Coal resources tax rate may be raised to 3%-5%

After a series of policy signals for the reform of the resource tax have been frequently published, whether or not coal will be included in the reform of the resource tax will become the focus of attention of all parties. According to sources, the reform plan is likely to set the tax rate of coal tax between 3% and 5%. Some large coal enterprises are now actively preparing for the reform of resource tax.

Experts interviewed by the "Economic Information Daily" believe that it is an inevitable trend to include coal in the scope of ad valorem assessment and raise the level of tax burden. At present, the conditions for the reform to be rolled out in a wider range are basically met.

The "Central Committee's Proposal for Formulating the Twelfth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" (hereinafter referred to as the "Proposal") promulgated on October 27 proposes to continue to promote taxation and tax reform and comprehensively reform resource taxes; to deepen resource Product price and factor market reforms, rationalize the relationship between coal, electricity, oil, gas, water, minerals, and other resource products. Subsequently, Xishan Coal and Power (000983, shares bar) Group, Shenhua Group and other companies have strengthened the coal into the scope of the reform of resource tax expectations, the relevant management personnel said that companies are actively preparing for the reform of resource tax.

In fact, the resource tax reform has taken the lead. On June 1, 2010, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued the “Provisions on Several Issues Concerning the Reform of the Xinjiang Crude Oil Natural Gas Resource Tax.” Crude oil and natural gas resource taxes are subject to ad valorem, with a tax rate of 5 %, taxable amount is calculated as: tax payable = sales × tax rate.

It is worth noting that this reform plan does not include coal. To this end, some experts speculated that for many reasons such as avoiding increasing inflationary pressures, even if the nationwide implementation of resource tax reforms, it is unlikely that the ad valorem will be imposed on coal.

However, the Western Development Conference held in Beijing in early July pointed out that in order to further promote the development of the western region, we must conscientiously implement various policies and measures formulated by the central government, and change the taxation of resources such as coal, crude oil, and natural gas from Price collection.

Such a statement, together with the “reform of resource tax” put forward by the recent “Proposal” has once again strained the nerves of the coal enterprises. “We have even prepared for the introduction of reform measures within the year.” Xishan Coal and Power Group, a senior executive Managers told the "Economic Information Daily" that the team they led had been combined with the company's latest financial data to make corresponding estimates and assessments, and fully prepared and estimated the impact of coal into the category of resource tax reforms next year, and the impact it would have on companies.

The current collection method for China’s coal resource tax is still based on specific measures. In addition to the uniform tax of 8 yuan/ton for coking coal resources, the tax rate for other coal types in all regions is around RMB 3/ton. According to a researcher from the China Coal Industry Association, the resource tax levy of the above-scale coal enterprises actually accounts for 1% of the sales revenue. The resource tax reform plan has initially determined that the resource tax levy rate will increase from 1% of the actual sales revenue to 3%. %-5%, and provide that local governments can determine the specific tax rate in combination with the actual situation.

The above-mentioned senior management personnel of Xishan Coal & Electricity Group calculated the accounts roughly. Taking coking coal as an example, at a tax rate of 5%, the tax burden after the ad valorem measurement may be 5-7 times of the original tax burden. He said that “according to the current profitability, companies are fully capable of digesting,” but “will certainly be passed on appropriately.”

A management staff of the Shenhua Group recently revealed to the “Economic Information Daily” that they are paying close attention to various positions of the decision-makers on the resource tax reform and trying to obtain more detailed detailed reform plans through various channels. The manager said that once the reform plan was introduced to include coal and collect it at a tax rate of 3% to 5%, “the impact on the company is still quite large, especially the cost.”

An industry source said that if the increased tax burden can be transferred out, companies will not sacrifice their own profit margins, so coal prices will increase accordingly. This person also believes that due to the influence of many factors such as the quality of coal, technical level and other factors, weaker coal companies will have relatively poor transferability, so the tax reform may also mean the trend of industry consolidation.

Chen Yan, deputy director of the Beijing Institute of Finance and Taxation, believes that the inclusion of coal and even more tax items into the scope of ad valorem assessment, and correspondingly raising the level of tax revenue is an inevitable trend of resource tax reforms. "Now Xinjiang has tried reform earlier, and therefore, more The pace of implementing resource tax reforms in a wide range will inevitably accelerate, plus there will be no technical obstacles, and it will not be ruled out by the end of this year. Now we only wait for the relevant departments to formally issue them,” said the researchers.