New tax rules will close loopholes for fuel blenders, pvt refiners in China
Thursday, 18 January 2018
BEIJING/SINGAPORE, Jan 17 (Agencies): China's fuel blending companies and independent refineries will bear the brunt of new tax rules that will close loopholes that allegedly allowed them to sell fuel without paying consumption taxes.
The rules address a long-held complaint by China's state-owned oil companies that the privately owned refiners and blenders have grabbed market share from them by undercutting their prices through tax avoidance. Increasing their tax compliance may reduce the profit margins for the refiners and blenders.
Starting on March 1, fuel dealers and producers will be required to log on to a new national system for issuing invoices for all transactions of refined fuel, the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) said last week in a policy document.
Meanwhile, China is preparing for a new crackdown on cryptocurrency, planning to stamp out remaining trading in the country, according to state media.
China will gradually clean up over-the-counter trading platforms, peer-to-peer networks where large exchanges occur and firms registered in the country which allow Chinese to trade overseas, the state-run Securities Journal said Tuesday.
The publication cited an anonymous source close to regulators tackling online finance risks.
The new plan follows China's crackdown on cryptocurrency trading last year, which saw Beijing shut down bitcoin exchanges and ban all initial coin offerings.
But alternative channels for trading cryptocurrencies have popped up, including on social networks like WeChat, QQ and Telegram.