The travel company does not arrange travel activities or business trips, but only provides ticket booking and charges a handling fee, together with the ticket price and handling fee. From the business nature, it is more in line with brokerage services. Then, should the value-added tax be levied on tourism services or brokerage services?

I. Nature of business

According to Caishui [2116] No.36, tourism service refers to the business activities of organizing and arranging transportation, sightseeing, accommodation, catering, shopping, entertainment and business services according to the requirements of tourists.

according to the requirements put forward by tourists, the travel company must provide corresponding services for the organization and arrangement of activities in order to meet the basic requirements of tourism services.

Ticket booking is also based on the requirements of tourists, but it is only an agency service for booking tickets, and does not involve the organization and arrangement of specific trips.

Caishui [2116] No.36 stipulates that brokerage agency service refers to all kinds of brokerage, intermediary and agency services. Including financial agents, intellectual property agents, freight forwarding agents, customs declaration agents, legal agents, real estate agents, professional agents, marriage agents, bookkeeping agents, auctions, etc.

It only handles specific matters on its behalf, does not participate in the actual operation or management of its to-do items, and does not bear the legal risks of the matters it handles in its own name.

some people say that bookkeeping by agency means taking the risks of accounting practice. In fact, the so-called agency bookkeeping in practice is actually an accountant who is not on duty and is registered in the tax bureau system as its financial controller. In some cases, there are improper behaviors of actively participating in its operation and management and making suggestions for it.

the author thinks that from the business nature, it is more suitable for brokerage service than tourism service to only charge commission for booking tickets.

ii. practical implementation

if the value-added tax is levied according to brokerage services, the problem of differential taxation cannot be solved according to the current fiscal and taxation policies.

There are many restrictions on the deduction of the difference in brokerage services, but there are few items, mainly including:

1. For various brokerage services, government funds or administrative fees paid on behalf of them are deducted.

caishui No.211636 stipulates that the sales amount of brokerage services is the balance of all the price and extra-price fees obtained, after deducting the government funds or administrative fees collected from the entrusting party and paid on its behalf.

2. For visa agents, the visa fees and certification fees paid to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and foreign embassies (consulates) in China shall be deducted.

announcement No.69, 2116 of the state administration of taxation stipulates that taxpayers provide visa agency services, and the balance after deducting the visa fee and certification fee collected from the service recipient and paid to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and foreign embassies (consulates) in China is sales.

3. human resources outsourcing services, deducting the wages paid to employees of client units and the social security and housing accumulation fund paid by agents.

caishui [2116] No.47 stipulates that taxpayers provide human resources outsourcing services and pay value-added tax according to brokerage services, and their sales do not include the wages paid to employees of client units on behalf of clients and the social insurance and housing accumulation fund paid by agents. General taxpayers who provide human resources outsourcing services can choose to apply the simple tax calculation method and pay VAT at the rate of 5%.

to sum up, ticket booking, from the strict business nature, should be determined as a brokerage agent. However, according to the brokerage agent, it is impossible to deduct the difference, and it is unreasonable to levy VAT in full.

if the service is resold, the travel company will deduct the input tax of the ticket. However, at present, the actual situation is that the actual service providers generally do not issue special tickets, the domestic passenger transportation deduction requirements are strict, and the real name of the face is limited, which is even more difficult to operate.

There are a lot of differential taxation methods in the current camp reform policy, in fact, there are considerations of fair tax burden, convergence with business tax, and the idea of avoiding service resale.

It is still in the pilot period of camp reform. From the perspectives of simplified collection and management, substantial taxation and fair tax burden, the essence of business can be lightened, while the fairness of tax burden can be emphasized.

in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with the above business according to tourism services.

III. Local answers

Policy Guidelines for Changing Business Tax to Value-added Tax of Hunan Provincial State Taxation Bureau No.3: The free travel service provided by travel agencies only provides air ticket reservation or air ticket+hotel reservation service, and a certain handling fee is charged. Is this business subject to value-added tax as a tourism service?

2116-16-11: "Tourism service refers to the business activities of arranging transportation, sightseeing, accommodation, catering, shopping, entertainment and business services according to the requirements of tourists. Air ticket booking or air ticket+hotel booking services provided by travel agencies for tourists belong to arranging transportation and accommodation services for tourists, and value-added tax should be levied according to tourism services.

the travel company can issue a full general ticket, or a general ticket with part of the fare and a special ticket other than the fare for this business according to the travel service, but the buyer shall not deduct it; The travel company can use the original or photocopy of the reservation ticket as the deduction certificate; If the buyer meets the requirements of domestic passenger transportation deduction, the input tax can be deducted by the original compliant bill, but this business repeatedly obtains the original invoices and related bills of the travel company, which may easily lead to repeated pre-tax deduction of enterprise income tax.