The classification screen

4 questions before you choose the route.

This page identifies the right question and evidence. It does not determine the legal outcome on a reader’s facts.

01

General or small-scale taxpayer?

Status.

Status
02

What is being supplied?

Goods/services.

Supply
03

Need the rate table?

Resolve the need the rate table question separately before choosing the route.

Rates
04

Input credit documents?

Resolve the input credit documents question separately before choosing the route.

Invoice

Working rule: China’s value-added tax applies to sales of goods, services and certain intangibles with output VAT offset by valid input VAT.

What changes the answer

The signal ledger.

These facts move the question beyond a label and into a product, money-flow and control analysis.

Signal
Ask the operating question
Why it changes the route
Paste a 2020 rate table as law
Stale.
Additional facts can change the Tax & Fiscal Compliance route, evidence and next step.
Broader Tax & Fiscal Compliance analysis needed
Second rates related guide.
Do not.
Ignore fapiao quality
Credit denied.
Fapiao page.
Prepare before you escalate

Bring a compact evidence docket—not a pitch deck.

Give a compliance team or counsel the operating facts that reveal the perimeter.

01Taxpayer qualificationStatus.
02Contract and pricing VAT clauseTax included?
03Input fapiao setCredits.
Common confusions

Questions people ask before they build.

Short answers for orientation. The right result can change with the service model and current rules.

Where are the current rates?

Use the linked specialist resource when China VAT turns on detailed evidence, procedure or risk assessment.

Is VAT the same as fapiao?

No. Fapiao is the invoice mechanism.

Primary authorities

Reviewed sources support orientation, not a fact-specific assessment.

State Taxation Administration (STA)
PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law (NPC)
PRC Individual Income Tax Law (NPC)
National laws database (NPC)