1、Tax Accounting(From: Sun Kun. English Langusge in Accounting. Dongbei University of Finance & Economics Press, 2006.)Tax accounting is a branch of accounting that involves determining the correct liability-that is, the amount owed-for taxes, and preparing the necessary tax-return forms.Income taxes

2、are a major concern to businesses as well as to individuals. Unfortunately, businessmen themselves often do not understand the tax laws, and they must therefore depend on the advice of tax accountants and lawyers. A tax accountant must have a thorough knowledge of the tax code of his or her country

3、and of any divisions within it that have the power to levy, or impose, taxes.It is easy to appreciate the impact of income taxes on business. Careful planning designed to decrease the tax liability to the lowest level is thus a major concern of business. This planning is made possible by various pro

4、visions in the tax laws that offer alternative methods for handling particular transactions or accounting procedures. One alternative may thus have a significant tax advantage over another, resulting in either a tax saving, or postponement of the tax liability. A business can pay substantially more

5、taxes than necessary if the wrong financial decision is made. Among these potentially significant decisions might be included the form of business under which to organize, whether or not to set up multiple corporations, and which accounting methods should be used to deal with inventory and depreciat

6、ion.CHOOSING THE RIGHT FORM OF ORGANIZATION . There are three major forms of business ownership: the single proprietorship, the partnership, and the corporation. Tax laws vary considerably for each of these. In the case of both the individual proprietorship and partnership forms of business, income

7、is taxed to the individual proprietor or partners. The owners of these businesses therefore pay the progressive income tax rate for individuals on their business income. A progressive income tax is one that charges a higher rate for higher earnings.Corporations, on the other hand, are subject to a t

8、ax on their profits, while the stockholders of a corporation are also taxed at the individual rates on the dividends they receive from these profits. Dividends are paid out of the corporations earnings. The corporation is not allowed a deduction for the dividends it pays out when its taxable income

9、is computed. This results in double taxation of the corporations income.In certain eases, the double tax is eliminated or reduced under special provisions of the tax laws. Under one provision, the taxpayer receives a dividend exemption (income not subject to taxation) up to $ 100 for dividends recei

10、ved during the tax year. Another provision allows a corporation to be taxed as partnership if it meets the following requirements for a small business:(a)It is a domestic, rather than a foreign corporation.(b)It has no more than fifteen stockholders.(c)All the stockholders are didferent people.(d)No

11、 stockholder is a nonresident alien.(e)There is only one class of stock.While the small-business corporation can save a great deal in taxes by being taxed as partnership, it keeps the other nontax advantages, such as limited liability.Other income tax advantages often encourage the corporate form of

12、 organization. One of these is the possibility of selling the business or liquidating it; that is, of going out of business and disposing of the assets. When this occurs, it is possible to obtain long-term capital-gains treatment. A long-term capital gain is a profit on the sale of a capital asset t

13、hat has been owned for a specified period. Long-term capital gains get preferential tax treatment-that is, half the rate applied to other kinds of income. A second possible tax advantage of the corporate structure is the deferral or postponement of double taxation by simply not paying dividends. A t

14、hird is the flexibility that comes from being able to time the distribution of earnings so that they occur during the years in which the owners have the lowest tax liability. A fourth advantage is income splitting. This is a provision of the tax laws that allows the owner of a corporation to divide

15、dividend payments from the corporation among members of his family by having each one own some of the stock. A fifth possible advantage is related to fringe benefits, such as group life insurance, medical payment plans, and wage continuation plans, that provide for full or partial payment of wages a

16、nd salary to the employees during sickness. Many of these fringe benefits are encouraged in the tax laws by allowing deferred tax payments.CHOOSING THE RIGHT ACCOUNTING METHODS. The choice of one method or procedure over the possible alternatives can lead to a tax advantage.Some methods of accountin

17、g for depreciation offer a tax advantage. For example, in the declining-balance method, a greater percentage of the cost of a fixed asset is figured for the earlier years of the life of the asset. The result is that part of the tax liability is deferred until later years.There is also a special tax

18、credit for investment in most kinds of depreciable assets, with the exception of buildings that are acquired and placed in service. This credit was instituted as means of stimulating new investment in productive facilities.There are also different accounting methods for the inventory, commonly known

19、 as Fifo and Lifo. The Lifo method may be better from a tax standpoint since this method results in a lower tax liability in a period of rising prices. Under Lifo, the higher-priced goods are depreciated in the accounting period.A tax advantage also exists for businesses-that sell merchandise for pe

20、rsonal use. These sales are often made on the installment basis, with payments spread over a period of weeks, months, or perhaps even years. For tax purposes, it is permissible to report the profit from sales during the years in which the actual payments are made rather than during the year of the o

