China: far away from the World Cup - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

China imposed a 100% tax for transfers of foreign players to loss-making soccer clubs - in fact all. A desperate measure that shows China is very far away from playing, less alone winning the World Cup, as president Xi Jinping wants it, says Beijing-based soccer expert Rowan Simons at Sky News.

Sky News:

China's president, Xi Jinping, a self-avowed football fan, has said his ambition is for the country to host - and ultimately win - the World Cup. 

But on current form, it would be a huge achievement just to qualify for it, with the national team currently languishing 82nd in the FIFA world rankings, below Benin and the Faroe Islands. 

Rowan Simons, who founded the Beijing grassroots network, Club Football, has been trying to build a football culture in the country for the last three decades. 

"China came to this very late," he said, "It started with a professional league, but it didn't do any of the development work that took over 100 years of building up a football culture, it still needs to do that. 

"China has to start the same way every other country did - and that's kids coming out to play, falling in love with the game, and then contributing to it by their participation throughout their lives."

More at Sky News.

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How new rules will kill soccer transfers to China - Rowan Simons

Rowan Simons

China has been a financial paradise for many top European soccer players. But a new rule by the China Football Association, with a 100% tax on transfers by clubs who are losing money, might kill this track, says Beijing-based soccer expert Rowan Simons to Tribal Football.

Tribal Football:

Rowan Simons, a writer on Chinese football, and also Chairman of China Club Football, the country's biggest grassroots football network, explains how the rule will work. "If implemented in it's current form and based on the fact that all of the Chinese clubs lose money, then all future imports of foreign players will be subject to the 100% tax. So, in effect doubling the cost of player transfers. " 

And the number's have been huge: So say with €60m with 100% tax, that becomes €120m. 

"This means, for example, the €60m Shanghai SIPG paid Chelsea for Oscar would in fact cost them – if they were in debt – €120m with the new rule in place. 

Footballers plying their trade in Europe have flocked to the Far East in recent years – and not only in the twilight of their careers, as the aforementioned Oscar can attest. 

According to Steve Price from The Guardian, the combination of just four transfers alone – Oscar, Carlos Tevez, Ramires and Jackson Martinez – cost a combined total of £175 million. 

As well as the European clubs being rewarded with hefty transfer fee's, so too are the players with astronomical wages, with players like Tevez set to make £64m over two years. However, that will all change soon according to Simons. " 

(The rule) changes the dynamics of the professional league here in all kinds of ways - certainly in terms of investors ability to attract top players. 

"I mean the sponsors, which have been attracted to the league because of the star players, the gate receipts which have been increasing, all can be impacted by this policy." 

The tax will come into effect on June 16 when the Super League's transfer window opens, which is two weeks before the European windows opens.

More at Tribal Football.

Rowans Simons is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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How Apple avoids paying tax in the US - Paul Gillis

Paul Gillis

Companies have a range of legitimate ways to avoid paying tax in the US. Apple is using one of them by not setting up a venture arm for its overseas investment, but by directly reinvesting its revenue from overseas, for example its hefty investments in car-hailing service Didi, says Beida accounting professor Paul Gillis to Marketplace.

Marketplace:

But Apple does face one possible disadvantage with its investments. Most of Apple’s cash is overseas, which means Apple would face a large tax burden if it tries to bring it back to the U.S. 

On one hand, Apple has already found a use for this capital with its investment in Didi. Paul Gillis, a professor at Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, said Apple will likely use profit from Chinese sales held in its corporate subsidiaries in China for the Didi investment. Investing the capital, instead of trying to bring it back to the U.S., avoids a 5% to 10% tax China charges for removing proceeds from the country as well as U.S. repatriation taxes 

“Using it to buy an interest in Didi is a legitimate way to use those funds without any tax consequences because those funds remain in China and remain Chinese assets,” Gillis said. “That wouldn’t be evading taxes doing that. They’re just making a decision not to take the money back to the U.S. and doing something else.”

More in Marketplace.

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The China taxman cometh - Wei Gu

+Wei Gu 

Slowing economic growth means tax income for the government is dropping, so tax authorities are serious in improving revenue from income tax. Now China earn 6.4% of its income from income tax, compared to 47% in the US. WSJ wealth editor Wei Gu explains what wealthy Chinese and foreigners can expect.

