1. The concept of tax rate difference
Tax rate difference refers to the difference in applicable tax rates for taxes of the same or similar nature. Tax rate difference is mainly due to fiscal and economic policy reasons. For example, a country stipulates different tax rates for different corporate organizational forms and different tax rates for taxpayers in different regions, so there are differences in tax rates between ownership forms and regions.
Tax rate difference is a universal objective phenomenon. The tax rate difference of a country is often to encourage the existence and development of a certain economy, certain types of enterprises, certain industries, and certain types of regions. It reflects the country’s tax incentive policy. Tax rate difference technology mainly utilizes tax rate differences that reflect national economic policies.
2. Tax rate difference technology for customs planning
(1) The concept of tax rate difference technology
Tax rate difference technology refers to customs planning technology that directly reduces tax expenditures by utilizing tax rate differences under legal and reasonable circumstances. Compared with paying taxes at high tax rates, paying less taxes at low tax rates is tax saving.
Because tax rate differences are a common situation, as long as they are not for the purpose of tax avoidance but for real business reasons, in an open economy, an enterprise can completely decide its own enterprise organizational form, investment scale and investment direction according to relevant national laws and policies, and use tax rate differences to reduce tax burden. Similarly, a natural person can also choose investment scale, investment direction and place of residence, etc., and use tax rate differences to reduce tax.
(2) Characteristics of tax rate difference technology
Tax rate difference technology uses the principle of absolute tax saving, which can directly reduce the absolute amount of tax paid by taxpayers. It belongs to the absolute tax saving type customs planning technology. Tax saving by using tax rate difference technology is not only affected by tax rate differences, but sometimes also by tax base differences. The calculation of tax base is very complicated. After the calculation results are obtained, they must be compared according to a certain method to roughly know how much tax can be saved. Therefore, tax rate difference technology is relatively complicated. Tax rate difference technology is a customs planning technology that can be widely used and has a wide range of applications. Tax rate differences exist objectively and are relatively stable over a certain period of time. Therefore, tax rate difference technology has relative certainty.
(3) Key points of tax rate differential technology
First, try to minimize the tax rate. Under legal and reasonable circumstances, try to minimize the applicable tax rate. Under the same other conditions, the amount of tax paid according to different tax rates is different, and the difference between them is the tax savings. Seeking to minimize the applicable tax rate can maximize tax savings.
Second, try to seek the stability and long-term nature of tax rate differences. Tax rate differences have a certain degree of certainty, but relatively speaking, there are some tax rate differences that are relatively more stable. For example, the tax rate differences in countries with stable political situations are more stable than those in countries with unstable political situations, and the tax rate differences in countries with sound policies and systems are more long-term than those in countries with changeable policies and systems. Under legal and reasonable circumstances, we should try to seek the stability and long-term nature of tax rate differences.