27 March 2009
China: China’s software industry achieved total sales revenue of RMB 757 billion in 2008, an increase of 29.8 percent compared to 2007.
According to the China Copyright Protection Centre, China handled 47,398 software copyright registrations in 2008, growing by 93.3 percent year-on-year. Beijing had the most software copyright registrations, followed by Guangdong, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
The growth of China’s software industry has been stimulated by preferential policies from the Chinese government in 2000. These include:
- A regular payer of Value-Added-Tax (VAT) who develops and sells software products on its own is eligible for a VAT refund. This reduces the effective VAT for a software company from 17 percent to 3 percent.
- For newly established software companies, Enterprise Income Tax (EIT) is exempted in the first and second profit-making year and then reduced by half from the third to fifth year.
- Key software enterprises certified by the Chinese central government are eligible for a lower EIT rate at 10 percent.
- Imports of technology and equipment by software companies are exempted from tariffs and VAT.
The above preferential policies may interest New Zealand software companies that intend to invest in or do business with China.
For more information contact Pat English, trade commissioner, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), Guangzhou, China.
