The problems existing in the current value-added tax preference for agriculture, rural areas and farmers and suggestions for improvement

At present, there are many preferential tax policies involving "agriculture, rural areas and farmers". For example, agricultural producers sell their own agricultural products, some agricultural means of production, qualified grain and edible vegetable oil, farmers' professional cooperatives, vegetables and fresh meat and egg products in circulation are exempted from VAT. Suitable for low-tax agricultural products, 13% VAT input tax deduction for purchased agricultural products, approved deduction for vegetable oil and other three types of products, and so on. These tax policies have played a very positive role in supporting the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers, lightening the burden on farmers and agriculture-related enterprises, and promoting the development of agriculture. However, with the passage of time, there are also some problems in the implementation of these policies, which is necessary to attract our attention.

I. existing problems

(1) some of the VAT concessions related to agriculture have not really been implemented. The policy stipulates that when ordinary taxpayers purchase duty-free agricultural products, the input tax shall be deducted according to 13% of the purchase price. As VAT belongs to extra-price tax, VAT tax is fully borne by the final purchasers, so it is not significant for agricultural producers to be exempted from VAT, but more beneficial to agricultural products processing enterprises and other purchasers. For example, after harvesting agricultural products, agricultural producers sometimes carry out simple processing and then sell them. These individual agricultural producers process too much of the raw materials produced by themselves rather than outsourced, so they are unable to receive input tax. Although the tax policy exempts simple processed agricultural products from value-added tax, they have an additional tax burden compared with the 13% input tax deductible for professional agricultural products processing enterprises. When agricultural products processing enterprises purchase agricultural products, they still buy agricultural products at low prices, and after agricultural products are processed and exported, enterprises enjoy export tax rebate concessions, and the tax refunded is not refunded to the majority of farmers. As stipulated in the policy: "the following goods are exempt from VAT: 1. Agricultural film. 4. Wholesale and retail seeds, seedlings, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural machinery. " Take Suichuan County National Taxation Bureau as an example, there are 38 enterprises engaged in wholesale and retail seeds, seedlings, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural machinery and agricultural film. The state implements a tax-free policy on feed, agricultural film, agricultural machinery, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other agricultural means of production from production to sales. The original intention of the policy is to take care of the interests of farmers and reduce their burdens, but in fact, due to the rising prices of agricultural means of production, the prices for farmers to buy agricultural products are still relatively expensive, increasing the burden on farmers. as a result, the effect of value-added tax reduction is offset, which greatly weakens the effect of the government's preferential agricultural policy.

(2) it is difficult to operate some preferential policies of value-added tax related to agriculture. From the daily collection and management of our grass-roots tax departments, it is not difficult to find that many preferential policies are very difficult to implement. For example, Article 15 of the interim regulations of the people's Republic of China on value-added tax stipulates: "the following items are exempted from value-added tax: self-produced agricultural products sold by ㈠ agricultural producers." Article 35 of the rules for the implementation of the interim regulations of the people's Republic of China on value-added tax stipulates: "the scope of some tax-exempt items listed in Article 15 of the regulations is limited as follows: the agriculture mentioned in item ㈠ of the first paragraph refers to planting, aquaculture, forestry, animal husbandry and aquaculture. Agricultural producers, including units and individuals engaged in agricultural production. " When there is not only the processing of agricultural products (or other), but also a small part of agricultural production, how to manage when there are two or more kinds of mixed operation. Primary agricultural products, such as Mao tea and refined tea, should be taxed while not taxed, how to divide and define them. It is very difficult for forest farmers to transfer the ownership and use right of forest trees in mountain farms, whether the purchasers are agricultural producers or not, and whether they should be taxed or not.

(3) some VAT preferential policies related to agriculture do not bring real benefits to the beneficiary groups set by the tax law. Value-added tax belongs to indirect tax, and the ultimate burden of tax revenue is borne by consumers. But in real life, it is not difficult to find that although some industries or products are duty-free, consumers actually do not benefit from it. For example, the notice of the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation on issues related to exemption from VAT in vegetable circulation (Finance and Taxation (2011) No. 137) stipulates that VAT in vegetable circulation will be exempted from January 1, 2012. The Circular of the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation on the policy of exempting some fresh meat and egg products from value-added tax (Finance and Taxation (2012) No. 75) stipulates that from October 1, 2012, some fresh meat and egg products will be exempted from value-added tax. But in fact, the prices of vegetables, live pigs, beef, mutton products, fresh chickens, ducks, and goose eggs sold in the market today only go up, while the "vegetable basket" carried by ordinary people is not easy for primary and secondary school students to eat an egg every day.

(4) there is still a deviation in the implementation effect of VAT preferential policies related to agriculture. Under the same preferential tax policy, the development of the industry is not balanced, and there are great differences among the beneficiary taxpayers, which makes the leverage adjustment of the tax policy not obvious. Take Suichuan County National Taxation Bureau as an example: the number of agricultural producer enterprises in the area under the jurisdiction of Suichuan County National Taxation Bureau has grown from 5 in 1994 to 118 in 2014 (including 36 farmers' professional cooperatives, 5 animal husbandry, 25 forest farms, 14 garden fruits, 6 seedlings and flowers, 4 farms, 12 tea and 14 other households). From the surface of the development of agricultural producers, in the 20 years of development, agricultural producers (enterprises) have developed rapidly and a large number, and it seems that they have indeed made great progress. However, from the point of view of the whole agricultural producers (enterprises), the development of different industries is uneven. Specific to the development of individual enterprises, it does not achieve the desired goal of the national policy. If some agricultural producer enterprises adopt the way of production and operation in the name of agricultural producers, they will enjoy the preferential policies of the state. Some agricultural producers and enterprises lease or lease other people's land, they are not really engaged in front-line agricultural production, but are engaged in the processing and refrigeration of agricultural products, making use of this preferential policy to achieve the purpose of profit. In addition, some agricultural producers do not apply the state tax relief to the development of enterprises, which greatly reduces the implementation effect of the national tax reduction and exemption policy, and does not play a great role in promoting the development of agriculture, rural areas and farmers.

