ON the first working day the environmental protection tax (the EPT) was officially collected, multiple tax bureaus in Shenzhen dealt with a total of 94 declarations and collected 355,900 yuan (US$56,606) Monday, sznews.com reported.

The largest sum was the 148,100 yuan collected from an electricity company based in Shenzhen.

In December 2016, the National People’s Congress approved China’s first Environmental Protection Tax Law (the EPT Law), replacing the existing Pollutant Discharge Fees (PDF) system in a bid to strengthen the enforcement of environmental regulations.

Given the EPT Law’s impact on China’s tax system, enterprises discharging contaminants, as well as taxpayers and new market entrants need to understand the new developments in order to better prepare for future compliance requirements.

The EPT Law, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2018, provides guidelines for levying taxes on entities that emit air and water pollutants, solid wastes and noise pollution.

Taxpayers shoulder the major responsibility for voluntarily declaring to pay the EPT and taxation bureaus are responsible for collecting and managing the fees, while environment authorities are taking charge of monitoring the status of pollutants.

The Shenzhen Local Taxation Bureau has been working with the city’s human settlement and environment commission since September to ensure tax collection goes smoothly. An online platform was built for corporations to declare and pay the EPT. (Zhang Qian)