SZ appealing to foreign investors

 Shenzhen has long been an apple of foreign investors’ eyes. The city’s 2020 actual use of foreign capital of over US$8.68 billion hit a record high, city officials disclosed at a ceremony marking the launch of the Foreign Investment Service Year on Friday.

Apple Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp., Airbus SE and other well-known international companies have announced or inaugurated their large-scale projects in Shenzhen, the officials said.

The latest data shows from January to February 2021, the city’s actual use of foreign investment was US$940 million, an increase of 17.8 percent year on year.

Shenzhen will further optimize the city’s foreign-invested business environment, officials said Friday.

The government-provided services will include policy publicity conferences, investment promotion panels, and visits to foreign businesses in Shenzhen to solve their practical problems.

Measures will be taken to encourage multinational companies (MNCs) to establish regional headquarters in Shenzhen. MNCs registering US$20-30 million, US$30-50 million and above US$50 million in actual annual use of foreign capital will be rewarded 3 million yuan (US$458,999), 5 million yuan and 6 million yuan, respectivel

City offers rewards for actual foreign investment utilization

 Foreign-funded enterprises can now apply for rewards for actual utilization of new investments involving more than US$30 million in 2020, sources from the Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau showed.

The deadline for the application is May 10.

According to relevant regulations, for new projects involving more than US$50 million and newly added investment involving US$30 million in 2020, authorities will offer rewards at the standard of 2 percent of the actually utilized annual investment, or at a maximum of 100 million yuan (US$15 million).

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the city’s actual foreign investment utilization was US$8.68 billion last year, up by 11 percent over the previous year. Between January and February this year, the actual foreign investment utilization was US$940 million, up by 17.8 percent, statistics showed.

To encourage foreign multinationals to operate in Shenzhen, the city will reward between 3 and 5 million yuan to companies that set up headquarters in Shenzhen with investments between US$20 million and US$50 million. For investments of more than US$50 million, the reward will be 6 million yuan.

The Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau will accept the second round of applications in October.

2,400 foreign-funded firms set up in SZ in first 5 months

 More than 2,400 foreign-invested companies were set up in Shenzhen in the first five months this year, attracting more than US$12.4 billion of contractual foreign investment, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported Wednesday, quoting the municipal commerce bureau.

The city’s actual use of foreign capital exceeded US$3.1 billion from January to May this year, an increase of 26 percent year on year.

The inflow of foreign investment in newly emerging industries has injected strong impetus into Shenzhen’s drive to build itself into an international innovation-based city and a global commercial and trade hub, the report said.

At Minzhi Subdistrict in Longhua District, work on the South China headquarters of U.S.-based global retailer giant Costco is making its headway, which will house its South China flagship store.

Nike also set up its global technology center in Shenzhen in the first half of the year.

In terms of investment structure, according to the bureau, the tertiary and high-tech industries have absorbed a large proportion of Shenzhen’s foreign direct investment over recent years.

Sectors of next-generation information technology, high-end manufacturing, new materials, biomedicine, finance, commodity circulation and digital economy are preferred by foreign investors.

Shenzhen is ramping up efforts to attract foreign investment by optimizing its business environment and rolling out incentives.

It has introduced a spate of measures to encourage multinational companies to establish regional headquarters and organizations with headquarters functions in the city.

The measures, which highlight a tiered reward system with a maximum reward of 6 million yuan (US$928,000), became effective March 1.

The city has also taken the country’s lead to establish work stations to better serve foreign-funded businesses.

So far, two city-level stations, two district-level stations in Longgang and Longhua districts, and 10 in key industrial parks across the city have been set up.

Foreign-funded enterprises account for only 2 percent of business entities in Shenzhen. However, they generate about one-fifth of the city’s GDP, 40 percent of its import and export volume, and nearly 30 percent of its tax revenue every year, 2020 data from the commerce bureau showed.

Workstations bring convenience to foreign-invested firms in city

 The Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau recently presented accomplishments of 14 workstations, which were set up to protect the rights and interests of the city’s foreign-invested enterprises.

The 14 workstations are nonprofit organizations co-founded by the bureau and two Shenzhen-based business associations. They comprise two workstations at the municipal level, two at the district level and 10 in key industrial parks, where many foreign-funded firms are concentrated.

Service specialists working in key industrial park workstations provide specific solutions to practical difficulties foreign enterprises encounter in production and operation. These workstations are responsible for the firms in the park, as well as the neighboring ones.

“The preferential policies, intellectual property regulations and labor dispute arbitration are top problems foreign-invested companies inquire about. We also help them in terms of a factory’s rent and relocation, visa issues of expat employees entering or leaving China amid the pandemic and so on,” Liu Jin, a staffer in charge of the two municipal-level workstations, told Shenzhen Daily.

Sui Xinyuan, a service specialist with the Shenzhen Bay Eco-Technology Park workstation in Nanshan District, recalled a case in which a foreign-funded digital medical enterprise learned about the city’s supporting policies when the workstation staffers visited the firm and introduced the latest policies to them. “The company applied for a subsidy and successfully received 2 million yuan (US$308,800),” Sui said.

