For a time, the "land transfer fee" was transferred to the tax department for collection, causing considerable discussion in the real estate industry.

According to the official website of the Ministry of Finance on June 4, the Ministry of Finance and other four departments issued the "About the transfer of four government non-tax revenues, including income from the transfer of state-owned land use rights, special income from mineral resources, sea area use fees, and uninhabited island use fees, to the tax department.

Notice on Issues Related to Collection" (referred to as "Notice").

As an important part of local finance, "land transfer fees" are collected by the financial department and transferred to the tax department. What is its purpose?

What direct impact will it have on the real estate industry and enterprises?

Unify revenue and expenditure, standardize management, and improve fund use efficiency. Throughout this time, the "land transfer fee" is transferred from the financial department to the tax department and is collected more based on unifying revenue and expenditure, standardizing management, and improving fund use efficiency.

According to the "Notice", the natural resources department is responsible for collecting four government non-tax revenues: income from the transfer of state-owned land use rights, special income from mineral resources, sea area use fees, and uninhabited island use fees (hereinafter referred to as the "four government non-tax revenues")

), all will be transferred to the tax department for collection.

The tax department collects four types of government non-tax revenue in accordance with the territorial principle.

The specific tax collection authority shall be determined by the tax bureaus of the relevant provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and cities under separate state planning) of the State Administration of Taxation in accordance with the principles of "convenience and efficiency."

Specifically, it will be piloted first and then rolled out.

Starting from July 1, 2021, pilot projects for the transfer of collection and management responsibilities will be carried out on a provincial (regional, municipal) basis in Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, Qingdao, and Yunnan provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities, and cities under separate state planning).

Explore and improve the collection process, division of responsibilities, etc., and accumulate experience for the comprehensive promotion of transfer work.

Areas that have not yet launched pilot collection and management transfers must actively prepare for the collection and transfer of four government non-tax revenues, and fully implement the collection and management transfer work from January 1, 2022.

Before the "land transfer fee" collection department was transferred, non-tax revenues such as water conservancy construction funds were successively transferred to the tax department, and all social security fees were collected by the tax department.

According to industry insiders, this transfer, including “land transfer fees”, is the implementation of previous tax reforms.

Shi Wenpo, an associate researcher at the Public Income Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, said that this is to implement the central government’s requirements to deepen the reform of the tax collection and management system and gradually unify the tax and non-tax revenue collection systems. The main purpose is to standardize and strengthen non-tax revenue collection systems.

Tax revenue collection management.

Yang Chang, chief economist of the Institute of Public Policy and Governance of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, further explained that the 2018 reform of the national and local tax collection and management systems will merge provincial and sub-provincial national and local tax agencies.

After the merger is completed, according to the functional positioning of the State Administration of Taxation, the tax department "assumes the responsibility of organizing and implementing the collection and management of taxes, social insurance premiums, and related non-tax revenues, and strives to collect all taxes and fees due." Revenue from the transfer of state-owned land use rights is considered non-tax revenue.

, transferred to the tax department for collection, which belongs to the collection and management functions of the tax department.

Regarding the transfer of "land transfer fees" from the financial department to the tax department, Chen Wenjing, deputy director of research at the Index Division of the China Index Research Institute, believes that it will help improve the efficiency of collection and management of land transfer income and reduce collection costs.

At the same time, it will help the use of land transfer revenue become more standardized, which will constrain the scope of local government's use of funds to a certain extent.

Delaying the payment of land transfer fees may not work. "Land transfer fees" account for a large proportion of local general public budget revenue.

Data show that from January to April 2021, the national general public sector budget revenue was 7.8008 billion yuan, of which local general public sector budget revenue at this level was 4.1351 billion yuan.

From January to April, the revenue from the transfer of state-owned land use rights was 2.1383 billion yuan, accounting for 27% of the national general public budget revenue in the first four months and 52% of the local general public budget revenue.

Therefore, as an important part of local finance, the transfer of the “land transfer fee” collection department has received different interpretations online, including local finance bidding farewell to land transfer fees.

According to the "Notice", the collection scope, objects, standards, reductions and exemptions, sharing, use, management and other policies of the four government non-tax revenues will continue to be implemented in accordance with the current regulations.

In other words, although the collection department has changed, other matters will still be implemented in accordance with the current regulations.

Chen Wenjing said that continuing to implement the current regulations will have little impact on the overall local government at this stage.

However, the collection of revenue from the transfer of state-owned land use rights by the tax department is an important step for the central government to strengthen land transfer revenue to support rural revitalization, and will be more inclined in this direction in the future.

In addition, Yang Chang said that the tax department is responsible for collecting the revenue from state-owned land use rights, so that the central government can fully grasp the specific situation of local land transfer revenue and expenditure, which will guide the behavior of local governments, making local governments more cautious in the land transfer process, and promote

Local governments get rid of their dependence on “land finance”.