In the identification of high tech enterprises, how to grasp and understand the source of policy doc

Since all the preferential policies on income tax for high-tech enterprises are based on the relevant provisions of the Enterprise Income Tax Law, we should start from the provisions of the Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementing regulations on the provisions of high-tech enterprises.

The Enterprise Income Tax Law stipulates that a high-tech enterprise refers to an enterprise that has core independent intellectual property rights and meets the following conditions at the same time

1. The products (services) belong to the scope specified in the "High-tech Fields Supported by the State";

2. The proportion of R&D expenses in sales revenue shall not be less than the specified proportion;

3. The proportion of high-tech products (services) revenue in the total income of the enterprise shall not be less than the specified proportion;

4. The proportion of scientific and technological personnel in the total number of employees of the enterprise shall not be less than the prescribed proportion;

5. Other conditions stipulated in the administrative measures for the identification of high-tech enterprises.

Among the above five conditions, the first is the quantitative index of high-tech enterprises, which is the core and key points of the policy, and the core content of the follow-up relevant documents.

The above three core policies, in practice, most enterprises feel that the fourth policy, that is, "the proportion of scientific and technological personnel in the total number of employees of the enterprise is not less than the specified proportion", is a difficulty in the manufacturing industry, as long as this difficulty is broken, the other several are easier to achieve the conditions required by the policy.

So, how do the relevant laws and regulations define or identify "scientific and technological personnel"? The existing laws and regulations do not define "scientific and technological personnel", and the interpretation of "scientific and technological personnel" in relevant documents is roughly defined as: scientific and technological personnel refer to talents who master a relevant technology, or refer to people who have mastered certain specialized scientific and technological knowledge and skills.

This definition actually has no boundaries, i.e., it is impossible to quantify what kind of talent qualifies as "tech talent". Because of this, the original "Administrative Measures for the Identification of High-tech Enterprises" stipulates that scientific and technological talents refer to employees who are engaged in scientific research and technical activities of enterprises with college degree or above.

However, the revised Administrative Measures for the Identification of High-tech Enterprises do not explicitly require a college degree or above, which is a major amendment. This is based on the actual situation of China's enterprises, especially from the actual situation of workers in China's manufacturing industry, and it is also in response to the call of "entrepreneurship and mass innovation". However, this does not mean that there are no requirements and standards for the scientific and technological personnel of the enterprise, generally speaking, with a college degree or above, or holding a vocational and technical college certificate, or holding a technician certificate of employees, engaged in production or technology research and development, can be counted in the number of "scientific and technological personnel" of the enterprise.

Regarding this item, it depends on the degree of leniency grasped by the local tax department.