21、riginal sale.A tax advantage is also available to the holders of most depletive assets-those which are used up, or depleted, over a period of time-like oil, natural gas, uranium, or coal. The taxpayer who owns assets of this kind is allowed a deduction on the gross income derived from the asset. The

22、 deduction is known as a depletion allowance; because of the economic importance of many of the depletive assets, the percentages allowed to the taxpayer are of great political concern.ACCOUNTING FOR INCOME TAXES. The basic accounting procedure for computing income taxes is relatively simple. The fi

23、nal or estimated tax liability is charged to the Income Tax Expense account and is deducted on the income statement. The liability is credited to the Estimated Income Taxes Payable account and is then classified as a current liability on the statement of financial position. There are, however, accou

24、nting problems that arise in regard to income taxes. These problems result from differences in the amount of taxable income and the amount of income reported on the income statement. This may result from the use of different accounting methods for tax purposes.CHINAS TAX SYSTEM. The well-to-do in Ch

25、ina have snubbed their government. In 2007 for the first time, anyone earning more than 120,000 yuan ($15,000) annually is supposed to file a personal income-tax return. Yet by the deadline of April 2nd(extended by a couple of days because of low compliance), only a small minority had done so. Threa

26、ts of massive fines have gone unheeded.The governments embarrassment was evident when it missed its own deadline of April 10th for announcing the total tally of tax returns completed. But officials have estimated the number is around 1.6m. The number of those required to file is widely reported to b

27、e 6m-7m and could well be much higher. Those who have done so already are mostly wage earners who have tax deducted from their salaries and feel they have no option but to report their incomes because they are already in the tax authorities records.A big difficulty for tax officials is that even som

28、e of the governments own media have broken ranks and suggested that the middle classes obvious disdain for the new requirement may not be unreasonable. Confusingly, the annual tax return does not supersede an existing monthly requirement to report and pay tax on non-tax income if total earnings exce

29、ed a certain threshold. A newspaper run by the state prosecutors office argue that the tax administration had no legal authority to fine people for failing to fill out returns relating to income on which they had already paid tax.But very few bother to pay personal income tax unless it is deducted a

30、utomatically. As some Chinese newspapers have pointed out, this is partly because many Chinese believed they get little in return for their taxes. They have to pay through the nose for health care and for decent education for their children. They are also resentful that few officials pay tax, even t

31、hough many have big incomes from shady dealings.Even the words “no taxation without representation” have found their way into print, in an article in the “information times”, a government owned newspaper in the southern city of Guangzhou. Noting that half of the delegates to Chinas legislature were

32、officials, the newspaper reported that commentators had pointed out that the parliament should have “fewer officials and more taxpayers”: an interesting distinction suggesting the taxman has struck a raw nerve.稅務(wù)會(huì)計(jì)稅務(wù)會(huì)計(jì)是會(huì)計(jì)的一個(gè)分支，其主要內(nèi)容是如何確定正確的稅務(wù)負(fù)債數(shù)額，編制納稅申報(bào)單。所得稅不論對(duì)企業(yè)還是對(duì)個(gè)人都是關(guān)系重大的一個(gè)事項(xiàng)。但遺憾的是企業(yè)家本身往往不懂稅法，他們必

33、須依賴于稅務(wù)會(huì)計(jì)和律師們的建議。一個(gè)稅務(wù)會(huì)計(jì)師必須對(duì)本國(guó)的稅法有徹底的理解，并且要了解有權(quán)課稅的有關(guān)部門。我們很容易看清楚所得稅對(duì)企業(yè)經(jīng)營(yíng)的影響，因此企業(yè)所關(guān)心的一個(gè)主要問(wèn)題就是如何進(jìn)行稅務(wù)規(guī)劃，將應(yīng)付稅款降低到最小數(shù)額。做稅務(wù)規(guī)劃是十分必要的，因?yàn)槎惙ㄖ杏胁煌臈l款，這些不同的條款給企業(yè)處理某些經(jīng)濟(jì)業(yè)務(wù)提供了多種方法可供選擇，這種處理方法可能較之于另一種處理方法在納稅方面有很大的優(yōu)越性，表現(xiàn)為納稅節(jié)省或延后納稅。如果企業(yè)做出了錯(cuò)誤的財(cái)務(wù)決策，可能就要多支付很多不必要的稅款。在這方面，企業(yè)需要作出的重要決策包括：以何種形式組建企業(yè)，是否建立多分支機(jī)構(gòu)、多種經(jīng)營(yíng)的股份有限公司，選擇什么方法去處理

