Golden Tax Phase IV Triggers Pharma Tax Replenishment Wave: BeiGene Pays CNY 446 Million
Image source: Visual China
Blue Whale News, June 29 (Reporter Tu Jun) On June 26 after market close, BeiGene, Ltd. (hereinafter "BeiGene", 688235.SH) announced that its domestic wholly-owned subsidiary recently received a notice from the local competent tax authority. The company agreed to make certain adjustments to previously filed tax returns, completed confirmation with the tax authority regarding the tax matters, and paid back taxes and late fees totaling approximately CNY 446 million as required. This amount represents about 30% of the company's 2025 net profit.
According to BeiGene's previously released 2025 annual report, the company achieved revenue of CNY 38.225 billion in 2025, up 40.46% YoY; net profit attributable to shareholders was CNY 1.461 billion, turning from a loss of CNY 4.978 billion in the prior year; non-recurring net profit was CNY 1.420 billion, also turning from a loss of CNY 5.379 billion.
BeiGene stated that it recently received a notice from the local competent tax authority regarding relevant tax matters, requiring certain adjustments to prior tax returns. The company engaged in thorough and professional communication with the tax authority on technical determinations and tax-accounting differences, and will make the payment as required. This matter does not involve administrative penalties. Based on accounting standards, this matter is not considered a prior period accounting error and does not require retrospective adjustment of prior financial data.
The company expects the matter to be included in 2026 current period profit or loss, with the specific impact on net profit subject to audited financial statements, and stated that the matter is not expected to have a material adverse impact on its financial condition, ongoing operations, or normal business.
Multiple Pharma Listed Companies Face Large Tax Replenishments This Year
Aier Eye Hospital (300015.SZ) announced on May 20 that after conducting a self-examination of tax matters in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, it confirmed the need to pay back taxes of CNY 348 million and late fees of CNY 176 million, totaling CNY 524 million.
China Medicine (600056.SH) announced on January 1 that its wholly-owned subsidiaries Sanyang Pharmaceutical and Kangli Pharmaceutical received tax notices requiring combined back taxes and late fees of approximately CNY 65.2178 million: Sanyang paid CNY 21.4862 million in back taxes and CNY 10.7429 million in late fees; Kangli paid CNY 21.2826 million in back taxes and CNY 11.7061 million in late fees.
Additionally, Jiasitang (002462.SZ), Blue Sail Medical (002382.SZ), and Cofco Pharmaceutical (000950.SZ) also announced tax replenishment notices.
Golden Tax Phase IV Strengthens Data Penetration: Centralized Clearing of Historical Issues
According to incomplete statistics from Wind, as of June 25, at least 80 listed companies have disclosed announcements related to tax replenishment or tax adjustments this year, approaching the total of 89 for the full year 2025; cumulative back taxes, late fees, and fines exceed CNY 6 billion.
Tianmu Venture Capital Ecological Initiator and Senior Partner at Tahota (Shanghai) Law Firm, Lawyer Gui Xin, said that recent tax replenishments by pharma listed companies like BeiGene and Aier Eye Hospital after annual report releases essentially reflect the concentrated exposure of historical compliance issues such as high R&D investment, diverse business models leading to tax preference applicability (e.g., high-tech qualification, R&D super deduction), tax-accounting differences, and related party transactions under Golden Tax Phase IV's strict supervision. Tax replenishments often occur after annual reports, partly because companies conduct proactive tax self-examinations after completing tax settlement and audits to avoid audit penalties, and partly reflecting differences in audit focus on financial authenticity vs. tax focus on tax law application. Lawyers believe such tax replenishments are usually due to policy scope adjustments rather than financial fraud, reflecting the normalization of tax compliance in capital markets and self-correction.
Lawyer Gui further noted that the frequent occurrence of large tax replenishments in pharma and other industries this year, far exceeding previous years, is fundamentally due to the full implementation of Golden Tax Phase IV enabling multi-department data penetration, combined with strict supervision of tax preferences and the implementation of the Value-Added Tax Law, forcing companies to centrally clear historical tax issues spanning five or even ten years. Meanwhile, listed companies, to avoid high fines and information disclosure risks, choose to proactively "defuse" after annual report audits and tax settlement, causing previously hidden stock issues to emerge concentratedly in 2026, forming a tax replenishment wave.
Will Large Tax Replenishments Last Only One Year? Gradually Decreasing but Normalization Long-Term
Regarding whether this round of tax replenishment will only affect this year or become a normalized impact, Lawyer Gui believes that this round of large tax replenishments is not limited to 2026 alone but includes two layers: the 2026 concentrated large payments mainly represent one-time centralized clearing of multi-year (usually looking back 3-5 years) historical stock issues; as proactive self-examination progresses, such large retroactive tax replenishments will gradually decrease within 1-2 years; but normalized tax adjustments will persist long term. Golden Tax Phase IV's "data-based tax administration" is permanent infrastructure, and strict supervision of tax preferences (high-tech annual review, R&D super deduction real-time verification) becomes the norm. Enterprises may still face tax replenishments during annual tax settlement due to refined policy scopes and related party transaction pricing adjustments, but amounts will return to normal levels, no longer featuring concentrated "large old debts." Tax compliance will transform from occasional "defusing events" to fixed routine operating costs.
