The deduction of research and development expenses is a preferential policy at the tax law level, which has strict requirements and constraints on industry, deduction scope and accounting. In order to assist enterprise personnel to deal with these difficult problems, Xiaobian sorted out the possible problems and countermeasures of the following enterprises for reference by Suzhou enterprises:

First, the difficulty of request

1, it is difficult to determine the nature of scientific research projects

According to the rules of No.76, 2015, issued by the State Administration of Taxation, an enterprise should judge whether it meets the conditions of the policy and rules of adding and deducting development expenses. Because the users of the development cost plus deduction policy are generally tax officials, who do not have relevant knowledge of science and technology. So how to judge the scientific research project of this enterprise is to creatively apply scientific skills and new knowledge, or to substantially improve skills? How to judge whether the scientific research project of the enterprise is the seven general knowledge and skill activities listed in Caishui [2015] No.119?

2. It is difficult to advance the determination of outsourcing contracts

According to Notice No.97 of the State Administration of Taxation in 2015, enterprises should keep the contracts of entrusted and cooperative research and development projects registered by the administrative department of science and technology for future reference. With regard to the contract of scientific research project entrusted for development, the seller shall confirm the skill contract in the local administrative department of science and technology. In practice, the seller is often unwilling to cooperate. The following problems arise: after the signing of the contract, the seller delayed the determination of the contract until the validity period of the contract or the completion of the project has not been determined, resulting in the rejection of the registration request by the administrative department of science and technology; Once the skill contract is confirmed, the seller enjoys the VAT exemption policy, and the VAT obtained by the buyer cannot be deducted; When signing the contract, the status of contract determination was not considered, and the original contract signed was limited, which led to the demand being punctual and the original contract could not be supplied.

3. The invoice cannot be obtained in time

After the contract of scientific research project is finished according to the rules, if the person in charge of scientific research project fails to arrange inspection and request payment in time, the workload of the project will be confirmed on the financial book, but the practice fails to get the invoice of the other party in time. Because the development cost plus deduction required cost is produced by practice, the part without invoice cannot be calculated as the base of development cost plus deduction.

4. Differences in detailed data of expenses of research and development projects of related trustees

According to the requirements of Caishui [2015] No.119 document, if the entrusting party entrusts relevant parties to carry out research and development activities, the entrusted party shall provide the entrusting party with the detailed status of expenses of research and development projects arising from the practice in the research and development process. In practice, the entrusting party often accrues the related development cost according to the progress or workload of scientific research projects on the basis of accrual basis. However, due to the fact that the trustee reports according to the practical transaction expenses, the data of both parties not only have the difference of buying and selling profits, but also have the difference of time, which may lead to the fact that the trustee still has the cost expenses while the trustee has no development expenses in that year. This situation can easily cause the tax bureau to misjudge the fairness of related transactions and increase the risk of related transactions.

Second, the treatment of claims

In view of the difficulties in the above-mentioned practice, the author puts forward the following propositions based on years of practical experience:

1. Design tables to simplify communication

As to the problem that tax officials cannot accurately distinguish the nature of scientific research projects, it is necessary to strengthen communication with scientific research personnel. The author made seven kinds of general knowledge and skill activities listed in the name of scientific research project and Caishui [2015] No.119 into a two-dimensional Excel table, and the scientific research personnel directly typed "√" or "X", which formed a questionnaire that was clear and easy to understand, and quickly finished the investigation of the nature of scientific research projects.

2. Strengthen the handling and put the process ahead

With regard to the problem that it is difficult to push forward the determination of outsourcing contracts, it is advocated to strengthen supplier handling and put the control link of skill contract determination ahead. Solidify the requirements of skill contract determination in the contract template, and take the completion of skill contract determination as one of the payment conditions. If the other party enjoys the VAT exemption policy of the skill development transfer contract, it is necessary to consider the price as a whole when negotiating the contract.

3. Set prompt points to urge invoicing

The supplier's failure to issue invoices in time not only affects the deduction of development costs, but also affects the accuracy of accounting and financial statements. In addition to the clear requirements in the guidelines, it is also a quick way to set prompt points in the financial system or contract system. Once the workload of scientific research projects reaches 100%, the system prompts the project team to inspect and collect invoices in time.

4. Clarification of supply-related pricing

Considering the reasons involving trade secrets, Caishui [2015] No.119 document revokes the responsibility of providing expenses entrusted to non-related parties for research and development, but preserves the requirement that related parties should be entrusted with providing details of expenses. This is primarily to prevent related parties from falsely reporting research and development investment and defrauding the state tax through related transactions. However, due to the difference in accounting confirmation time between the two parties, the relevant parties have doubts and are unwilling to supply expenses according to the facts. In view of the increased encouragement to the state's investment in scientific research, the supervision on the addition and deduction of research and development expenses is also increasing, and it is advocated to cancel the requirement that the trustee of the relevant party supply the details of expenses, and instead ask the enterprises enjoying the addition and deduction of the relevant party to increase the clarification of the fairness of relevant transactions.