New Regulations for April: Environmental Protection Tax Payment

The State Administration of Taxation announced in February this year that China's latest environmental protection tax, which was introduced in 2018, will enter its first tax period on April 1st. According to Xinhua News Agency on February 27th, tax authorities across the country have identified and recognized over 260000 taxpayers of environmental protection tax.

The Environmental Protection Tax Law officially came into effect on January 1, 2018, marking the first tax in China's history aimed at environmental protection. Environmental taxes are declared quarterly. According to the Environmental Protection Tax Law, the scope of taxation for environmental protection tax includes pollutants such as air, water, solids, and noise directly emitted into the environment. The taxpayers of environmental protection tax are enterprises, institutions, and other producers and operators that directly discharge taxable pollutants into the environment in the territory of the People's Republic of China and other sea areas under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China. This means that those who do not directly discharge taxable pollutants into the environment will not pay environmental taxes. Individual residents are not taxpayers and do not need to pay environmental taxes.

Hebei: Two local standards for pollution control will be implemented

Two local standards in Hebei Province, namely the "Emission Standards for Odor Pollutants from Landfills for Domestic Waste" and the "Pollution Control Standards for Medical Waste Incineration", will be officially implemented from April 1st this year. These two standards are the first local standards developed in China for the emission of odorous pollutants from municipal solid waste landfills and the first local standards developed for the control of medical waste incineration.

The "Emission Standards for Odor Pollutants from Municipal Solid Waste Landfills" specifies that the organized emission source control project is odor concentration, with a limit of 1000, which is 50% stricter than the national standard limit of 2000; The ammonia control project for odor pollutants at perimeter monitoring points has a limit of 0.2 milligrams per cubic meter, while the strictest national level standard is 1.0. In the "Pollution Control Standards for Medical Waste Incineration", the emission limits for particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides are 20 milligrams per cubic meter, 100 milligrams per cubic meter, and 400 milligrams per cubic meter, respectively. The national standards are 65 milligrams per cubic meter, 200 milligrams per cubic meter, and 500 milligrams per cubic meter, respectively. In addition, the control standards for heavy metals and dioxins have been significantly tightened. At the same time, it is explicitly stated that all wastewater generated by medical waste incineration disposal institutions shall be reused after meeting the treatment standards.