Wei Gu:

Most Chinese already have taxes deducted from payrolls, so they are less likely to be hit by renewed collection efforts. But nonsalary income, investment income or proceeds from stock options, which have become an important source of wealth for Chinese, haven't been closely tracked. 

PricewaterhouseCoopers says many local tax bureaus have started to look more closely at income that comes from stock options and grants this year. Greater attention is also likely to be paid to the overseas assets of wealthy Chinese. China, like the U.S., is one of the few countries in the world that demands tax on citizens' global incomes, but not many Chinese even know about this policy. 

At the G-20 conference in Australia in November, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he wants to improve global tax collection and crack down on tax evasion. It was the first time a top Chinese official had commented on tax issues at a global forum, the State Administration of Taxation said. 

Beijing has also shown increasing interest in taking on multinational companies. In November, the official Xinhua news agency reported that a U.S. multinational firm had been ordered to pay the government 840 million yuan ($137 million) in back taxes and interest in what it called China's largest tax-evasion case. Xinhua didn't name the company, referring to it as "Company M," but details it provided about the firm match Microsoft Corp., at least in part. The U.S. software maker neither confirmed nor denied it was the company in the report, saying it works closely with local tax authorities to ensure it complies with the law. Employees of such companies may be targeted next, tax experts say. Some multinational firms use tax shelters abroad to help Chinese employees reduce their tax burdens, paying staff through their overseas operations, for example. 

For Chinese, fines for tax evasion range from half to five times the amount of underpaid taxes. Chinese marginal personal income-tax rates are 45% for income that exceeds 80,000 yuan ($13,000) a month, and 35% for between 55,000 yuan and 80,000 yuan. In Hong Kong, the effective tax rate for high income earners is 15%. 

Foreigners who don't comply with Chinese rules face bigger penalties. In the past, those who were found underpaying their taxes just needed to cough up the difference and pay a small penalty. Starting this year, they may be restricted from leaving China until their back taxes are paid, according to a joint statement by Beijing's tax authority and police bureau. 

Frequent fliers also raise red flags. For example, it is common for global banks to base their senior China bankers in Hong Kong, where the effective tax rate for high earners is 15%, and have them travel to China almost every week. The general view is that if the bankers are in China fewer than 183 days a year, they won't have to pay taxes. But tax experts caution that the rule is more complicated and that people risk running afoul of it if they aren't careful.

More in the WSJ.

Wei Gu is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

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Why cutting income tax does not mean much - Arthur Kroeber

China intend to cut income tax for 60 million people, and our economic analyst Arthur Kroeber finds himself - yet again - trying to explain to Western media, why this impressive looking move actually does not mean that much. In the CSM:

Raising the income tax threshold will cost the government 160 billion RMB ($25 billion) in lost revenue, according to the Finance Ministry, but this is “no big deal” for Chinese public finances, according to Arthur Kroeber, head of the Beijing-based Dragonomics economic consultancy. “Fundamentally, China’s fiscal conditions are very strong”, Mr. Kroeber says, pointing to government estimates of a budget deficit below 2 percent this year... Household income has been falling as a share of GDP, relative to corporate and government revenues, for several years, but the new tax breaks are unlikely to reverse that trend because income tax plays such a minor role in China’s economy. “If the government wants to redistribute income from the corporate to the household sector, tax policy is not going to do the trick,” warns Kroeber.

More in the CSM Arthur Kroeber is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

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March 13 cut-off date for new tax law - official

Legislator Cai Qiaoping slashed hope today that the new tax law, ending preferential treatment for foreign companies, would only start at the end of the year. The cut-off date is 13 March, she confirmed, and foreign companies registered in China after that date would no longer be eligible for the preferential treatment. For older companies there is a grandfathering clause.
Cai spoke at the Asia CFO World, organized by Pearson in Shanghai. She is the director of the legislative department of the Budget Affair Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Cai is probably also one of the main authors of the law.
It was good to see she was explaining the law and answering questions of an audience, greatly adding to the process of transparency.