中國意對公民境外收入徵稅

HONG KONG — As Chinese individuals and companies head overseas in greater numbers, the country’s tax authorities are starting to follow.

香港——隨着更多的中國公民和企業到海外發展，中國稅務機關也緊隨其後。

The Beijing billionaires who set up cryptically named companies in the British Virgin Islands to hold their fortunes are in the cross hairs. So are the Guangdong salesmen living and working in Africa and Latin America. China’s tax officials are now demanding that citizens start reporting exactly how much money they earn overseas.

爲了隱藏鉅額財富，在英屬維爾京羣島以隱晦的名稱註冊公司的北京億萬富翁，以及在非洲和拉丁美洲工作的廣東推銷員，都成爲了中國稅收官員的目標。他們現在開始要求公民報告自己在境外究竟賺了多少錢。

In asking for this information, national and municipal tax agencies in China are quietly beginning to enforce a little-known and widely ignored regulation: Citizens and companies must pay domestic taxes on their entire worldwide incomes, not just on what they earn in China.

要求公民提供這些信息，是因爲中國國家和地方稅務機關已經悄然開始執行一項鮮爲人知、普遍遭到忽略的監管規則：公民和企業不僅要爲在中國取得的收入納稅，也必須爲在其他國家和地區取得的收入繳納國內稅。

The nascent campaign this winter puts China on the same side as the United States in a global debate over whether taxation should be primarily national or global. On the other side of the issue are European nations, Japan, Australia and Canada, all of which tax people within their borders but exempt most expatriates and overseas subsidiaries from paying income taxes in their home countries.

應該在國內還是全球範圍內徵稅，各國對這個問題存在爭論，中國在今年冬天剛剛開展的這些活動，讓它和美國處在了同一個陣營。歐洲國家、日本、澳大利亞和加拿大屬於另一個陣營，這些國家在本國境內向公民課稅，但是它們對大多數外派人員和海外子公司，豁免了本國國內的所得稅。

“The newest element is the Chinese tax authorities’ deciding to more strictly enforce this worldwide taxation, which has always been required of Chinese individuals,” said Edmund Yang, a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner in Beijing for international assignments. “The level of compliance among Chinese nationals overseas has been relatively low.”

“最新動向是，中國稅務機關決定更加嚴格地執行全球徵稅政策，中國法律一直都要求個人這樣做，”普華永道(PricewaterhouseCoopers)在北京負責國際業務的合夥人楊治中(Edmund Yang)說。“駐外中國公民的合規度一直比較低。”

Economists and accountants have long questioned the fairness of taxing citizens and companies overseas. Europeans have argued that expatriates use fewer government services, like state-run health care, while playing a big role in promoting exports.

經濟學家和會計師長期以來一直在質疑，向駐在境外的個人和企業徵稅是否公平。歐洲人認爲，外派人員使用的政府服務較少，如公立的醫療體系，而且他們在促進出口方面發揮了很重要的作用。

Critics have contended that such exemptions are regressive and hurt lower-income individuals, as many expatriates are bankers and other high earners in finance. Expatriates may also benefit if their home countries are prosperous, well-run places with solid tax bases to which they can return someday.

批評者爭辯道，這種豁免是累退性的，傷害了低收入人羣，很多外派人員都是銀行從業者，或金融領域的其他高收入人士。如果本國經濟繁榮、運轉良好，而且課稅基礎穩固，那麼外派人員也可以受益，畢竟他們有朝一日會返回本國。

The roots of China’s decision to embrace worldwide taxation trace to the early 1990s. Still a very poor country then, China sent teams of tax officials to the United States, Britain, Germany and other nations to seek advice on drafting a modern tax code.

中國作出這個決定的根源，可以追溯到它在上世紀90年代初，與全球稅制接軌的努力。當時中國仍然非常貧窮，它派出稅務團隊到美國、英國、德國及其他國家考察，徵詢建議，以便起草一部現代化的稅法。

One team sent to the United States visited state tax officials in California and New York, said Lili Zheng, a Deloitte accountant who coordinated the visit and is now co-leader of the firm’s Asian international investment practice. The team paid a long visit to the Internal Revenue Service and was given a two-volume bound copy of the United States tax code and a five-volume copy of I.R.S. regulations.

德勤(Deloitte)會計師鄭莉莉說，前往美國的一個團隊在加利福尼亞州和紐約州拜會了州級稅收官員。協調這次訪問的鄭莉莉，現在已經成爲德勤亞洲國際投資實務部門的聯席領導人。該團隊在美國國稅局(Internal Revenue Service)考察了很長一段時間，獲贈了兩卷一套的美國稅法和五卷一套的國稅局規章。

Chinese officials chose the American definition of income, with its worldwide scope, in issuing their tax code in 1993. It remains in force today, although with many amendments.

中國在1993年頒佈自己的稅法時，選擇了美國人對收入的定義，也認同了全球性的課稅範圍。這部法律一直沿用至今，不過進行過多次修訂。

Now, China is taking the first steps to enforce that broad definition.

現在，中國正在爲落實這種寬泛的定義，而採取最早的舉措。

The government of Guangzhou, the commercial hub of southeastern China, has summoned executives from 150 of the largest corporations based there to a meeting on Jan. 28 to discuss the obligation of their overseas employees to pay Chinese taxes. Municipal governments in Beijing and other big cities are also contacting big companies in their jurisdictions and telling them to provide detailed information on the expatriates’ incomes, tax advisers said.

