In the context of sustainable development, the development, application and enterprise planning of China's environmental protection tax

Environmental protection tax development background

"More pay, less pay, no pay" is the concept of the "Environmental Protection Tax Law" (hereinafter referred to as the environmental tax) has been clearly transmitted. As the first green tax for the purpose of environmental protection in China, the environmental protection tax has been introduced and implemented in China for 5 years. Although the environmental tax is still relatively unfamiliar to the vast majority of enterprises, the green development concept reflected in the tax reform encourages the industry to help "carbon peak" through independent energy conservation and emission reduction, and the positive benefits of dual-carbon goals such as "carbon neutrality" are also constantly emerging.

Application scope and scenario of environmental protection tax

1. Who needs to pay environmental tax

The subject of environmental protection tax payment is the enterprise, public institution and other production and business operators that have direct emission behavior. Among them, only the direct discharge behavior of the pollutant subject will trigger the environmental protection tax; Indirect discharge of pollutants to the environment (such as: discharge of taxable pollutants to centralized sewage treatment stations, centralized household waste treatment stations and other places; Or the comprehensive utilization and harmless treatment of livestock breeding waste), do not need to pay environmental protection tax. Therefore, taking into account the centralized treatment of domestic sewage and domestic waste in most cities in China, residents do not need to pay environmental protection tax for their direct pollution behavior.

Ii. Taxable pollutants

The taxable pollutants involved in the environmental protection tax are divided into four categories: air pollutants, water pollutants, solid waste and noise.

Among them, the taxable air pollutants include sulfur dioxide and other 44 major air pollutants; The taxable water pollutants include 65 main water pollutants such as ammonia nitrogen. Taxable solid waste includes slag, fly ash and other solid waste. The specific authorization for other solid waste shall be determined by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. Taxable noise only includes industrial noise, which refers to the sound generated by the use of machinery and equipment in industrial production that exceeds the national noise emission standards, excluding other noise such as construction noise. The specific tax items of taxable pollutants can be determined by referring to the "Table of Environmental Protection Tax Items" and "Table of Taxable Pollutants and Equivalent Values" attached to the Environmental Protection Tax Law.

Iii. Basis for tax calculation of environmental protection tax

The tax calculation basis of environmental protection tax is mainly determined by four indicators and related calculation formulas, among which:

1. Pollutant discharge

The environmental tax law stipulates that pollutant emissions can be calculated in four ways, applied in order:

● Taxpayers who install and use automatic monitoring equipment for pollutants in accordance with national regulations and monitoring norms shall calculate according to automatic monitoring data for pollutants;

● If the taxpayer does not install and use automatic monitoring equipment for pollutants, it shall be calculated according to the monitoring data issued by the monitoring organization in accordance with the relevant national regulations and monitoring norms;

● If the monitoring conditions are not available due to the variety of pollutants discharged, the calculation shall be made in accordance with the discharge coefficient and material accounting method prescribed by the competent department of ecological environment under The State Council;

● If the calculation cannot be carried out according to the first three methods, the calculation shall be verified and calculated according to the sampling calculation method prescribed by the competent department of ecological environment of the people's government of the province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the Central Government.

2. Pollution should be measured

Pollution equivalent value is the amount of pollutants discharged equivalent to a pollution equivalent, mainly used to measure the harm and treatment costs caused by air pollutants and water pollutants to the environment.

3. Pollution equivalent number

The pollution equivalent number of taxable air pollutants and water pollutants is calculated by dividing the emission of the pollutant by the pollution equivalent value of the pollutant.

4. Corresponding tax standard

Taxable air pollutants and water pollutants shall be subject to floating taxes, and the specific applicable taxes shall be determined by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government within the relevant tax ranges. Solid waste and noise are subject to fixed taxes.

5. Calculation formula

● Taxable amount of air pollutants and water pollutants = pollution equivalent X specific applicable tax amount

● Tax payable on taxable solid waste = emissions of fixed waste X applicable tax

● Tax payable for taxable noise = decibels exceeding the national standard X specific applicable tax

Environmental tax enterprise side planning

The introduction of environmental protection tax has replaced the pollutant discharge charge system that has been implemented for nearly 40 years, and enabled pollutant discharge units to bear the necessary cost of pollution control through the way of "fee to tax", and actively play the green regulation role of tax leverage. Compared with other taxes, although the tax scale of environmental protection tax is still small, its impact on the development of the country is more far-reaching. At the same time, there is also a certain space for the optimization of the enterprise side based on the supply chain and environmental protection tax planning, mainly focusing on the following aspects:

I. Give full consideration to differences in regional tax rates and measurement methods

According to the regulations, the environmental protection tax standard levied by the polluting units of air and water pollutants, as well as the sampling measurement method of one of the methods for determining the discharge of pollutants, shall be formulated and publicized by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government. In the actual operation process, enterprises can fully make the corresponding geographical planning of pollutant emission according to the different taxable standards of pollutants in different regions and the differences in measurement standards between different regions, fully consider the tax rates and measurement differences in different regions, and allocate different types of emission behaviors in different regions, so as to minimize the purpose of enterprise emission costs.

2. Fully enjoy the tax exemption provisions and tax incentives of the environmental protection tax law

Fully enjoy the tax exemption and tax reduction policies in the Environmental Protection Tax Law, set up urban and rural sewage centralized treatment sites, domestic waste centralized treatment sites and other behaviors in accordance with the law, or make comprehensive utilization or harmless disposal of solid waste generated in the production process, and then enjoy the exemption of environmental protection tax treatment. In addition, enterprises can also reduce the emission concentration of taxable air pollutants and water pollutants through the application of various technical means, and when the emission concentration is reduced to a certain standard, relevant environmental tax relief can be applied.

Iii. Compliance applies to the "no direct emission" judgment rule

To discharge taxable pollutants in a planned manner to lawfully established centralized sewage treatment and domestic waste treatment sites; Or dispose or store solid waste in facilities and places that meet national and local environmental standards, and comply with the judgment rule of "no direct discharge" to reduce the corresponding emission tax cost.

Accurate application of emission calculation rules

If the environmental protection department does not have mandatory requirements, automatic monitoring, institutional monitoring, pollutant discharge coefficient, material accounting, enterprises can choose one of the most favorable methods for some pollutants according to the actual situation in the prescribed order. In the calculation method of pollutant discharge, the same technical process or treatment method, the application of different calculation methods may appear completely different calculation results. In the actual operation process, enterprises can explore more suitable calculation methods and apply them for a long time according to the relevant calculation path.

5. Actively apply for special financial support from local governments

The policy clearly emphasizes that people's governments at all levels should encourage taxpayers to increase investment in environmental protection construction. For enterprises or production institutions with plans to add automatic monitoring equipment for pollutants, it can improve the attention of relevant local policies, actively apply for the support of special funds of the state finance, apply for subsidies for relevant equipment assets, and reduce the monitoring and compliance costs of environmental protection in the daily operation of enterprises.