海南自由貿易港間接稅優惠的WTO合規性審視

HFTP Indirect Tax Preferences: An Examination of Their Conformity with the WTO

"建立對標世界最高開放形態的海南自由貿易港,是我國擴大開放的重大戰略。為此,相關規定為海南自由貿易港貨物貿易提供了多種稅收優惠,但WTO《補貼與反補貼協定》將政府放棄應徵收的收入納入補貼,從而為此類稅收優惠埋下了WTO合規隱患。在自貿港間接稅優惠中,自貿港企業“兩頭在外”生產加工所用原輔料免稅,貌似與WTO《補貼與反補貼協定》禁止的出口補貼相契合,但因符合該協定第1項注釋規定的補貼例外,並不構成補貼。然而,由於生產設備作為資本貨物不符合該項補貼例外,故自貿港企業自用生產設備進口免稅易被認定為補貼。對此,海南應行使自貿港法規制定權,建立適用於自貿港的稅制和稅率,以避免專向性補貼。此外,進口料件加工增值內銷免征關稅,與《中國加入WTO議定書》的內容相悖,亦易被認定為進口替代補貼。欲避免之,需要變自貿港增值比例要求為自貿港原產地要求,並進行配套改革。"

"The establishment of Hainan Free Trade Port (HFTP) targeting at the highest open level in the world is a significant strategy of China. For the sake of this, relevant rules provide various tax preferences for trade of goods in HFTP, but SCM Agreement takes the government revenue otherwise due foregone as subsidy, causing concerns for the international legitimacy of these preferences. Among HFTP indirect tax preferences, the exemption of duties and taxes for the inputs consumed in the goods production of HFTP enterprises under the mode of importing supplies and then exporting products, though similar to the export subsidy prohibited by SCM, constitutes the subsidy exception contained in the 1st footnote of SCM. But production equipments as capital goods fail to meet subsidy exception in the above footnote, thus the exemption of duties and taxes for import of production equipment used by HFTP enterprises are susceptible to a subsidy. Hainan should exercise the legislative power for HFTP regulations to establish the HFTP duty and tax to prevent the measures from becoming specific subsidy. In addition, the exemption of duties for imported inputs in the products with value added above certain threshold in Hainan runs counter to the provisions in the Protocol on China’s Accession to the WTO and is susceptible to import substitution subsidy. The value added requirement should be replaced with the rule of origin combined with supporting reforms to avoid the breach."