34、存貨和折舊。選擇恰當(dāng)?shù)钠髽I(yè)組織形式 企業(yè)的組織形式主要有三種：獨(dú)資企業(yè)、合伙企業(yè)和股份有限公司，適用于這三種組織形式的稅法規(guī)定有很大的差別。對(duì)于獨(dú)資企業(yè)和合伙企業(yè)來(lái)說(shuō)，只針對(duì)獨(dú)資企業(yè)的業(yè)主和合伙企業(yè)的合伙人征收所得稅，他們從企業(yè)所獲得的收入要按累進(jìn)稅率繳納所得稅。所謂累進(jìn)所得稅就是收入越高，所使用的所得稅率就越高。股份有限公司要按公司的收入計(jì)算繳納所得稅，同時(shí)，股份郵箱公司的股東從企業(yè)分的的股利還需按個(gè)人累進(jìn)計(jì)算繳納所得稅。公司當(dāng)然是用公司的收入支付股利，在計(jì)算應(yīng)納稅所得額時(shí)，公司可不可以將其已經(jīng)支付的股利從收入中扣除，因此，公司的收入實(shí)際上就承受了雙重課稅。在某些特定的情況下，按稅法的某些具

35、體的條款，可以避免雙重納稅。有一項(xiàng)條款規(guī)定，納稅人在納稅年度可以享受限額為100美元的免稅股利；還有一項(xiàng)條款規(guī)定，如果股份有限公司滿足下列適用于小企業(yè)的一些條件，就可以按合伙企業(yè)形式計(jì)算繳納所得稅：（1） 股份公司是一個(gè)國(guó)內(nèi)企業(yè)，不是一個(gè)外國(guó)企業(yè)；（2） 股份公司的股東不超過(guò)15人；（3） 全部股東由不同的人員組成；（4） 股東中沒有外國(guó)人；（5） 公司只發(fā)行一種股票。這類小型的股份有限公司由于按合伙企業(yè)組織形式所得稅，可以節(jié)約大量的稅款，同時(shí)他們還享受了其他非稅務(wù)方面的優(yōu)越性，如有限的責(zé)任等。在交納所得稅方面，股份有限公司的組織形式也有一些優(yōu)越性，其中之一就是可以將公司賣掉或清算掉，也就是讓

36、公司解體，將資產(chǎn)處理掉。發(fā)生這種情況時(shí)，公司可能獲得長(zhǎng)期資本收益待遇。長(zhǎng)期資本收益是指企業(yè)出售置存了一定期限的固定資產(chǎn)所獲得的利潤(rùn)。長(zhǎng)期資本收益可以享受優(yōu)惠的納稅待遇，那就是，適用稅率要比其他收入低一半；第二個(gè)可能利用的優(yōu)越性是公司可以通過(guò)不支付股利的手段延遲雙重納稅；第三個(gè)優(yōu)越性是公司可以靈活地計(jì)劃股利的發(fā)放時(shí)間，在股東們所得稅負(fù)最低的年份里分配利潤(rùn)；第四個(gè)優(yōu)越性是收益分割，所得稅法中有一項(xiàng)條款允許股東將其從股份有限公司中所獲得的股利收入在其家庭成員中進(jìn)行分配，手段是讓每位家庭成員都持有一些股票；第五個(gè)優(yōu)越性與職工福利金有關(guān)，如職工集體人壽保險(xiǎn)費(fèi)、醫(yī)療費(fèi)支付計(jì)劃、連續(xù)工資計(jì)劃，即在職工生病期

37、間支付全額或部分工資，這些都屬于職工資福利金。稅法中對(duì)許多這類職工福利金允許延期支付稅款。選擇正確的會(huì)計(jì)核算方法 在可供選擇的方法中選擇恰當(dāng)?shù)臅?huì)計(jì)方法和程序，也能帶來(lái)納稅方面的利益。有些折舊方法就能在納稅方面有利可圖。比如，適用余額遞減折舊法，在固定資產(chǎn)使用周期內(nèi)的頭幾年，資產(chǎn)成本轉(zhuǎn)化為費(fèi)用的比例就大。這樣做的結(jié)果是：企業(yè)可以延緩交納一部分所得稅，即在固定資產(chǎn)使用周期的以后幾年才支付。對(duì)投放于大多數(shù)使用中的應(yīng)計(jì)折舊的固定資產(chǎn)方面的投資業(yè)享受稅額減免，只是建筑物除外。這種減免是為了鼓勵(lì)在生產(chǎn)性設(shè)施方面增加新的投資。對(duì)于存貨的會(huì)計(jì)核算業(yè)有不同的方法，即人們所熟悉的先進(jìn)先出法和后進(jìn)先出法。從納稅的角度來(lái)說(shuō)，后進(jìn)先出法更優(yōu)越一些，因?yàn)樵趦r(jià)格上升時(shí)期，采用這種存貨的核算方法可降低所得稅稅負(fù)，因?yàn)樵诤筮M(jìn)先出法下，價(jià)格較高的存貨成本在