II. Suggestions for improvement

(1) to improve the preferential policies of value-added tax so that the preferential policies related to agriculture can be put into practice. Drawing lessons from the practice of foreign countries not only to set up agricultural tax, but also to integrate agriculture into the urban and rural tax system, our country abolishes agricultural tax and brings agriculture and industrial and commercial enterprises into the scope of value-added tax, which is in line with China's national conditions and the development trend of tax reform. In order to implement the preferential policy of value-added tax related to agriculture, it is suggested that the relevant provisions of the current value-added tax should be adjusted. First, under the premise of exempting the sale of self-produced agricultural products from VAT, agricultural operators are allowed to ask buyers for a certain proportion of tax compensation for the price of agricultural products when selling agricultural products, which can be set at 13% of the sales price. or the government finance can subsidize this part of the tax compensation, so that agricultural producers can really get the benefits of VAT exemption. Second, the value-added tax of agricultural products processing enterprises will no longer be reduced or reduced, but will be taxed at the prescribed tax rate, and the taxes collected will be handed over to the state treasury, and shall be directly subsidized to farmers by the state according to the number of mu of farmland, or directly invested in the construction of agricultural infrastructure and agricultural science and technology in various places, and direct subsidies will be given to farmers and agriculture. Third, while implementing tax relief on all aspects of agricultural means of production and some agricultural products from production to sale, we should strictly control the prices of agricultural products and implement the pricing model of production and operation costs plus small profits. fully reflect the benefits of VAT reduction and reduction of agricultural effects, so that farmers and consumers become real beneficiaries, and promote the effective development of agriculture and rural areas.

(2) the difficulties and risks of policy realization and actual operation shall be taken into account when formulating preferential policies related to agriculture. The original intention of some of the current VAT preferential policies is good, such as the self-production and sale of agricultural products, the deduction for the purchase of agricultural products, the tax scope of primary agricultural products and so on, but it is difficult for tax cadres to grasp in practice. Some specific management methods can not form a strong supervision over taxpayers, which creates opportunities for tax evasion for lawbreakers and brings risks of collection and payment. At the same time, the implementation of some preferential tax policies requires the close cooperation of other government departments to form a management mechanism of joint management, cooperation and mutual supervision in order to implement the policy well. Therefore, at the beginning of the formulation of preferential policies, it is necessary to deeply consider the difficulties and risks of policy realization and actual operation, carefully investigate the problems that may arise in the implementation of policies, and avoid inconsistencies in understanding among grass-roots tax departments. to achieve the unity and seriousness of the tax law, so as to truly achieve the purpose of regulation and guidance of preferential policies.

(3) the preferential policies for VAT related to agriculture should be clearly defined to the specific taxpayers and the specific projects they are engaged in. For example, we believe that the definition of agricultural producers should be specific and detailed. While clearly registering taxpayers, we should also identify the tax qualifications of agricultural producers. The identified conditions should be compared with the method of "preferential tax Policy for the disabled". When applying for tax reduction or exemption and examining and approving, the following materials must be provided: 1. The taxpayer identified by the relevant department shall issue a written examination certificate of the competent department; 2. A labor contract or service agreement signed between a taxpayer and a specific agricultural producer (that is, a worker engaged in the production of agricultural products); 3. Taxpayers pay social insurance premiums for front-line specific agricultural producers; 4. Wage vouchers actually paid by taxpayers to front-line specific agricultural producers through banks and other financial institutions; 5. Other materials required by the competent tax authorities. The conditions that do not qualify are as follows: those who lease other people's land or lease other people's land because they have land or have no land, which all belong to those who do not carry out agricultural production and take the way of attachment; those who do not have the identity of agricultural producers but are long-term engaged in purchasing business or agricultural products processing business are not within the scope of identification.

(4) to clean up and standardize the agriculture-related preferential tax policies that affect the fair competition of taxpayers. The current preferential tax policies related to agriculture are gradually formed in different historical stages and in accordance with different goals, and there is a lack of coordination and cooperation between them, which makes it difficult to unify the operational level. In terms of the main body of policy-making, the National people's Congress, the State Council, the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation, and various provincial governments have all formulated relevant policy documents, and the chaos caused by "multiple branches of government" is unable to undertake the task of deepening rural reform. Therefore, the current agriculture-related preferential tax policies of nearly 50 documents should be revised, adjusted, merged and simplified, and industries, industries and products should be taken as preferential principles. identity, region, main body of investment, business scale and organizational form should not be taken as the formulation principles of preferential policies. The tax authorities must optimize the collection and management process, simplify the tax procedures, and establish a simple and feasible collection method that is easy to be mastered and accepted by farmers. Take value-added tax as an example: the preferential policy of value-added tax should be based on the principle of industry, product and industry standard, and avoid the influence of region, investment subject, operation scale, organization form and other factors on the application of value-added tax preferential policy of the same enterprise or the same product. It is necessary to re-examine the current VAT preferential policies, comprehensively weigh the pros and cons of these policies, and realistically evaluate the benefits of legal beneficiaries from various preferential policies. Some transitional preferential measures and preferential policies that are no longer suited to economic development, and preferential policies prone to fraud should be resolutely cleaned up, those that should be abolished should be abolished, and those that should be standardized should be further regulated. For products and projects that really need to be supported, the state should restrict the use of direct relief and replace it with "tax first and then return", so as to strengthen the control of these preferential policies and ensure the smooth and complete chain of value-added tax.