Taxation Group

赵炎段桃After several rounds of revisions and consultations in the past few years, the State Administration of Taxation (“SAT”) has recently promulgated the Bulletin on Several Issues concerning the Enterprise Income Tax (“EIT”) on Indirect Asset Transfer by Non-Resident Enterprises (“Bulletin 7”)[1]. Tax matters occurred but have not been settled before 3 February 2015, the date of implementation of Bulletin 7, shall be governed by Bulletin 7. Meanwhile, the relevant provisions of Guo Shui Han [2009] No. 698 (“Circular 698”)[2] and SAT Bulletin [2011] No. 24 (“Bulletin 24”)[3] concerning indirect equity transfers shall be revoked accordingly.

In accordance with Bulletin 7, indirect transfer of China taxable assets conducted by non-resident enterprises through arrangements that do not have reasonable commercial purposes, which results in avoidance of EIT, shall be deemed as direct transfer of China taxable assets and thus subject to tax in China. As an upgrade to Circular 698, Bulletin 7 shall have profound impacts on the tax costs, investment structuring and exit plan of foreign enterprises making investments into China and of domestic enterprises setting up “red-chip” structures for overseas listings.
Continue Reading A New Milestone for Taxation on Indirect Asset Transfer by Non-resident Enterprises — A Review of the Past and Present of Bulletin 7

By Cecilia Lou and Vincent Yu King&WoodMallesons’ Corporate Group

Merchandizing the image of TV or movie character has become a common practice since long ago. Right owners not only use merchandizing as a way of publicity but also benefit from the sales of merchandise. In China, laws are silent on right to merchandize. Nevertheless, right owners can still harness the existing IP and civil rights regime to establish merchandise agreements for purposes of collecting royalty and enhance publicity. This article provides some of the key pointers in crafting the merchandise agreements.

LICENSOR

Licensors need to double confirm whether they have right to enter into the merchandise agreements. Licensors can be copyright owner, trademark owner, design patent owner, or a licensee of the right owners. In the last scenario, it is advised for licensor to obtain a license to sublicense and enforce the right. For example, a movie studio may need to get a license from the actor to explore actor’s image in the movie. Also, overseas right owners may need to grant a merchandise right to the distributor or agent in China. In all, licensors should avoid situation where their right to dispose or license is limited.
Continue Reading Key pointers in drafting a merchandizing agreement in China

By Tony Dong and Daisy Duan   King & Wood Mallesons’ Taxation Group

http://www.kingandwood.com/lawyer.aspx?language=en&id=tony-dongThe invoice plays an indispensable role in economic activity and business operations in China. It also plays an important role in tax scrutiny when tax authorities are collecting taxes and combating tax evasion. It is reported that in 2013, the tax authorities investigated 91,000 cases of selling or producing false invoices or the illegal issuing of invoices  and 130 million illegal invoices were uncovered. Invoice-related non-compliance is found frequently in certain industries such as real estate, construction and installation, medicine and medical equipment, power generation and supply, catering and entertainment, and the education or training industry. The tax authorities have identified 89,000 entities that have illegal invoices issues, and they are pursuing taxes of more than RMB 13.8 billion.
Continue Reading Tax Issues on Receiving Falsely Issued Invoices in “Good Faith”

ByTony Dong, Daisy Duan  and Jiang Junlu  King & Wood Mallesons Corporate Group

Over the years, it has been a common practice that multinational companies (“Home Entity”) dispatch expatriate employees (“Secondees”) to the affiliated enterprise in China (“Host Entity”) to hold post as senior management or other technical position. Usually, the Home Entity and the Secondees would retain the employment relationship and the Home Entity continues to pay the salaries and social security contribution for the Secondee in the home country, which would be reimbursed by the Host Entity. Since the tax clearance certificate issued by Chinese tax authority is required when the Host Entity makes remittance overseas for the reimbursement payment, the tax authority needs to determine whether the Home Entity constitutes the establishment/place of business (“taxable presence”) or permanent establishment (“PE”) under the relevant tax treaty under the secondment arrangement, which may result in PRC Enterprise Income Tax (“EIT”) consequence for the Home Entity. Nevertheless, there are often disagreements between tax authorities and the Host Entity due to the ambiguity of tax regulations in the assessment of taxable presence or PE under cross-border secondment arrangement, and consequently Host Entity has difficulty in obtaining the tax clearance certificates and cannot remit the payment to the overseas Home Entity. There will be a change from June 1st, 2013.
Continue Reading China Tax: Unveiling the International Secondment Arrangement

By Richard  Wigley of King & Wood’s Intellectual Property Group

China’s packaged software market is estimated to "grow from $4.7 Billion in 2008 to $8.3 Billion by 2013, with a five-year CAGR of 12.1%"1. China’s domestic software industry has, however, long suffered from the effects of rampant software piracy, making it difficult for domestic industry players to proportionally benefit from China’s economic rise over the past 30 years. Though the trials and travails of major global software companies, such as Microsoft, in China have been well-documented, domestic software companies, though with a seeming "home market" advantage, have often found it difficult to build viable business models in this environment. This environment for domestic software companies, however, appears to be changing for the better.Continue Reading China’s Support of Domestic Software Industry Strengthened by State Council Release of P.R.C. Government Policies

The new PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law (“EIT law”) came into effect on January 1, 2008 and consolidated the enterprise income tax regimes for domestic enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises and ended the system of dual income tax regimes. The new EIT law unified the tax rates and tax incentive policies for both domestic enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises so that more equitable market conditions are created.

For those enterprises previously enjoying favorable tax incentives under the former tax regimes, the new EIT law provides a 5-year transitional period. For example, enterprises that enjoyed fixed term tax exemptions and reductions may continue to enjoy them until the end of the original term. Enterprises that used to enjoy a 15% tax rate will gradually shift from the lower rate to the 25% as required by the new EIT law. The transitional tax incentive policies are provided in many different tax regulations. The following is an introduction of some of the transitional tax policies:
 

Stephen Nelson, head of King & Wood’s Taxation Practice & Wu Libin 

Continue Reading Transitional Tax Incentive Policies relating to the Enterprise Income Tax