agricultural producers;
     (2) Contraceptive medicines and devices;
     (3) Antique books;
     (4)  Importation  of  instruments  and  equipment  directly  used  in scientific research, experiment and education;
     (5) Importation of materials and equipment from  foreign  governments and international organizations as assistance free of charge;
     (6) Equipment and machinery required to be  imported  under  contract processing, contract assembly and compensation trade;
     (7) Articles imported directly by organizations for the disabled  for special use by the disabled;
     (8) Sale of goods which have been used  by  the  sellers.  Except  as stipulated in the above paragraph, the VAT exemption and  reduction  items shall be regulated by the State Council. Local governments or  departments shall not regulate any tax exemption or reduction items.
Article 17
     For taxpayers engaged in tax exempt or tax reduced items,  the  sales amounts for tax exempt  or  tax  reduced  items  shall  be  accounted  for separately. If the sales amounts have not been separately  accounted  for, no exemption or reduction is allowed.
Article 18
     For taxpayers whose sales amounts have not reached  the  VAT  minimum threshold stipulated by the Ministry of Finance, the VAT shall be  exempt.
Article 19
     The time at which a liability to VAT arises is as follows:
     (1) For sales of goods or taxable services, it is the date  on  which the sales sum is received or the documented evidence of right  to  collect the sales sum is obtained.
     (2) For importation of goods, it is the date of  import  declaration.
Article 20
     VAT shall be collected by the tax authorities. VAT on the importation of goods shall be collected by the customs office on  behalf  of  the  tax authorities.
     VAT on self-used articles brought or mailed into China by individuals shall be levied together with Customs Duty. The detailed measures shall be formulated by the Tariff Policy Committee of the  State  Council  together with the relevant departments.

Article 21
Taxpayers selling goods or taxable services shall issue  special  VATinvoices to  the  purchasers.  Sales  amounts  and  output  tax  shall  beseparately indicated in the special VAT invoices.

Under one of the following situations, the invoice to be issued shallbe an ordinary invoice rather than the special VAT invoice:
     (1) Sale of goods or taxable services to consumers;
     (2) Sale of VAT exempt goods;
     (3) Sale of goods  or  taxable  services  by  small-scale  taxpayers.Article 22
     The place for the payment of VAT is as follows:
(1) Businesses with a fixed establishment shall report  and  pay  taxwith the local  competent  tax  authorities  where  the  establishment  islocated. If the head office and branch are not situated in the same county(or city), they shall report and pay tax separately with their  respectivelocal competent tax authorities. The head office may, upon the approval ofthe State Administration for Taxation or its authorised  tax  authorities,report and pay tax on a consolidated basis with the  local  competent  taxauthorities where the head office is located.
(2)  Businesses  with  a  fixed  establishment  selling  goods  in  adifferent county (or city) shall apply for the  issuance  of  an  outboundbusiness  activities  tax  administration  certificate  from   the   localcompetent tax authorities where the establishment  is  located  and  shallreport and pay tax with the local  competent  tax  authorities  where  theestablishment is located. Businesses selling goods and taxable services ina different county (or city) without the outbound business activities  taxadministration certificate issued by the local competent  tax  authoritieswhere the establishment is located, shall report  and  pay  tax  with  thelocal competent tax authorities where the sales activities take place. Thelocal competent