Shanghai to improve tax policies for FTZ

Shanghai’s fiscal and tax authorities are to study tax policies for overseas investment and offshore businesses to bring a boost to the city’s free trade zone, officials said yesterday. Song Yijia, head of the Shanghai Finance Bureau, said the bureau’s prime task this year is to promote the FTZ by improving tax policies and opening up auditing services for foreign investment. “We will learn from international practices and actively cooperate with state departments to further study and improve tax policies related to Shanghai’s pilot free trade zone, such as foreign equity investment and offshore businesses,” Song said at the city’s annual fiscal and tax conference. Gu Ju, head of Shanghai’s tax authorities, said the bureau will seek central government support in terms of tax policies to encourage such businesses to open in the zone. This initiative is part of the tax bureau’s mission to improve tax collection and incentive policies in the zone in order to facilitate cross-border trade and investment. The conference heard that Shanghai’s public spending has been set at 472 billion yuan (US$78 billion) for this year. This figure, approved by the city’s lawmakers, is up 4.2 percent from last year. Public revenue is set to be 441.8 billion yuan, 7.5 percent higher than for 2013.