(Adopted at the 25th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress on December 25, 2016)
catalogue
Chapter I General provisions
Chapter II Basis for tax calculation and amount of tax payable
Chapter III Tax relief
Chapter IV Administration of expropriation
Chapter V Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General provisions
Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purpose of protecting and improving the environment, reducing the discharge of pollutants and promoting the construction of ecological civilization.
Article 2 In the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China, enterprises, institutions and other producers and business operators that directly discharge taxable pollutants into the environment are taxpayers of environmental protection tax and shall pay environmental protection tax in accordance with the provisions of this Law.
Article 3 The term "taxable pollutants" as used in this Law refers to air pollutants, water pollutants, solid waste and noise as specified in the Table of Tax Items of Environmental Protection Tax and the Table of Taxable Pollutants and their Equivalent Values attached to this Law.
Article 4 Under any of the following circumstances, it does not belong to the direct discharge of pollutants into the environment and does not pay the environmental protection tax on the corresponding pollutants:
(1) Enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators discharge taxable pollutants into lawfully established sites for the centralized treatment of sewage and domestic garbage;
(2) Enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators store or treat solid waste in facilities or places that meet the national and local environmental protection standards.
Article 5 Where a lawfully established urban and rural sewage and household garbage centralized treatment site discharges taxable pollutants to the environment in excess of the discharge standards prescribed by the State and local governments, environmental protection tax shall be paid.
Enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators that store or dispose of solid waste not in conformity with the national and local standards for environmental protection shall pay environmental protection tax.
Article 6 The tax items and amounts of environmental protection tax shall be executed in accordance with the Table of Tax Items and Amounts of Environmental Protection Tax attached to this Law.
The determination and adjustment of the specific applicable taxes on taxable air pollutants and water pollutants shall be made by the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, taking into account the environmental carrying capacity, the current situation of pollutant discharge and the requirements of the objectives of economic, social and ecological development of their respective regions, within the tax ranges specified in the Table of Tax Items for Environmental Protection Tax attached to this Law, and submitted to the Standing Committee of the people's Congress at the corresponding level for decision. It shall be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and The State Council for the record.
Chapter II Basis for tax calculation and amount of tax payable
Article 7 The basis for tax calculation of taxable pollutants shall be determined in accordance with the following methods:
(1) Taxable air pollutants shall be determined according to the pollution equivalent number equivalent to the amount of pollutant discharge;
(2) Taxable water pollutants shall be determined according to the pollution equivalent number equivalent to the amount of pollutant discharge;
(3) Taxable solid waste shall be determined according to the amount of solid waste discharged;
(4) The taxable noise shall be determined by the decibel number exceeding the national standard.
Article 8 The pollution equivalent number of a taxable air pollutant or water pollutant shall be calculated by dividing the discharge amount of the pollutant by the pollution equivalent value of the pollutant. The specific pollution quota of each taxable air pollutant and water pollutant shall be implemented in accordance with the Table of Taxable Pollutants and Quota attached to this Law.
Article 9 For each discharge outlet or no discharge outlet of taxable air pollutants, environmental protection tax shall be levied on the first three pollutants in order from the largest to the smallest amount of pollution equivalent.
For the taxable water pollutants at each discharge outlet, according to the Table of Taxable Pollutants and their Equivalent Values attached to this Law, Category I water pollutants shall be distinguished from other categories of water pollutants, and the environmental protection tax shall be levied on Category I water pollutants according to the first five items and on other categories of water pollutants according to the first three items.
The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government may, according to the special needs of their respective regions for pollutant emission reduction, increase the number of taxable pollutant items for which environmental protection tax is to be levied at the same discharge outlet, and report to the Standing Committee of the People's Congress at the corresponding level for decision, and to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and The State Council for the record.
Article 10 The decibels of taxable air pollutants, water pollutants and solid waste and noise shall be calculated in accordance with the following methods and order:
(1) Where taxpayers install and use automatic monitoring equipment for pollutants that comply with national regulations and monitoring norms, the calculation shall be based on the automatic monitoring data for pollutants;
(2) Where the taxpayer does not install and use automatic monitoring equipment for pollutants, the calculation shall be made according to the monitoring data issued by the monitoring organization in accordance with the relevant provisions and monitoring norms of the State;
(3) Where conditions for monitoring are not available due to various types of pollutants discharged, calculations shall be made in accordance with the discharge coefficient and material accounting methods prescribed by the competent department of environmental protection under The State Council;
(4) Where the calculation cannot be made in accordance with the methods provided for in subparagraphs 1 to 3 of this Article, the calculation shall be made in accordance with the sampling calculation method prescribed by the competent department of environmental protection of the people's government of a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government.
Article 11 The amount of tax payable for environmental protection tax shall be calculated according to the following methods:
(1) The tax payable for taxable air pollutants shall be the pollution equivalent multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount;
(2) The taxable amount of taxable water pollutants is the pollution equivalent multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount;
(3) The tax payable on taxable solid waste is the amount of solid waste discharged multiplied by the specific applicable tax amount;
(4) The tax payable for taxable noise shall be the specific applicable tax amount corresponding to the decibel number exceeding the standard prescribed by the State.
Chapter III Tax relief
Article 12 The following circumstances shall be temporarily exempted from environmental protection tax:
(A) agricultural production (excluding large-scale breeding) discharge of taxable pollutants;
(2) Discharge of taxable pollutants by mobile sources such as motor vehicles, railway locomotives, non-road mobile machinery, ships and aircraft;
(3) the legally established urban and rural sewage centralized treatment and domestic waste centralized treatment sites discharge corresponding taxable pollutants, which do not exceed the discharge standards prescribed by the State and local;
(4) The solid waste comprehensively utilized by taxpayers meets the national and local environmental protection standards;
(5) Other circumstances approved by The State Council for tax exemption.
