Interim Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Stamp Tax (Promulgated August 6th, 1988, Effective October 1st, 1988)

Interim Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Stamp Tax

Article 1All units and individuals who execute or receive, within the territory of the People's Republic of China, documents in the categories specified in these Regulations shall be taxpayers subject to stamp tax (hereinafter referred to as "taxpayers"), and shall pay stamp tax in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations.

Article 2The following categories of documents shall be taxable documents:
(1)Contracts or documents in the nature of a contract with regard to: purchases and sales, the undertaking of processing, contracting for construction projects, property leasing, commodity transport, warehousing, loans, property, insurance, technology;
(2)Documents for transfer of property rights;
(3)Business account books;
(4)Certificates evidencing rights or licenses; and
(5)Other documents that are taxable as determined by the Ministry of Finance.

Article 3According to the nature of the taxable document, taxpayers shall calculate the amount of tax due on the basis of a flat tax rate or a fixed amount per document. Determination the specific tax rate or amount of tax shall be made with reference to the Schedule of Tax Items and Tax Rates accompanying these Regulations.
No stamp tax shall be due where the amount of tax payable does not exceed one jiao.
Where the amount of tax payable is one jiao or more, an odd amount not exceeding five fen shall not be counted; where the odd amount is five fen or more, the tax shall be calculated as one jiao.

Article 4The following documents shall be exempt from stamp tax:
(1)Duplicates or copies of documents on which stamp tax has already been paid;
(2)Documents executed for the donation of property to the government, social welfare establishments or schools by the property owner;
(3)Other documents which are exempt from stamp tax with the approval of the Ministry of Finance.

Article 5Measures for the payment of stamp tax shall be implemented whereby taxpayers shall, in accordance with the provisions, calculate the amount of tax payable and purchase and affix at one time the full corresponding amount of tax stamps (hereinafter referred to as "stamping").
In order to simplify the stamping procedures where the amount of tax to be paid is relatively large or where frequent stamping is necessary, taxpayers may apply to the tax authorities to use a tax payment account instead of stamping, or a periodic payment method.

Article 6"Fax stamps shall be affixed to taxable documents; taxpayers shall cancel each stamp along its border with a seal or a drawn line.
Tax stamps that have already been affixed may not be reused.

Article 7Tax stamps shall be affixed to taxable documents at the time of execution or upon receipt.
Article 8Where the same document is executed by two or more parties and each party holds a copy; each party shall be responsible for affixing on its own copy the full amount of tax stamps due.

Article 9Where a document on which tax stamps have already been affixed is amended, resulting in an increase in the value thereof, additional tax stamps shall be affixed on the document in accordance with the amount of such increase.

Article 10The tax authorities shall be responsible for the administration of the collection of stamp tax.

Article 11The State Administration of Taxation shall supervise the printing of the tax stamps. The face value of tax stamps shall be denominated in Renminbi.

Article 12Units issuing or processing taxable documents shall be responsible for the supervision to taxpayers in respect of the payment of stamp tax in accordance with the law.

Article 13Where taxpayers are found to have engaged in any of the following, the tax authorities shall impose penalties in light of the seriousness of the case:
(1)In the case of a failure to affix tax stamps, or to affix an insufficient amount of tax stamps, on taxable documents, the tax authorities may, in addition to ordering taxpayers to make up the tax stamps, impose a fine equal to twenty times or less the amount of tax stamps due;
(2)In the case of a violation of the provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 6 of these Regulations, the tax authorities may impose a fine equal to ten times or less the amount of the tax stamps that have not been cancelled by a seal or a drawn line; and
(3)In the case of a violation of the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 6 of these Regulations, the tax authorities may impose a fine equal to thirty times or less the amount of the tax stamps that have been reused.
In a case where tax stamps have been forged, the tax authorities shall submit the matter to the judicial authorities for investigation into criminal liability in accordance with the law.

Article 14The collection and administration of stamp tax shall, in addition to the provisions of these Regulations, be administered in accordance with the pertinent provisions of the Interim Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Administration of Tax Collection.

Article 15The Ministry of Finance shall be responsible for the interpretation of these Regulations. The rules for the implementation of these Regulations shall be formulated by the Ministry of Finance.

Article 16These Regulations shall enter into force as of October 1, 1988.
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Attachment:

Stamp Tax Schedule of Tax Items and Tax Rates

Tax Item
 Scope
 Tax Rate
 Tax Payer
 
1. purchases and sales contracts
 including contracts for supply, advanced sales,institutional purchases, combined purchase and cooperative manufacturing,assembly compensation trade,barter, and so on.
 0.03% of the value of the or sale
 parties to the contract
 
2. processing contracts
 including contracts for processing, special orders, repair and renovation,overhaul, printing,advertising,surveying,testing and so on.
 stamping as 0.05% of the income from processing or contracting
 parties to the contract
 
3. survey and design contracts for engineering and construction projects
 including contracts for survey and design
 0.05% of receipts
 parties to the contract
 
4.construction and installation project contracts
 including contracts for constraction and installation undertaking
 0.03% of the contracted amount
 parties to the contract
 
5. property leasing contracts
 including contracts for leasing of buildings, vessels, aircraft, motor vehicles, machinery, appliances and other such equipment
 0.1% of the lease amounts less than one yuan to be stamped as one yuan
 parties to the contract
 
6. goods transportation contracts
 including contracts for civil aviation, railway transportation, maritime transportation. inland water ways, overland and through transportation
 0.05% of the transportation fees
 parties to the contract
 
7. warehousing and safekeeping contracts
 including contracts for warehousing and safekeeping
 0.01% of the ware housing and safekeeping fee
 parties to the contract
 
8. contracts for loan
 including contracts for loan entered by banks and other financial organizations and borrowers except interbank loan agreements
 0.005% of the loan amount
 parties to the contract
 
9. property insurance contracts
 including insurance contracts for property,bonding,guarantee, surety and credit undertakings and so on
 0.003% of the amount insured
 parties to the contract
 
10. technology contracts
 including contracts for technology development and transfer, consulting, service, and so on
 0.03% of the indicated amount
 parties to the contract
 
11. property transfer documents
 including transfer documents for property ownership and copyrights, trademark rights, patents, the right to the use of proprietary technology and so on
 0.05% of the amount indicated
 parties executing the document(s)
 
12. business accounting documents
 account books used for production and business operations
 account books for recording funds:0.05% of the total amount of the original value of fixed assets and selfowned working capital; other account books: 5 yuan for each
 business accounting entities
 
13.certificates and licences
 including certificates of title for building business licences for buildings, in industry and commerce, certificates for registration of trade-marks, certificates of patents, and land use certificates
 5 yuan per document for
 receiver(s) of the document(s)
 
 
 
  The State Council 1988-08-06