Southern Daily (南方日报), February 5, 2013
With government assistance, a large number of social organizations have been able to register with the Bureau of Civil Affairs. But despite their legitimate registration status, most of these organizations must continue to pay the same taxes as a business. These include a 25% income tax and a 5.5% sales tax, with a restrictively complex process required in order to grant tax deduction to donors. According to public statistics, 95 Guangdong provincial-level non-profit organizations and 24 Guangzhou municipal-level non-profit organizations achieved tax exemption status, and province-wide, only 65 public interest non-profit organizations obtained tax exemption status. According to a Guangdong Non-Profit Organization Tax Reduction Research Report produced by the Sun Yatsen University Center on Philanthropy, Civil Affairs Bureaus were unable to give a clear explanation of the reasons behind the dearth, nor did government financial and taxation departments– and it seems likely that these departments may be the reason behind these difficulties.
