The Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, as the first pilot zone opening up to Taiwan on the Chinese mainland, will provide more preferential tax policies to the over 100 Taiwan enterprises in the zone.

The Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) are jointly formulating a corporate income tax incentive list that is expected to come out soon, said Shen Jiajun, an official from the Fujian provincial office of the SAT, at a meeting joined by experts and Taiwan businesspeople on Tuesday, April 25.

Qualified Taiwan enterprises in the zone will enjoy a 15 percent exemption in their corporation income tax, a measure already approved by the State Council, added Shen.

The Ministry of Finance also approved a preferential tax policy to open a petty trade market to Taiwan, exempting merchants from a wide range of taxes including tariffs, import value-added taxes and consumption taxes. Duty-free items include grain and oil food, native produce and animal by-products, textiles and garments, light industrial products and pharmaceuticals. Taiwan people arriving in Pingtan are allowed to carry duty-free Taiwan-produced goods of up to 6,000 yuan ($971).

In a notice issued by the Ministry of Finance and the State Council earlier this year, enterprises in Pingtan will also start to enjoy preferential policies for business taxes in sectors of shipping, insurance, service outsourcing and logistics.

Taiwan businesspeople attending the meeting showed great interest in the tax incentives list and made many suggestions for Pingtan’s industrial development.

Li Yunhui, a Taiwan property developer, said his company has decided to invest in a Taiwan culture-themed plaza in Pingtan, where they will offer more than 300 booths at a night fair for Taiwan merchants. Li hoped more meetings on tax policy popularization will be held after the tax incentives list comes out.

As of April 23, a total of 105 Taiwan-invested enterprises have settled in the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, Fujian province, according to a Xinhua News Agency report.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Michael Thai