Editor's Note:

Editor's Note: In recent years, high-tech enterprises, as core carriers of technological innovation, have enjoyed a range of policy incentives and preferential treatments— including tax reductions and exemptions, R&D subsidies, and talent recruitment support. These policies have become crucial for enterprises to enhance core competitiveness and for local governments to drive industrial upgrading. However, in practice, maintaining high-tech qualifications poses numerous challenges related to Tax Risks for High-Tech Enterprises. Some enterprises fail to conduct comprehensive and continuous evaluations of core indicators for high-tech qualifications or establish effective control mechanisms, ultimately leading to the revocation of their qualifications and corresponding economic losses. Additionally, a handful of enterprises take chances, fraudulently securing preferential tax treatments through illegal means such as fabricating false R&D activities, resulting in serious losses of national tax revenue. Relevant entities may also bear administrative liability for tax violations and even criminal liability. In view of this, this article sorts out common types of high-tech qualification revocation and reveals the associated Tax Risks for High-Tech Enterprises by combining regulatory dynamics of high-tech qualifications and typical tax cases, providing practical references for high-tech enterprises.

I. Data Observation: Escalating Supervision Intensifies Tax Risks for High-Tech Enterprises

2025 marked a "year of strict supervision" for the administration of high-tech enterprise qualifications in China. According to incomplete statistics, local governments across the country cumulatively revoked the high-tech qualifications of 5,440 enterprises throughout the year. This figure represents a significant surge compared to over 1,500 in 2023 and over 4,700 in 2024— not only hitting a new high in the scale of high-tech qualification revocations in recent years but also clearly reflecting a core shift in national regulatory focus: from "prioritizing initial qualification approval" to "emphasizing ongoing compliance management" for high-tech enterprises.

In terms of regional distribution, Henan Province ranked first nationwide with over 1,000 revocations, emerging as one of the provinces with the most rigorous verification of high-tech qualifications. Shandong Province followed closely with over 900 revocations, while Fujian Province, Anhui Province, and Sichuan Province each recorded around 500 revocations, ranking among the top in national revocation volumes.(Note: Statistics are based on the date of qualification revocation by the certifying authority.)

The escalating supervision has directly amplified Tax Risks for High-Tech Enterprises, with inspections covering small, medium, and large enterprises as well as listed companies, embodying the regulatory principle of "treating all entities equally." For instance, on December 12, 2025, a listed company issued an announcement stating that due to the revocation of its high-tech qualifications for the 2021-2023 period, it had repaid 28.7021 million yuan in underpaid taxes and late fees to the tax authorities— a direct financial consequence of unmanaged Tax Risks for High-Tech Enterprises.

II. Typical Case: Fraudulent Qualification Applications Trigger Severe Tax Risks for High-Tech Enterprises

Beyond the joint revocation of high-tech qualifications by departments of science and technology, finance, and taxation, tax authorities— in collaboration with public security organs— have stepped up efforts to crack down on "fake high-tech enterprises," targeting illegal practices that exacerbate Tax Risks for High-Tech Enterprises. On January 8, 2026, the State Taxation Administration disclosed a typical case of fabricating R&D operations to fraudulently obtain high-tech enterprise tax preferences. Xu (the actual controller of a pharmaceutical enterprise and a tax-related intermediary) helped a pharmaceutical company maintain its high-tech qualification by signing false commissioned R&D contracts and issuing fake invoices to fabricate R&D activities, thereby fraudulently securing tax benefits and causing underpaid taxes of 2.3399 million yuan. This case underscores the severe consequences of intentional violations: the pharmaceutical enterprise controlled by Xu was fined, Xu was designated as an untrustworthy subject in tax-related services and transferred to public security authorities for criminal investigation, and the enterprise was held legally accountable for obtaining fake invoices— a stark warning of the legal perils tied to Tax Risks for High-Tech Enterprises.

III. Core Triggers of Tax Risks for High-Tech Enterprises: Failure to Meet Three Core Indicators

The primary cause of Tax Risks for High-Tech Enterprises is non-compliance with the three core indicators specified in the Measures for the Recognition and Administration of High-Tech Enterprises, which directly leads to qualification revocation and subsequent tax liabilities.

