The Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation make it clear:
Recovery of fuel oil at 0.1 yuan per litre
Naphtha, solvent oil and lubricants are levied at RMB 0.2 per litre
The Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation recently issued a "Circular on Adjusting the Partial Consumption Tax Policy for Refined Oils" pointed out that, with the approval of the State Council, on January 1 of this year, it will resume at a statutory rate for naphtha, solvent oil, and lubricants. The increase of 0.2 yuan is levied on consumption tax, and fuel oil is levied at 0.1 yuan per liter.
The naphtha and some other refined oil consumption tax policies have been adjusted to promote fair competition between domestic ethylene and aromatics products with naphtha as imported raw materials. Experts point out that fuel consumption tax is not a fuel tax. According to calculations, the restoration of tax at the statutory tax rate imposes only a small burden on each liter of oil, so this policy will not have a great impact on prices.
The notice made it clear that from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2010, imported naphtha and domestic naphtha used as raw materials for ethylene and aromatic products were exempted from consumption tax. Naphtha sold directly by production companies should be subject to excise duties. The specific levy and tax exemption management methods for naphtha consumption tax shall be formulated separately by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation. Taxable naphtha, lubricating oil, and fuel oil recovered from the purchased or entrusted processing materials are taxable consumer goods that are produced as raw materials, and they are allowed to deduct the consumption tax already included in the raw materials from the taxable amount of consumption tax.
In April 2006, China made major adjustments to its consumption tax policy. In this policy adjustment, naphtha, together with solvent oil, lubricants, and fuel oil, was included in the scope of the excise tax, and stipulated that the tax for consumption of naphtha, lubricating oil, and solvent oil was 0.2 yuan per liter. The consumption tax is 0.1 yuan per liter. However, at that time, the country took into account the rapid increase in the prices of crude oil and refined oil in the international market. After the above four categories of refined oil were included in the scope of excise tax collection, excessive taxation will not be conducive to price stability. Therefore, with the approval of the State Council, it is stipulated that naphtha, solvent oil, lubricating oil, and fuel oil may be reduced to 30% of the taxable amount to pay consumption tax. In other words, these four types of refined oil actually enjoy certain tax cuts.