China implements the first environmental protection tax

The objects of taxation for environmental protection taxes are mainly enterprises and public institutions.

The first green tax protection for the environment was formally implemented this year. As a tax subject to be declared on a quarterly basis, the environmental tax on April 1st ushered in the first levy.

In order to strengthen environmental protection, China's environmental protection tax was introduced in the previous years to increase environmental protection taxes, this was to strengthen the collection and management of high pollution and high emission companies. At the end of 2016, the environmental protection tax was approved by the National People's Congress and officially implemented this year. This is also the first green tax in China, as per Sohu.

The objects of taxation for environmental protection taxes are mainly enterprises and public institutions, and the objects to be taxed are air pollutants, water pollutants, solid waste and noise. In terms of tax rate, in addition to the unified tax rate for solid wastes and noise throughout the country, the environmental tax law gives the provinces certain discretionary power over specific tax rates for atmospheric pollutants and water pollutants.

Director of Yanqing, Property Tax Department of Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Taxation, introduced that, in order to fully guarantee the smooth and orderly application of the first levy, the municipal taxation department added a special window for environmental tax declaration in the Tax Office to ensure the orderly acceptance of taxpayers, as per Sohu.

At the same time, Department conducted on-site consultations with the environmental protection agencies and 12366 hotline consultations to provide taxpayers with taxation guidance through multiple channels. Apart from going to the Tax Office to handle the environmental tax declaration and payment, the taxpayer can also handle the environmental tax business at the Online Tax Service Office.