(I) Income Indicator Risk: High-Tech Income Ratio Below 60%

Article 11 (6) of the Measures for the Recognition and Administration of High-Tech Enterprises stipulates that the proportion of high-tech income is one of the core criteria for high-tech enterprise recognition—specifically, the proportion of an enterprise’s high-tech product (service) income in its total income over the most recent year shall not be less than 60%. The specific accounting scope defines high-tech income as the total amount of product (service) income obtained through R&D and related technological innovation activities plus technological income, where technological income includes income from technology transfer, technology services, and commissioned research and development. In accordance with the Enterprise Income Tax Law, total income is calculated as the balance after deducting non-taxable income from the total income amount, encompassing both recurring income such as income from selling goods and providing services, and non-recurring income such as equity transfer, donations, and dividends.

In regulatory practice, failures to meet the high-tech income ratio are mostly caused by incorrect accounting of total income, mainly in two scenarios: first, enterprises fail to accurately calculate total income, mistakenly believing that equity transfer is irrelevant to the accounting of high-tech income or improperly classifying financial subsidies as non-taxable income without including them in the accounting as required, leading to deviations in total income statistics; second, enterprises obtain occasional large-sum income (such as substantial dividends and other non-recurring income) in a certain year, resulting in a significant increase in total income and thus lowering the proportion of high-tech income. To address this, high-tech enterprises must accurately grasp the legal scope of income recognition under the Enterprise Income Tax Law, clarify the differences between accounting income and tax law income, and precisely define the accounting scope of total income in accordance with tax law provisions.

(II) Expense Indicator: R&D Expense Ratio Below Required Standards

Article 11 (5) of the Measures for the Recognition and Administration of High-Tech Enterprises designates the proportion of R&D expenses as the second core criterion for high-tech enterprise recognition. Specifically, the proportion of an enterprise’s research and development expenses in its total sales income over the recent three accounting years must meet tiered standards based on sales scale: for sales income not exceeding 50 million yuan, the proportion shall not be less than 5%; for sales income exceeding 50 million yuan but not exceeding 200 million yuan, the proportion shall not be less than 4%; and for sales income exceeding 200 million yuan, the proportion shall not be less than 3%. As seen in the aforementioned typical case, the pharmaceutical enterprise falsely increased R&D expenses by fabricating external commissioned R&D business to meet the proportion requirement and defraud the high-tech qualification. In practice, the accounting scope of research and development expenses is both complex and refined, covering eight categories: personnel labor costs, direct input costs, depreciation expenses and long-term deferred expenses, intangible asset amortization expenses, design costs, equipment commissioning fees and test fees, external commissioned research and development expenses, and other expenses. Each category has specific connotations: personnel labor costs include wages and salaries, basic endowment insurance premiums, basic medical insurance premiums, unemployment insurance premiums, work-related injury insurance premiums, maternity insurance premiums, and housing provident fund of the enterprise’s scientific and technological personnel, as well as labor costs of externally hired scientific and technological personnel; direct input costs refer to the actual relevant expenditures incurred for conducting research and development activities, such as directly consumed materials, fuels, and power costs, molds and process equipment development fees for pilot tests, and rental fees for R&D-related fixed assets; depreciation expenses and long-term deferred expenses include depreciation of R&D-used instruments, equipment, and buildings, as well as long-term deferred expenses from the reconstruction or renovation of R&D facilities; intangible asset amortization expenses cover the amortization of software, intellectual property rights, and non-patented technologies used in R&D; design costs include expenses for conceiving new products and processes and formulating technical specifications, including creative design costs for innovative products; equipment commissioning fees and test fees refer to expenses incurred during R&D-related tooling preparation and various tests such as clinical trials for new drugs, excluding routine industrial engineering costs for mass production; external commissioned research and development expenses are costs incurred by entrusting other institutions or individuals to conduct R&D (with results owned by the entrusting enterprise and closely related to its core business), and 80% of the actual amount (determined by the arm's length principle) is included in the total R&D expenses; other expenses are costs directly related to R&D activities beyond the above categories, such as technical book fees, expert consulting fees, and intellectual property application fees, which generally shall not exceed 20% of the total R&D expenses unless otherwise specified. In regulatory practice, failures to meet the R&D expense ratio are mostly due to non-standard accounting, including incorrect classification of R&D expenses, lack of systematic accounting processes, blurred expense boundaries, and even illegal acts such as falsely listing R&D expenses. Therefore, high-tech enterprises must strictly comply with policy requirements, establish and improve a professional accounting system for R&D expenses, accurately define the scope of various R&D expenses, strictly distinguish the boundaries between different types of expenses, and avoid problems such as expense confusion and false listing.

