Behind the tax payment wave of pharmaceutical listed companies: Golden Tax Phase IV and tax compliance
Image source: Visual China
On June 26 after market close, BeiGene (688235.SH) announced that one of its domestic wholly-owned subsidiaries had recently received notice from the local competent tax authority. The company agreed to make certain adjustments to previously submitted tax returns and will promptly pay back taxes and late fees totaling approximately 446 million yuan, about 30% of its 2025 net profit.
According to BeiGene's 2025 annual report, the company achieved revenue of 38.225 billion yuan in 2025, up 40.46% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent was 1.461 billion yuan, turning from a loss of 4.978 billion yuan to profit; deducting non-recurring net profit was 1.420 billion yuan, turning from a loss of 5.379 billion yuan to profit.
BeiGene told media that the company recently received a notice from the local competent tax authority regarding relevant tax matters, requiring adjustments to previously submitted tax returns. It conducted sufficient and professional communication with the competent tax authority on technical determination and tax-accounting differences and completed the payment as required. This matter does not involve administrative penalties; based on the judgment of accounting standards, it does not constitute a prior accounting error and does not involve retrospective adjustment of prior financial data.
The company said: it is expected to be included in 2026 current period profit or loss; the specific impact on net profit will be based on audited financial statements; it is not expected to have a material adverse effect on the company's financial condition, ongoing operations, or normal business.
Multiple pharmaceutical companies disclose large tax payments within the year
Aside from BeiGene, several other pharmaceutical companies have announced substantial back taxes during the year. On May 20, Aier Eye Hospital (300015.SZ) announced that after self-inspection of tax matters, it confirmed back taxes of 348 million yuan and late fees of 176 million yuan, totaling 524 million yuan.
On January 1, China Medicine (600056.SH) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiaries Sanyang Pharmaceutical and Kangli Pharmaceutical received tax notices requiring combined back taxes and late fees of about 65.2178 million yuan. Sanyang Pharmaceutical paid back taxes of 21.4862 million yuan and late fees of 10.7429 million yuan; Kangli paid back taxes of 21.2826 million yuan and late fees of 11.7061 million yuan.
Additionally, Jiashitang (002462.SZ), Blue Sail Medical (002382.SZ), and Chongqing Pharmaceutical Holdings (000950.SZ) also issued tax payment announcements.
Lawyer's view: Golden Tax Phase IV forces centralized settlement of historical risks
According to incomplete statistics from Wind data, as of June 25, at least 80 listed companies had disclosed announcements related to back taxes or tax adjustments within the year, approaching the total of 89 for all of 2025; the cumulative back taxes, late fees, and fines exceeded 6 billion yuan.
Gui Xin, senior partner at Tahota (Shanghai) Law Firm, told media that the recent back taxes paid by pharmaceutical companies like BeiGene and Aier Eye Hospital after annual reports essentially reflect the centralized exposure of historical compliance issues such as high R&D investment, diverse business models, tax preference applications (e.g., high-tech qualifications, R&D super deduction), tax-accounting differences, and related transactions under the strict supervision of Golden Tax Phase IV. Back taxes often occur after annual reports, partly reflecting companies' voluntary tax self-inspection to avoid audit penalties after completing annual tax filing and audits, and partly showing differences in audit focus (financial authenticity) vs. tax focus (tax law applicability). Back taxes typically result from policy口径 adjustments rather than financial fraud, representing normalized tax compliance and 'mine-clearing' in capital markets.
Gui further believes that the frequent appearance of huge back taxes in pharmaceuticals and other industries this year, far exceeding previous years, is primarily due to the full implementation of Golden Tax Phase IV enabling multi-department data penetration, coupled with strict tax preference supervision and the implementation of the Value-Added Tax Law, forcing companies to conduct centralized settlement of historical tax risks from the past five or even ten years. Meanwhile, to avoid high fines and information disclosure risks, listed companies choose to voluntarily 'clear mines' and announce after annual audits and tax filings, leading to a concentrated outbreak of previously hidden stock problems in 2026, forming an apparently sudden back tax wave.
Will this round of back taxes become normalized?
Regarding whether this round of back taxes is limited to this year or will have normalized effects, Gui believes it is not limited to 2026 alone, but has two layers: the large back taxes in 2026 are mainly a one-time centralized settlement of multi-year (usually traced back 3-5 years) historical stock risks. As voluntary self-inspection progresses, such huge retrospective back taxes will gradually decrease within the next 1-2 years.
However, normalized tax adjustments will persist. Golden Tax Phase IV's 'data-driven tax management' is a permanent infrastructure, and strict supervision of tax preferences (annual review of high-tech qualifications, real-time R&D super deduction checks) becomes normal. In the future, annual tax filings may still involve back taxes due to detailed policy adjustments and related transaction pricing adjustments, but amounts will return to normal levels, without concentrated 'exorbitant old accounts' settlement. Tax compliance will evolve from occasional 'mine-clearing events' to a rigid daily operating cost for enterprises.