廣州是中國東南部的商業中心。1月28日，當地政府召集轄區內最大的150家企業的高管開會，討論其駐外員工在中國交稅的義務。在北京等大城市，市政府也與轄區內的大公司聯繫，要求提供外派人士詳細的收入信息，稅務顧問透露。

The State Administration of Taxation in Beijing has begun a separate campaign to curb tax evasion by Chinese companies as they start to make big overseas investments. New rules taking effect on Feb. 1 will ban a wide range of international investments deemed to be tax shelters. The rules could indirectly hit many wealthy Chinese individuals, who commonly make their overseas investments through specially created companies, often located in the Caribbean.

北京的國家稅務總局也開始了另外一項舉措，在中國企業剛剛開始在海外做出重大投資之際，遏制它們的避稅行爲。2月1日生效的一項新規章，將禁止一系列被視爲避稅安排的國際投資方式。中國富人經常在加勒比海等地註冊專門的公司，來進行海外投資。新規章可能會對他們造成間接的打擊。

Enforcement of the tax regulation and compliance have been low partly because China lacked data on its citizens’ overseas earnings and investments. But the Chinese government has seized on the continuing United States effort to gather more information on the overseas activities of American companies and citizens. China has simultaneously been negotiating with the United States and other countries to share information on overseas bank accounts belonging to Chinese citizens.

稅收法規的執行度很低，合規程度也很低，部分原因在於中國缺乏公民海外收入和投資的數據。美國一直在努力收集本國企業和公民在海外活動的更多信息，中國政府把這當成了一個契機。中國政府正在同時與美國和其他國家協商，請求分享屬於中國公民的海外銀行賬戶的信息。

The Chinese tax enforcement effort comes as the country’s economy starts to slow. With overseas investments by Chinese individuals and companies surging, national tax officials are looking for ways to collect on that trend. And local governments are seeking to develop a new source of tax revenue to offset dwindling revenue from other sources.

中國在稅收執法上開展行動，正值該國經濟增長開始放緩之際。中國個人和企業在海外的投資激增，國稅官員正在尋找各種方法，從這種趨勢中獲益。地方政府則在大力開闢新的稅收來源，以彌補其他渠道日益減少的稅收收入。

The finances of local governments across China have deteriorated considerably in the last two years. Sales of government-owned land to developers for apartment buildings and office towers have dropped as real estate prices have fallen and housing starts have tumbled. At the same time, Beijing has overhauled its system of business taxation to the disadvantage of local governments.

過去兩年裏，中國各地地方政府的財政收入大幅下降。把國有土地出售給開發商修建公寓樓和寫字樓的收入也減少了，因爲房地產價格下跌，新樓開工數量大幅下挫。與此同時，北京對企業稅收制度的修改，也令地方政府收入下滑。

Local governments used to assess a tax of 5 percent on the revenue of most businesses in service industries and real estate, and shared part of the proceeds with the central government. Beijing is phasing out these taxes in favor of value-added taxes, which go directly to the central government.

過去，地方政府會對服務業和房地產業的大多數企業，徵收5%的營業稅，然後將其中部分收入上繳中央。北京方面正計劃逐步取消這種方式，改爲徵收增值稅，後者直接流向中央。

That has given municipalities a powerful incentive to step up enforcement of individual and corporate income taxes, which they still collect and then split with the central government. Sam Pang, a tax partner at Ernst & Young, is helping Guangzhou draft a tax enforcement brochure to give companies at the January meeting.

這強烈推動了地方政府在個人和企業所得稅方面的徵收力度，所得稅仍然由地方收取，然後部分上繳中央。安永(Ernst & Young)稅務合夥人彭紹龍(Sam Pang)幫助廣州政府起草了稅收執行手冊，在今年1月的那次會議上分發給了與會者。

China’s decision could increase pressure for similar action by countries that face sizable budget deficits and have large numbers of affluent expatriates, like Australia, Britain, France and Ireland. Although none of the countries have shown signs yet of switching to a different model, there has been a broad increase in interest by governments around the world in sharing more information on overseas financial accounts.

對於那些面臨龐大財政赤字，並且富裕外派人員衆多的國家，比如澳大利亞、英國、法國和愛爾蘭，中國的決定可能構成壓力，促使它們採取類似的行動。雖然沒有任何跡象顯示，這些國家有興趣改用不同的模式，但對於更多地分享海外金融賬戶的信息，世界各國的政府表現出了廣泛興趣。

While China is taking a page from the United States playbook, Beijing’s tax policies in some ways are even tougher.

雖然中國效仿了美國的做法，但北京的稅收政策在某些方面甚至比美國還嚴苛。

The top income tax bracket in China is 45 percent, compared with 40 percent in the United States. That top bracket for the Chinese also kicks in at $12,900 a month after deductions.

中國所得稅的最高稅率是45%，美國是40%。此外，中國人每月最終收入達到1.29萬美元（8萬元人民幣）就需要按照最高稅率納稅。

The United States also allows expatriates to exempt $99,200 of foreign earned income, then taxes them on the rest. In China, overseas citizens are eligible only for an extra deduction of $210 for each month they are overseas.

在美國，外派人員境外收入的免稅額爲9.92萬美元，超過這個數字的部分會被徵稅。中國公民在境外的收入，每月只能得到210美元的額外減免額。

Ms. Zheng at Deloitte predicted that China would pursue a few prominent cases to persuade other Chinese companies and individuals to declare their overseas income and pay taxes on it.

德勤的鄭莉莉預測，中國會追查一些影響力很大的案例，從而促使其他中國企業和個人申報海外收入並據此納稅。

“The law has always been there — the enforcement has previously been lacking because of limited resources,” she said. “China is going to enforce some cases to let people know.”

“法律一直都有這樣的規定，過去一直因爲資源不足而沒有執行，”她說。“中國會利用一些執行案例，來讓大家知道這件事。”