Liu Minxia

    mllmx@msn.com

    SHENZHEN’S Qianhai zone can offer a 15 percent corporate income tax incentive to firms in four industries, which, opposite of expectations, does not include the financial services sector, according to Shenzhen’s taxation authority.

    The tax preference, which has taken effect and won’t expire until the end of 2020, applies to companies in Qianhai’s logistics, information services, technological services and cultural innovation sectors, the city’s taxation bureau said in a statement on its website.

    The authority of Qianhai, which aims to build into a financial center, has not given details on the tax preferences it has touted as a significant attraction for businesses considering Qianhai.

    The tax incentives have been in development for at least 21 months, and some other new economic zones, including Hengqin in Guangdong Province and Pingtan in Fujian Province, didn’t win the green light for tax preference for the financial services sectors either. The corporate income tax rates for Chinese firms currently vary from 15 to 33 percent.

    The 15-square-kilometer Qianhai zone adjacent to Nanshan District won Central Government support in 2010 as a pilot zone for developing modern service industries through cooperation with Hong Kong.

    The 5,197 firms registered in Qianhai accounted for a total registered capital of 369 billion yuan (US$60 billion) as of March 14. Eighty percent of those firms are in the financial services sector, Zhang Bei, head of the Authority of Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone of Shenzhen, said earlier this month.