The General Office of the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM") has recently issued the Circular on Further Effectively Implementing Tax Relief for Equipment Imported by Foreign-invested Enterprises (FIEs) Engaging in Encouraged Category of Foreign Investment (the "Circular"), with immediate effect form the issue date.
The Circular states that from July 30, 2017, for an FIE that will invest in a project falling under the encouraged category in the Catalog for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries or any category in the Catalog of Priority Industries for Foreign Investment in the Central-Western Region and is eligible to get established or increase its registered capital under record-filing procedures, such enterprise or its investor is required to provide particulars about the encouraged foreign-invested project while filling in the record-filing report online through the Integrated Management Information System for Foreign Investment. Also, the Circular expressly states that once the record-filing authority has published the record-filing result on the said system, the enterprise or its investor may obtain from the record-filing authority a Record-filing Receipt for the Incorporation of Foreign-invested Enterprises or a Record-filing Receipt for the Change of Foreign-invested Enterprises with relevant information on the encouraged foreign-invested project indicated in the "Note" on such receipt. In addition, the Circular requires that any record-filing authority shall notify the customs office with the direct jurisdiction of an enterprise's violation of laws or regulations regarding the tax relief for equipment imported by FIEs engaging in the encouraged category of foreign investment.