Tax burden is a kind of economic burden caused by the state tax, which is the result of the influence of the state tax on the social economy, and is a manifestation of the economic distribution relationship reflected by the state tax. On the other hand, tax burden is also a very important part of the operation of enterprises, which is related to the operating cost of each operator and affects the competitiveness of enterprises to a certain extent. Tax burden is one of the most effective means to directly affect the behavior of market subjects, and countries generally guide the behavior of market subjects through tax means. In the tax structure of enterprises, value-added tax and enterprise income tax are the core tax burden components. As one of the most important subjects of innovation, enterprises' R&D power and capability are particularly important to social development. In order to encourage enterprises to increase investment in R&D and effectively promote R&D and innovation activities, the Chinese government has introduced many preferential tax policies to promote enterprise innovation. The preferential tax policy of high-tech enterprise income tax is one of the preferential tax policies of our government to guide enterprises to innovate. According to the Enterprise Income Tax Law, the corporate income tax rate is 25%. The enterprise income tax shall be levied at a reduced tax rate of 15% for new and high technology enterprises which need key support from the State. Every penny of tax cost reduction in accordance with the law means that enterprises have a penny more competitive resources, and enterprises should pay attention to it.

The so-called high-tech enterprises refer to resident enterprises registered in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) for more than one year, which continuously conduct research and development and transform technological achievements in the high-tech fields supported by the State, form the core independent intellectual property rights of enterprises, and carry out business activities on this basis. The high-tech enterprise policy applies only to resident enterprises, that is, enterprises established in China according to law, or enterprises established in accordance with foreign (regional) laws but with actual management institutions in China. If it is established in accordance with the laws of a foreign country (region) and the actual management organization is not in China, but has established an institution or place in China, or has not established an institution or place in China, but has income from China's non-resident enterprises, the high-tech enterprise policy does not apply. According to the corresponding regulations, the technical fields of high-tech enterprises are mainly: electronic information, biology and new medicine, aerospace, new materials, high-tech services, new energy and energy conservation, resources and environment, advanced manufacturing and automation. As mentioned above, China's Enterprise Income Tax Law stipulates that high-tech enterprises which need key support from the State shall be subject to enterprise income tax at a reduced rate of 15%. This means that once an enterprise is identified as a high-tech enterprise, it will enjoy a preferential tax rate of 15% in terms of enterprise income tax, which is of great significance to the enterprise.

According to the Administrative Measures for the Identification of High-tech Enterprises, enterprises that meet certain conditions can apply for the identification of high-tech enterprises, and then enjoy the preferential income tax policies for high-tech enterprises. The specific conditions are:

(1) The enterprise shall be registered for more than one year when applying for recognition as a high-tech enterprise.

(2) An enterprise registered in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), through independent research and development, transfer, donation, merger and acquisition, or through an exclusive license for more than 5 years, has the ownership of independent intellectual property rights in the core technology of its main products (services), and meets one of the following quantitative requirements: A, invention patents, new plant varieties, national new drugs, national crop varieties, national first class Chinese medicine protection varieties, integrated circuit layout design exclusive rights of more than 1; B, more than 8 utility model patents; C. Design patents that do not simply change the product pattern and shape (mainly refers to the design obtained through the research and development process using scientific and engineering technology) or software Copyrights of more than 8.

(3) The technologies that play a core supporting role in the main products (services) of the enterprise belong to the scope stipulated in the Catalogue of High-tech Fields supported by the State.

(4) The proportion of scientific and technological personnel engaged in R&D and related technological innovation activities in the total number of employees of the enterprise in the year shall not be less than 10%.
(5) The proportion of the total research and development expenses of the enterprise in the recent three fiscal years (calculated according to the actual operating time of less than three years, the same below) to the total sales revenue of the same period meets the following requirements: The proportion of the enterprise whose sales revenue is less than 50 million yuan (including) in the latest year is not less than 5%; The proportion of enterprises with sales revenue of 50 million to 200 million yuan (inclusive) in the most recent year is not less than 4%; The proportion of enterprises with sales revenue of more than 200 million yuan in the latest year is not less than 3%. The total R&D expenses incurred by the enterprise in China shall account for not less than 60% of the total R&D expenses; The actual amount of commissioned external research and development expenses shall be determined in accordance with the principle of independent transactions, and 80% of the actual amount shall be included in the total R&D expenses of the principal.

(6) In the past year, the proportion of high-tech products (services) revenue in the total revenue of the enterprise in the same period is not less than 60%.
(7) Enterprise innovation ability evaluation should meet the corresponding requirements.

(8) No major safety, major quality accidents or serious environmental violations occurred within one year before the enterprise applied for high-tech certification.

As far as enterprise operation is concerned, it should carefully verify its own situation and judge whether there are substantive obstacles identified by high-tech enterprises. If there are no substantial obstacles, enterprises should actively apply for the recognition of high-tech enterprises and strive to enjoy the preferential policies of high-tech enterprises given by the international community. If the operating mother does not have the conditions to apply for high-tech enterprises, it can seek the lowest tax cost business plan through reasonable adjustment of the business model and research and development model.

For high-tech enterprises, the establishment of research and development institutions is very important. The establishment of R&D institutions is not only a management issue, but also a tax issue. From the perspective of the amount of tax, the setting form of research and development institutions not only relates to the deduction of research and development costs, but also determines to a large extent whether enterprises can enjoy the preferential policy of high-tech enterprise income tax, which is of great significance. Under normal circumstances, research and development institutions have two forms of setting up, one is as an internal department of the enterprise, the other is as an independent legal person set up, which is the mainstream model as an internal part of the company. Because from the perspective of management, the R & D institution as an internal department of the company is convenient for unified business management; On the other hand, from the perspective of tax costs, R&D institutions, as internal departments of the company, can not only maximize the preferential tax policy of additional deduction of R&D expenses in the operating parent, but also allow the operating parent to enjoy the preferential tax policy of high-tech enterprises if they meet the legal conditions and are identified as high-tech enterprises, so as to greatly reduce the tax cost of the operating parent. In practice, why do some companies set up R&D centers as independent legal entities outside the operating parent? There are usually two considerations: (1) The parent company has substantial obstacles to the identification of high-tech enterprises and does not meet the conditions for the identification of high-tech enterprises. At this time, in order to enjoy the preferential tax policies of high-tech enterprises, the enterprise usually sets the R&D center as an independent legal person and applies for the identification of high-tech enterprises, and then the R&D center as an independent legal person enjoys the preferential tax policies of high-tech enterprises. (2) There are usually multiple operating entities among the operating entities of the group structure. For example, if a multinational group company has multiple factories in China and its independent operating entity does not meet the conditions for recognition as a high-tech enterprise, the group company will consider setting its R&D center as an independent legal person and apply for recognition as a high-tech enterprise. At the same time, the R & D center will be used as a tax planning platform to collect the operating profits of various operating entities, and maximize the preferential tax policies of high-tech enterprises. Of course, this tax planning model will be challenged by related party transactions, commercial reasonable purposes and other issues, and must be planned within the legal scope. It should be pointed out that the R & D center is set as an independent legal person, or the R & D center is set as an internal department of the enterprise, depending on the industry, business model, business purpose, corporate structure, etc., can not be generalized, metaphysical.