MIIT Seeks Comment on Major Technical Equipment Import Tax Catalog

On July 16, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued for public comment the Notice on Editing the Catalog for Major Technical Equipment Import Tax Policy in the Three-Year Term, a policy that aims to simplify procedures for levying import taxes. The public comment period ends July 30.

The Major Technical Equipment Import Tax Catalog covers a broad scope of manufacturing equipment that qualifies for exemption from import tariffs and value-added tax, including:

• energy, such as power generation plus nuclear, coal, oil, natural gas, hydropower, wind, and solar;
• biomedical;
• ships;
• high-speed rail;
• agricultural equipment;
• aviation; and
• high-end manufacturing equipment

The catalog is generally updated each year. According to the notice, equipment, components, and source materials that can be produced domestically will be removed from the catalog, thus losing preferential tax treatment. 

The notice requests recommendations for preferential tax policy extensions for equipment, components, and source materials that are expected to be produced domestically within 2-3 years.