Shanghai Free Trade Zone: Foreign investors should pay attention

On 30 August 2019, the Shanghai Municipal Government released the announcement "Several Opinions on Promoting the Implementation of Special Support Policies for the Quality Development of the Lingang New Area of the China (Shanghai) Free Trade Zone" which introduced 50 measures with regard to the administration of the zone, professional talents, finance and taxation, land planning, industrial development, housing supply and infrastructure. The measures apply from 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2023.

The tax incentives contained in the announcement are as follows:

• for qualified enterprises engaging in research and development in key industries, such as integrated circuit (IC), artificial intelligence, biomedicine and civil aviation within the zone, the enterprise income tax rate will be reduced from 25% to 15% for 5 years, starting from the date of establishment of the enterprise;
• qualified IC production and design enterprises and software enterprises may be exempt from enterprise income tax in the first 2 years and may enjoy an enterprise income tax reduction of 50% in the subsequent 3 years; and
• a subsidiary tax may be granted to high-end workers and talents working in the new zone to reduce individual income tax.

Furthermore, a special tax policy relating to goods entering the zone, transactions of goods and services between enterprises within the zone is being developed, as is the VAT policy on export of services.

Source: The State Council of PRC / Information Office of Shanghai Municipality