Meanwhile, a total of 12 law and policy publicity conferences have been held for all companies with overseas capital in Shenzhen which tackled issues about firms’ concerns such as taxation, customs clearance, foreign exchange and foreign capital management. Over 1,200 enterprise representatives attended offline and more than 30,000 people watched online, according to data provided by the bureau.

In the past year, many foreign firms enjoyed the workstations’ support regarding work, production resumption and vaccinations. “A foreign firm found it difficult to get its employees the second (vaccine) dose. The local workstation made a group appointment and rented a bus to take staffers to a designated vaccination site,” said Liu. As of now, the workstations have assisted 54 enterprises in this regard.

The latest data shows that from January to May this year, Shenzhen set up over 2,400 foreign-funded enterprises, absorbing more than US$12.4 billion in foreign investment. The city’s actual use of foreign investment exceeded US$3.1 billion with a year-on-year growth of 26 percent, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported.

Tax subsidies for high-level overseas professionals in SZ

 High-level and badly needed professionals from overseas, including expats, working in Shenzhen can apply for the subsidies for their individual income tax for the year 2020 from Aug. 16 to Sept. 30.

The applicants should meet one of the following criteria: permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macao, mainland residents who have settled in Hong Kong and Macao without mainland household registrations, residents of Taiwan, foreign nationals, returned overseas students who have obtained long-term residency abroad, or overseas Chinese, according to a notice issued by authorities in Shenzhen recently.

Applicants are required to have signed a labor contract with a Shenzhen employer and have worked in Shenzhen for more than 90 days in 2020. They must have been selected into major talents projects, have been recognized as overseas high-level talents, have been holders of Guangdong talents cards, or have obtained permanent residency permits in China, work permits or high-end talent confirmation letters.

They should be research team members and management talents of major innovation platforms, middle-level managers or above, or team members undertaking major vertical research projects at or above the municipal level in universities, research institutes, hospitals and other related institutions, and leaders of key disciplines and key specialists at and above the municipal level.

They can also be managers, scientific research team members, core technology workers and outstanding young talents at headquarters companies, Fortune 500 companies and their branches and high-tech enterprises, large-scale core enterprises, listed companies and high-growth technological innovation-oriented enterprises.

According to the tax incentives, the applicant must pay the prescribed legal individual income taxes (IIT) in Shenzhen, with the IIT paid exceeding the tax amount computed at 15 percent of the talent’s taxable income.

The subsidy amount is calculated by the paid IIT in the tax year 2020 minus taxable income that multiplies 15 percent. The maximum individual income tax subsidy is 5 million yuan (US$771,177).

Qualified applicants or their employers can apply through http://tyrz.gd.gov.cn by Sept. 30 and the authorities will give out subsidies after qualification checks.

SZ attracts 229 Global 500 firms

 The Pearl River Delta region had attracted a total of 276 Fortune Global 500 enterprises for investment by the end of December 2020, among which 256 invested in Guangzhou and 229 invested in Shenzhen.

According to Fortune Global 500’s 2021 investment report in Guangdong released Tuesday, 350 Fortune Global 500 enterprises have invested in 2,416 enterprises in Guangdong Province, with accumulative registered capital scale at US$180.7 billion. Among the enterprises, 93 percent are located in the Pearl River Delta area and 67.5 percent, or 1,632, are located in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The investments of Fortune Global 500 enterprises in Guangdong ranked third in China, following Beijing and Shanghai.

In terms of overseas investments by Fortune Global 500 firms, 83.6 percent came from Asia, with Hong Kong taking up 60 percent followed by Singapore at 32 percent during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the report showed.

In the secondary industry, overseas investments by Fortune Global 500 firms in Guangdong mainly focus on energy manufacturing and supply, with registered capital of US$13.88 billion, taking up 97.8 percent of the industry’s total registered capital by these firms.

In the tertiary industry, investments by these firms are mainly in business services, whose combined registered capitals reached US$6.96 billion, taking up over 50 percent of their total registered capital invested in the tertiary industory.

SZ launches one-stop foreign investment online service

 Shenzhen's commerce bureau officially launched its Foreign Investment Service Zone on the “Shen i Qi” website (www.szsiq.com) Monday.

The one-stop online service aims to meet foreign-invested enterprises’ needs in business operations and further enhance the rule of law, internationalization and foreign investment facilitation in Shenzhen, bureau officials said.

The service zone features three main sections, namely business operation, investment and taxation, and information submission.

Business operation services cover corporate establishment, alteration, cancellation, social security and housing allowance registration. Investment and taxation services cover bank account opening appointment, foreign currency registration appointment, visa processing, real-name taxation certification and invoice application. The information submission section features information report modification and annual report filings by foreign-invested corporations and foreign representative offices.

The launch of the online service is part of the city’s slew of measures to attract foreign capital.