1 国家税务总局出台法规规范企业工资薪金及职工福利费扣除的问题国家税务总局出台法规规范企业工资薪金及职工福利费扣除的问题 （国税函（国税函 （2009）第三号）第三号） 在 2008 年 1 月 1 日生效的企业所得税法中，相关条款分别规定了以下内容的税务处理： 1） 工资薪金的合理扣除工资薪金的合理扣除 （第三十四条 企业发生的合理的工资薪金支出，准予扣除。（第三十四条 企业发生的合理的工资薪金支出，准予扣除。 前款所称工资薪金，是指企业每一纳税年度支付给在本企业任职或者受雇的员工的所有 现金形式或者非现金形式的劳动报酬，包括基本工资、奖金、津贴、补贴、年终加薪、 加班工资，以及与员工任职或者受雇有关的其他支出。 ） 在此条款中，何谓“合理的工资薪金”并未明白表达，在近日出台的国税函三号文件中， 对工资的合理性做出了明确规定，税务机关可以根据以下依据确定企业税前列支的工资 薪金是否为合理工资薪金： (一)企业制订了较为规范的员工工资薪金制度； (二)企业所制订的工资薪金制度符合行业及地区水平； (三)企业在一定时期所发放的工资薪金是相对固定的，工资薪金的调整是有序进行的； (四)企业对实际发放的工资薪金，已依法履行了代扣代缴个人所得税义务。 2 (五)有关工资薪金的安排，不以减少或逃避税款为目的； 2）计算可扣除的职工福利费，工会经费以及职工教育经费时所提及的“工资总额”为何概念？计算可扣除的职工福利费，工会经费以及职工教育经费时所提及的“工资总额”为何概念？ （第四十条 企业发生的职工福利费支出，不超过工资薪金总额工资薪金总额 14%的部分，准予扣除。 第四十一条 企业拨缴的工会经费，不超过工资薪金总额工资薪金总额 2%的部分，准予扣除。 第四十二条 除国务院财政、税务主管部门另有规定外，企业发生的职工教育经费支出，不超过 工资薪金总额工资薪金总额 2.5%的部分，准予扣除；超过部分，准予在以后纳税年度结转扣除。 ） 以上条款提及的工资薪金总额的内涵也在国税函三号文中明白表达， “工资薪金总额不包括不包括企业 的职工福利费、职工教育经费、工会经费以及养老保险费、医疗保险费、失业保险费、工伤保险 费、生育保险费等社会保险费和住房公积金。 ”由此可见，所得税法实施细则第四十条至第四十 一条规定的三种可以抵扣的费用，其抵扣的基础也大为缩小。企业为员工支付的社会保障类的福 利均不得纳入三费的计提基础。 3） 对于实施细则第四十条中介绍的“职工福利费”的内涵做出详细规定，何种福利支出可以 作为“职工福利费”进行列支。 对于实施细则第四十条中介绍的“职工福利费”的内涵做出详细规定，何种福利支出可以 作为“职工福利费”进行列支。 4） 对于福利费的使用和记录的规定对于福利费的使用和记录的规定 根据国税函三号文的精神， 企业应当单独设立福利费的账 簿，对福利费的计提及使用进行详细规定。对未设立账簿的企业，税务机关可以对福利费的合理 性提出质疑，进行核定。 5） 该法规的生效时间。该法规的生效时间。国税函三号文虽于 2009 年 1 月 4 日颁布，其生效日期却为 2008 年一月 一日，表明该法规具有溯及既往的效力，与企业所得税及实施细则同时生效。目前，大部分企业 正在进行企业所得税汇算清缴的准备工作，应该对该文的影响清楚了解，早日作出积极的准备与 必要的调整。 China Tax Authority Issued the Circular to Prescribe the “Deduction of Salary and Employee Welfare” (Guoshuihan No 3) (“Circular 3”) In the “Enterprise Income Tax Law” and “Implementation Rule of Enterprise Income Tax Law”, some definitions are not identified clearly. Tax authority issued a series of circulars to prescribe and explain. The Circular No 3 is the explaining to Article 34, 40, 41 and 42. Article 34 is talking about the “deductible salary”, under the old corporate income tax law, there was no deduction limitation for foreign invested enterprises, while an RMB800-960 limitation was applied to domestic enterprises. After the issuance of the new implementation rule, the deduction limitation has been abolished. All enterprises are allowed to deduct a “reasonable” amount for the salary of employees from taxable income. However, there was no clarification for what is considered “reasonable” in the implementation rules. Circular No 3 provides the answer to this question. When tax authority assesses the reasonableness of the deductible salary, below principles could be referred: 3 1) Enterprise has established standard employee salary policy; 2) The policy is reasonable compared with local region and industry average level; 3) The salaries paid in certain periods are fixed, the adjustment to the salary is arranged based on the designed plan; 4) Enterprise has withheld the IIT on behalf of employees; 5) The arrangement of the salary is not based on the tax avoidance; Article 40,41 and 42 are discussing about other three deductible expenses，”Employee Welfare”, “Labor Union Fee” and “Employee Education Fee”. Article 40, “welfare expenditure could be deducted up to an amount of 14% of the total salary paid to employees of the enterprise.” Article 41, “The labor union fee of up to 2% of the total salaries of the enterprise is allowed to be deducted.” Article 42, “the part not exceeding 2.5% of total salary may be deducted from taxable income. The part exceeding this amount may be carried forward to following tax years which means in effect ALL education fee is allowed to be deducted. “ There is no clear explaining for how to understand the components of “Total Salary” in the implementation rule. Circular No 3 provides an explaining. According to the Circular, total salary mentioned in the implementation rule does not include below parts: 1) Employee Welfare; 2) Employee Education Fee; 3) Labor Union Fee; 4) Pension; 5) Medical Insurance; 6) Un-employment Insurance; 7) Injury Insurance; 8) Maternity insurance. 9) Housing fund. From above explaining we could learn that the scope of the “Total Salary” to calculate the deductable expenses has been compressed. The enterprise should pay attention to this change. Circular No 3 also identified what types of employee welfares could be recorded as “Employee Welfare” in financial book. According to the Circular, the enterprise should establish the separate book to record the “Welfare”, if the separate ledger is not established, the tax authority has the authorization to adjust the welfare amount. Another important point needs to be mentioned is: the effective date of the Circular is 1st January 2008 which is same as the effective day of enterprise income tax law. Which means, the Circular is also effective to the transactions happened in FY2008. Most foreign invested enterprises are preparing the annually income tax consolidation, some related changes might occur arising from the new circular. 4 Please adjust your financial book based on the latest issued law. Appendix One: Circular No