(III) Personnel Indicator: Scientific and Technological Personnel Ratio Below 10%

Article 11 (4) of the Measures for the Recognition and Administration of High-Tech Enterprises stipulates that the proportion of scientific and technological personnel is the third core criterion—specifically, the proportion of scientific and technological personnel engaged in research and development and related technological innovation activities in the enterprise’s total number of employees in the current year shall not be less than 10%. The specific accounting scope requires that both the number of scientific and technological personnel and the total number of employees be calculated based on the average monthly number for the whole year, including full-time, part-time, and temporarily employed personnel, with part-time and temporarily employed personnel required to have accumulated working days of more than 183 days in the enterprise throughout the year.

In regulatory practice, the main reasons for failing to meet this proportion include: enterprises incorrectly counting non-R&D personnel such as administrative and logistics staff into the scope of scientific and technological personnel; failing to dynamically calculate the proportion after significant changes in the number of scientific and technological personnel or total employees; and retaining incomplete data such as work agreements and accumulated working hours for part-time and temporarily employed personnel, making it impossible to verify the authenticity of personnel statistics. To address this, high-tech enterprises must define the scope of scientific and technological personnel based on actual R&D responsibilities, excluding personnel unrelated to R&D; strictly review the work agreements and working hour certificates of part-time and temporarily employed personnel; and ensure that personnel statistical data are mutually corroborated with social security and personal income tax payment records, R&D project division of labor documents, etc., to achieve data traceability and consistent implementation of accounting standards, thereby preventing risks from the source.

IV. Risk Tips: Tax Liabilities of High-Tech Enterprises

(I) Repayment of Underpaid Taxes and Corresponding Late Fees

For enterprises that have obtained high-tech qualifications, if relevant regulatory authorities find that their actual business conditions do not meet the high-tech enterprise recognition criteria during daily supervision, they will request the recognition authority to conduct a review in accordance with relevant provisions. If the enterprise is confirmed to be ineligible after the review, the recognition authority will revoke its high-tech qualification in accordance with the law and notify the tax authorities to recover the tax preferences enjoyed by the enterprise from the year when it no longer meets the recognition criteria to the year when the certificate expires. In practice, it is crucial to note the rigid application of this provision: even if the enterprise fails to meet the indicators only in the first year of the certificate’s validity period due to occasional income or other circumstances but meets the requirements in subsequent years, the tax authorities will still recover all underpaid taxes and impose late fees for the entire validity period of the certificate.

(II) Characterization as Tax Evasion

If an enterprise engages in fraudulent acts such as falsely increasing the number of R&D personnel, falsely listing R&D expenditures, or intellectual property fraud during the application for or maintenance of high-tech qualifications, it will constitute tax evasion through false tax declaration. In accordance with the principle of unification of subjectivity and objectivity, the aforementioned objective fraudulent acts of the enterprise are sufficient to directly presume its subjective intent to evade taxes. Once identified as tax evasion, the tax authorities will impose a fine of 0.5 to 5 times the underpaid tax on the high-tech enterprise. If the enterprise fails to fully pay the taxes, late fees, and fines within the time limit specified by the tax authorities, the administrative liability for tax evasion will be upgraded to criminal liability for tax evasion.

(III) Characterization as Falsely Issued Invoices

If an enterprise fraudulently obtains high-tech qualifications by falsely issuing R&D expense invoices or fabricating R&D business during the application for or maintenance of such qualifications, the obtained invoices will be identified as falsely issued invoices. If the amount of falsely obtained invoices meets the criminal filing standards, the enterprise and relevant responsible persons will face the risk of criminal liability for the crime of false invoicing.

V. Summary

Currently, the supervision of high-tech qualifications has entered a stage of normalized, refined, and substantive inspections. High-tech enterprises need to build a "qualification application—ongoing management" full-process compliance management and control system to address Tax Risks for High-Tech Enterprises. During the application stage, enterprises must closely focus on core recognition indicators such as income, R&D expenses, and scientific and technological personnel, strictly comply with legal accounting standards and substantive requirements, and ensure the authenticity of application materials and the accuracy of data accounting. During the ongoing management stage, enterprises should rely on the coordinated linkage of R&D, human resources, finance, legal and other departments to achieve full-process traceability of R&D activities, accurate collection of financial data and closed-loop accounting standards, regular maintenance of intellectual property rights and transformation of achievements, as well as dynamic accounting and compliance verification of personnel indicators. By doing so, enterprises can ensure continuous compliance with high-tech recognition criteria from the source and effectively prevent tax risks arising from the revocation of qualifications.