China CSR Watch

By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

Three Chinese companies, China Mobile, Haier, and Lenovo, made into Business Week’s 14 Asia’s most admired companies. Other winners are Canon, Nintendo, and Toyota from Japan; NHN, Posco, and Samsung Electronics from Korea; Singapore Airlines and Singapore Telecom from Singapore; and HDFC, Infosys, and Wipro from India.

“There’s no shortage of Asian companies that have prospered thanks to a laser-like focus on their home markets. But what wins enough fans to land on BusinessWeek’s list of most admired companies in Asia is success overseas,” writes Bruce Einhorn, correspondent from Business Week.

Sources (in English and Chinese)
Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2007/gb2007076_238945.htm
Sina.com: http://tech.sina.com.cn/it/2007-07-10/14551607944.shtml

By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

According to the new Income Tax Law of The People’s Republic of China for Enterprises to be effective on January 1st 2008, China will four-fold its tax deduction for CSR donations from 3% to 12% of the annual profit. In other words, up to 12% of the profit is tax free as long as it is donated to CSR.

“In the first draft of the law, the tax deduction for CSR donation has been set to 10%. This revised final version listens to our feedback and added another 2%. It will surely help the CSR work in China, especially our education industry,” said Mr. WANG Xiaocun, a Chinese lawmaker and head of Zhejiang Industrial University.

The previous rate of 3% was set in the early version of the law issued in 1993.

The new tax law coming next year will also unify the income tax rate between domestic companies and foreign-invested companies to 25%. To attract foreign capitals, China used to grant foreign-invested companies huge tax incentives at around 15% while many domestic companies shield the tax burden at 33%.

Sources (in Chinese):
China Youth Daily: http://business.sohu.com/20070704/n250899398.shtml
China philanthropy Times: http://news.sohu.com/20070320/n248850993.shtml
China Education Daily: http://news.e21.cn/html/2007/jygj/163/20070317090031_11740932311585814045.htm