The tax exemption provisions in Item 5 of the preceding paragraph shall be reported by The State Council to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the record.
Article 13 Where a taxpayer discharges a taxable atmospheric pollutant or water pollutant in concentrations less than 30 percent of the pollutant discharge standards prescribed by the State or local government, the environmental protection tax shall be levied at a reduced rate of 75 percent. Where a taxpayer discharges a taxable atmospheric pollutant or water pollutant in concentrations less than 50% of the pollutant discharge standards prescribed by the State or local government, the environmental protection tax shall be levied at a reduced rate of 50%.
Chapter IV Administration of expropriation
Article 14 The environmental protection tax shall be collected and administered by the tax authorities in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection and the relevant provisions of this Law.
The competent department of environmental protection shall be responsible for the monitoring and administration of pollutants in accordance with this Law and the provisions of relevant laws and regulations on environmental protection.
Local people's governments at or above the county level shall establish a working mechanism of division of labor and cooperation between tax authorities, competent environmental protection departments and other relevant units, strengthen the administration of environmental protection tax collection, and ensure that the tax is timely and fully collected.
Article 15 The competent departments of environmental protection and tax authorities shall establish tax-related information sharing platforms and work cooperation mechanisms.
The competent department of environmental protection shall regularly submit to the tax authorities environmental protection related information such as the discharge permits, pollutant discharge data, environmental violations and administrative penalties imposed by the pollutant discharging unit.
Tax authorities shall regularly submit to the competent departments of environmental protection tax information such as tax returns, tax deposits, tax deductions, tax arrears and risk suspicions of taxpayers.
Article 16 The date of occurrence of the tax obligation shall be the day on which the taxpayer discharges the taxable pollutant.
Article 17 Taxpayers shall declare and pay environmental protection tax to the tax authorities at the places where the taxable pollutants are discharged.
Article 18 The environmental protection tax shall be calculated on a monthly basis and declared and paid on a quarterly basis. If payment cannot be calculated within a fixed period, it may be declared and paid on a regular basis.
When filing and paying tax returns, taxpayers shall submit to the tax authorities the types and quantities of the taxable pollutants discharged, the concentration values of air pollutants and water pollutants, and other tax payment materials required by the tax authorities to be submitted according to actual needs.
Article 19 Taxpayers who file tax returns and pay taxes on a quarterly basis shall file tax returns and pay taxes with the tax authorities within 15 days from the end of the quarter. A taxpayer who reports and pays tax on a regular basis shall, within 15 days from the date of occurrence of the tax obligation, file a tax return with the tax authorities and pay the tax.
Taxpayers shall faithfully file tax returns according to law and bear responsibility for the authenticity and completeness of the returns.
Article 20 The tax authorities shall compare the taxpayer's tax declaration data with the relevant data submitted by the competent environmental protection authorities.
Where the tax authorities find that the tax return data of the taxpayer is abnormal or the taxpayer fails to file the tax return within the prescribed time limit, they may request the competent environmental protection department to conduct a review, and the competent environmental protection department shall issue a review opinion to the tax authorities within 15 days from the date of receipt of the data of the tax authorities. The tax authorities shall adjust the tax payable on the basis of the data reviewed by the competent department of environmental protection.
Article 21 Where the amount of pollutant discharge is determined in accordance with the provisions of item 4 of Article 10 of this Law, the tax authorities shall, in conjunction with the competent environmental protection department, determine the type and quantity of pollutant discharge and the amount of tax payable.
Article 22 Specific measures for taxpayers engaged in Marine projects discharging taxable atmospheric pollutants, water pollutants or solid waste into the sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China for reporting and paying environmental protection tax shall be formulated jointly by the competent tax department under The State Council and the competent Marine department under The State Council.
Article 23 Taxpayers, tax authorities, competent environmental protection authorities and their staff who violate the provisions of this Law shall be investigated for legal responsibility in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection, the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and the provisions of relevant laws and regulations.
Article 24 People's governments at all levels shall encourage taxpayers to increase investment in environmental protection construction and provide financial and policy support for taxpayers' investment in automatic pollutant monitoring equipment.
Chapter V Supplementary Provisions
Article 25 The meaning of the following terms in this Law:
(1) Pollution equivalent refers to a comprehensive index or unit of measurement used to measure environmental pollution caused by different pollutants according to the harmful degree of pollutants or pollution discharge activities to the environment and the technical and economic efficiency of treatment. Different pollutants with the same pollution equivalent in the same medium have the same pollution degree.
(2) Pollutant discharge coefficient refers to the statistical average of the amount of pollutants that should be discharged by the production unit of a product under normal technical, economic and management conditions.
(3) Material accounting refers to a method of measuring the raw materials used in the production process, the products produced and the waste generated according to the principle of conservation of material mass.
Article 26 Enterprises, public institutions and other producers and business operators that directly discharge taxable pollutants into the environment shall, in addition to paying environmental protection tax in accordance with the provisions of this Law, be liable for the damage caused.
Article 27 As of the date this Law goes into effect, environmental protection tax shall be levied in accordance with the provisions of this Law, and pollution discharge fees shall no longer be levied.
Article 28 This Law shall come into force as of January 1, 2018.