In response to The State Council's call for mass entrepreneurship and innovation，Standardize the software enterprise income tax preferential policy matters，Actively guide software enterprises to increase investment in research and development，We will promote the transformation of scientific and technological innovation, upgrade the industrial structure, and build an innovation-oriented country，The State Council issued the "Ministry of Finance, State Administration of Taxation Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Software and Integrated circuit industry Enterprise Income tax Preferential Policy" (2016) No. 49，"Announcement No. 49")，New policy requirements are made for the preferential policy of enterprise income tax for software enterprises，In order to let software companies better understand how to handle corporate income tax incentive filing and other matters，Today we answer the relevant questions about the software enterprise income tax incentives，For everyone to learn。
Software enterprise income tax preferential policy related questions
First, what are the conditions for software enterprises to enjoy enterprise income tax incentives？
A: According to the provisions of Announcement No. 49, enterprises whose main business is software product development and sales (business) need to meet the following conditions at the same time to enjoy the preferential corporate income tax policy:
1. Resident enterprises lawfully registered within the territory of China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan);
2. The number of employees with labor contract relationship and college degree or above accounted for not less than 40% of the average monthly total number of employees of the enterprise in the year of final settlement, and the proportion of research and development personnel accounted for not less than 20% of the average monthly total number of employees of the enterprise;
3. Possess core key technologies, and carry out business activities on this basis, and the total annual research and development expenses accounted for no less than 6% of the total sales (operating) income of the enterprise;The proportion of R&D expenses incurred by the enterprise in China shall not be less than 60% of the total R&D expenses;
4. The proportion of software product development and sales (operating) income in the total revenue of the enterprise shall not be less than 50% (the proportion of embedded software product and information system integration product development and sales (operating) income in the total revenue of the enterprise shall not be less than 40%)。Among them, the proportion of software product independent development and sales (operating) income in the total revenue of the enterprise is not less than 40% (embedded software product and information system integration product development and sales (operating) income in the total revenue of the enterprise is not less than 30%);
5. The main business has independent intellectual property rights;
6. Having a development environment suitable for software development such as software and hardware facilities (such as legal development tools, etc.);
7. No major safety, major quality accidents or serious environmental violations occurred in the year of final settlement。
Second, the key software enterprises in the national planning layout to enjoy income tax preferential policies in addition to the need to meet the conditions of software enterprises, there are any conditions？
A: In addition to meeting the 7 requirements of the above software companies, you also need to meet at least one of the following:
1. The annual revenue of software product development and sales (operating) shall not be less than 200 million yuan, the taxable income shall not be less than 10 million yuan, and the proportion of research and development personnel in the average total number of employees of the enterprise shall not be less than 25%;
2. In the key software fields specified by the state，The annual revenue of software product development and sales (operating) is not less than 50 million yuan，The taxable income is not less than 2.5 million yuan，The proportion of research and development personnel in the total number of enterprises' average monthly employees is not less than 25%，The proportion of the R&D expenses incurred by the enterprise in China shall not be less than 70% of the total R&D expenses;
3. The total annual software export revenue shall not be less than US $8 million, the total software export revenue shall not be less than 50% of the total annual revenue of the enterprise, and the proportion of research and development personnel shall not be less than 25% of the total monthly average employees of the enterprise。
Q: What is the policy of R&D expenses as stated in the stipulated conditions of software enterprises？
A: Software enterprise research and development expenses policy caliber，2015年度仍按《国家税务总局关于印发<企业研究开发费用税前扣除管理办法（试行）>的通知》（国税发〔2008〕116号）和《韦德平台》（财税〔2013〕70号）的规定执行，In 2016 and subsequent years, it shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Notice of the Ministry of Finance on Improving the Policy of Pre-Tax Plus Deduction of Research and Development Expenses by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the State Administration of Taxation (Finance and Taxation (2015) No. 119)。
3. Which preferential income tax policies can software enterprises enjoy？
A: According to the Notice of the State Administration of Taxation of the Ministry of Finance on Further Encouraging the Development of Enterprise Income Tax Policy for the Software Industry and Integrated Circuit Industry (Finance [2012] No. 27, hereinafter referred to as the "Finance [2012] No. 27") document, the following software enterprises enjoy preferential corporate income tax。
1. Qualified software enterprises in China, after being identified, before December 31, 2017, from the profit year to calculate the preferential period, the first year to the second year exempt from enterprise income tax, the third year to the fifth year in accordance with the statutory tax rate of 25% of the enterprise income tax, and enjoy until the expiration。
"Profit-making year" means a tax year in which the taxable income of the enterprise is greater than zero。
2. Key software enterprises within the state planning layout, if they do not enjoy tax exemptions in the current year, the enterprise income tax may be levied at a reduced tax rate of 10%。
3. Qualified software enterprises in accordance with the Ministry of Finance of the State Administration of Taxation on Software products value-added tax policy Notice (2011) No. 100) obtained immediately tax and refund value-added tax，It is specially used by the enterprise for software product development and expansion reproduction and separately accounted for，It can be treated as non-taxable income，Deduct from total income when calculating taxable income。
4. The employee training expenses incurred by qualified software enterprises, if calculated separately, may be deducted in the calculation of taxable income according to the actual amount incurred。
5. If the software purchased by an enterprise meets the conditions for the recognition of fixed assets or intangible assets, it may be accounted for according to the fixed assets or intangible assets, and its depreciation or amortization period may be appropriately shortened, the shortest may be 2 years (inclusive).。
Q: Do software enterprises and key software enterprises within the national planning layout need to be approved for tax preference qualification？
