1. What is trademark usage fee?

Trademark usage fees are one of the royalties. Article 20 of the "Implementation Regulations" has a clear definition. It refers to the income obtained by an enterprise from providing the right to use trademark rights. It should be based on the goods agreed in the contract. The realization of revenue is recognized on the date when the rights user pays the commodity rights royalties. Trademark right is a single statutory right, also known as trademark right, which refers to the non-other right of the owner of a legally registered trademark to control its registered trademark and prohibit others from infringing upon it, including the trademark owner's exclusive right to use and profit from its registered trademark. , the right of disposal, the right of renewal and the right to prohibit infringement by others, etc.

2. Whether trademark usage fees can be deducted before tax.

According to Article 49 of the "Implementation Regulations", royalties paid between business units within an enterprise shall not be deducted before tax. Since the Enterprise Income Tax Law adopts corporate income tax, enterprise branches are part of the enterprise's head office and are not an independent entity. They cannot become independent corporate income tax taxpayers. They should be consolidated and paid by a unified representative of the enterprise's head office. In the actual operation process, due to the needs of management, production and operation and other factors, the enterprise may adopt relatively independent internal branch management. The branches have relatively independent assets, business scope, etc. within the enterprise's head office, which may make these What may happen between branches is similar to the so-called provision of business management services between independent enterprises, such as the payment of trademark usage fees. However, such business activities carried out between branches within the enterprise are internal business activities. When paying corporate income tax, since they are not independent corporate income tax taxpayers and need to be paid tax by the enterprise on a consolidated basis, the expenses incurred by these internal business transactions , are not included in income and deducted as expenses. In other words, the trademark usage fees between the branch and the head office do not need to be included in the income of the head office, and the branch does not need to include expenses, so there is no issue of pre-tax deduction.

It should be noted here that the trademark usage fee paid by a subsidiary for using the trademark rights of the parent company is not a franchise that is not deductible before tax as stipulated in Article 49 of the "Implementation Regulations" fee. Since the parent company and the subsidiary belong to different independent legal entities and have a controlling and controlled relationship, the price of the trademark usage fee should be determined in accordance with the principle of fair transactions between independent enterprises and treated as a normal enterprise expense for taxation.

3. How to deduct trademark usage fees.

Article 8 of the "Enterprise Income Tax Law" stipulates that the actual and reasonable expenditures incurred by the enterprise related to the acquisition of income, including costs, fees, taxes, losses and other expenditures, are allowed to be used in calculating the taxable income. time deduction. Article 41 stipulates that if the business transactions between an enterprise and its affiliates do not comply with the arm's length principle and reduce the taxable income or income of the enterprise or its affiliates, the tax authorities have the right to make adjustments according to reasonable methods. At the same time, Article 123 of the "Implementation Regulations" stipulates that if the business transactions between an enterprise and its related parties do not comply with the principle of arm's length transactions, or the enterprise implements other arrangements that do not have reasonable commercial purposes, the tax authorities have the right to impose restrictions on the business. Tax adjustments shall be made within 10 years from the tax year in which they occur. To sum up, for the trademark usage fees paid by subsidiaries for using the parent company’s trademarks, the parent company should recognize revenue in accordance with the principle of arm’s length transactions between enterprises. As long as the trademark usage fees paid by subsidiaries comply with the regulations between affiliated enterprises, they shall be recognized as revenue. Expenses can be deducted before tax.