Answer: In accordance with the provisions of the Decision of The State Council on the cancellation and adjustment of a number of administrative approval Items (Guofa [2015] No. 11) and the Decision of The State Council on the cancellation of non-administrative approval Items (Guofa [2015] No. 27)，Non-administrative approval, such as the identification of preferential tax qualifications for software enterprises and key software enterprises within the national planning layout, has been cancelled。
When should software enterprises file with tax authorities？
A: An enterprise shall file a record with the competent tax authorities in accordance with the Announcement of the State Administration of Taxation on the Issuance of "Measures for the Handling of Preferential Policies on Enterprise Income Tax" (the State Administration of Taxation Announcement No. 76 of 2015) no later than the annual final settlement and tax return，At the same time, the filing information specified in the annex to Document No. 49 of Finance and Taxation [2016] is submitted。
5. What information do software enterprises need to provide when filing with the competent tax authorities in accordance with regulations？
Answer: When filing for regular exemption of enterprise income tax for qualified software enterprises, the following information needs to be provided when submitting the Filing Form of Enterprise Income Tax Preferential Matters:
1. A list of major software products or technical services developed and sold by the enterprise;
2. For enterprises whose main business is software product development, provide valid documents of independent intellectual property rights such as software copyright or patent rights of at least one main product, as well as software product test reports provided by third-party testing institutions. For enterprises whose main business is only technical services, provide core technical descriptions;
3. The number of employees, educational structure, research and development personnel and their proportion to the total number of employees of the enterprise, as well as the final month of the year of settlement of social insurance payment certificate and other certification materials;
4. The financial accounting reports of enterprises certified by qualified intermediaries (including accounting statements, notes to accounting statements and financial fact sheets), software product development and sales (operating) income, software product independent development and sales (operating) income, research and development expenses, domestic research and development expenses, etc.;
5. One or two copies of representative software product sales contracts or technical service contracts signed with major customers;
6. Enterprise development environment related certification materials;
7. Other materials required by the tax authorities。
The retention period of the enterprise's materials for reference shall be 10 years after the preferential items are enjoyed。If the enterprise fails to provide information for future reference，Or the materials retained for reference do not conform to the actual production and operation situation, financial accounting, relevant technical fields, industries, catalogues, qualification certificates, etc，It cannot prove that the enterprise meets the conditions of preferential tax policies，The tax authorities shall recover the tax deductions and exemptions they have already enjoyed，And in accordance with the provisions of the tax administration law。
6. What measures will the tax department take if the enterprises that have enjoyed the preferential tax policies for software enterprises fail to meet the requirements upon verification？
A: In order to effectively strengthen the management work after the cancellation of the preferential qualification recognition, after the software and integrated circuit enterprises enjoy the preferential policy, the tax department will refer to the development and reform, work and information technology department for verification。For those who do not meet the requirements of software and integrated circuit enterprises after verification, the tax department shall pursue the enterprise income tax preferences already enjoyed by them and deal with them in accordance with the provisions of the Tax Administration Law。
7. What is the time point when software enterprises start to calculate the regular tax reduction and exemption period？
A: Software and integrated circuit enterprises shall calculate the regular tax reduction and exemption period from the profit year of the enterprise。If the profit year does not meet the preferential conditions, it shall enjoy the corresponding tax reduction and exemption privileges in the remaining years of its preferential period starting from the year in which it first meets the conditions for software and integrated circuit enterprises。
For example, the profit year of a software enterprise is 2015, and the preferential period of two exemptions and three halves should be calculated from 2015。However, if the 2015 year does not meet the software and integrated circuit enterprise tax incentives, the year may not enjoy regular tax reduction and exemption。If the enterprise meets the preferential conditions in 2016, it can enjoy the remaining "one exemption and three halves" enterprise income tax benefits from 2016。
8. Enterprises that enjoy two exemptions and three halving for software enterprises, and are also identified as high-tech enterprises, should be taxed at the 15% tax rate or at the 25% tax rate, and whether they can also enjoy the additional deduction policy for research and development expenses？
A: According to the regulations，Resident enterprises are identified as high-tech enterprises，At the same time, it meets the preferential conditions of enterprise income tax for software enterprises and integrated circuit enterprises by half on a regular basis，The applicable income tax rate of the resident enterprise may choose to apply the 15% tax rate of the high-tech enterprise，There is also the option of halving the tax at the statutory rate of 25%，But not eligible for the 15% tax rate halved。
The two concessions of "two exemptions and three halving" and the reduction of corporate income tax at a 15% tax rate are the same tax rate concessions, there is a cross, and you can only choose one to enjoy。However, the research and development expenses deduction policy belongs to the preferential tax base, whether the enterprise chooses "two exemptions and three halving" or reduces the corporate income tax rate of 15%, if the conditions are met, it can be deducted before tax。
9. What should be done if the conditions of tax reduction and exemption change within the effective year after the filing of tax reduction and exemption for software enterprises？
A: When the conditions of tax reduction and exemption change, it should be handled in accordance with the following different circumstances:
1. Still in line with the provisions of preferential matters, but the content of the record needs to be changed, the enterprise within 15 days from the date of change, to the tax authorities for the change of the record。
2. Enterprises that no longer comply with the relevant provisions of the tax law shall take the initiative to stop enjoying tax incentives。
Q: Do I need to file annually for software that enjoys regular tax deductions？
A: In order to facilitate the timely follow-up management by the tax authorities, the regular tax reduction and exemption privileges of software and integrated circuit enterprises are no longer managed as the "Regular tax reduction and exemption registration management matters" stipulated by the State Administration of Taxation Announcement No. 76 in 2015。Enterprises enjoying regular tax reduction and exemption benefits shall file with the tax authorities in accordance with the provisions of the State Administration of Taxation Announcement No. 76 of 2015 at the time of annual settlement and settlement, and submit the archival information stipulated in Announcement No. 49。