Golden Tax Phase IV Triggers Drug Stock Tax Catch-Up Wave: BeiGene Subsidiary Pays ~RMB 446M

On June 26 after market close, BeiGene (688235.SH) announced that its domestic wholly-owned subsidiary recently received a notice from the local competent tax authority. The company agreed to certain adjustments to previously filed tax returns, and after completing confirmations with the tax authority on related tax matters, will pay back taxes and late fees totaling approximately RMB 446 million. The amount is about 30% of the company's 2025 net profit.

According to BeiGene's 2025 annual report, the company achieved revenue of RMB 38.225 billion in 2025, up 40.46% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 1.461 billion, turning from a loss of RMB 4.978 billion to profit; recurring net profit was RMB 1.42 billion, turning from a loss of RMB 5.379 billion to profit.

BeiGene told media that the company recently received a notice from the local competent tax authority regarding certain tax matters, making adjustments to previously filed tax returns. The company had full professional communication with the tax authority on technical interpretations and differences between tax and accounting treatments, and will complete the payment as required. This matter does not involve administrative penalties. Based on accounting standards, the matter is not a prior period accounting error and does not involve retrospective adjustment of prior financial data.

The company expects to record it in current 2026 profit or loss, and said the specific impact on net profit will be subject to audited financial statements. This matter is not expected to have a material adverse impact on the company's financial condition, going concern ability or normal operations.

Multiple Pharma Companies Disclose Tax Catch-Up or Adjustments This Year

Besides BeiGene, several other pharma companies have disclosed tax catch-up notices this year.

On May 20, Aier Eye Hospital (300015.SZ) announced that after conducting self-inspection on tax matters in accordance with laws and regulations, it confirmed a need to pay back taxes of RMB 348 million and late fees of RMB 176 million, totaling RMB 524 million.

On January 1, China Medicine (600056.SH) announced that its wholly-owned subsidiaries Sanyang Pharmaceutical and Kangli Pharmaceutical received tax notices, requiring total back taxes and late fees of about RMB 65.22 million, including Sanyang Pharmaceutical paying RMB 21.49 million in back taxes and RMB 10.74 million in late fees, and Kangli Pharmaceutical paying RMB 21.28 million in back taxes and RMB 11.71 million in late fees.

Additionally, Jiashitang (002462.SZ), Lanfan Medical (002382.SZ), and Chongyao Holdings (000950.SZ) also published tax catch-up announcements.

Lawyer Interpretation: Golden Tax Phase IV Drives Centralized Clearing of Historical Risks

According to incomplete statistics from Wind data, as of June 25, at least 80 listed companies have disclosed tax catch-up or adjustment announcements this year, approaching the full-year total of 89 in 2025, with cumulative back taxes, late fees and fines exceeding RMB 6 billion.

Gui Xin, senior partner at Tahota (Shanghai) Law Firm, said that the recent tax catch-ups by BeiGene, Aier Eye Hospital and other pharma companies after annual reports are essentially the concentrated exposure of historical compliance issues under the strong supervision of Golden Tax Phase IV, such as high R&D investment, diverse business models, tax preferential application (e.g., high-tech qualification, R&D super deduction), tax-accounting differences and related-party transactions. The catch-ups mostly occur after annual reports, reflecting compliance choices by enterprises to conduct tax self-inspections after completing annual settlement and audits, avoiding penalties from inspections, and also reflecting the natural difference between audit focusing on financial truth and tax focusing on tax law application. Tax catch-ups are usually policy caliber adjustments, not financial fraud, reflecting normalization of tax compliance in capital markets.

Gui further believes that the frequent large tax catch-ups in pharma and other industries this year, far exceeding previous years, are 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 risks of the past five to ten years. Listed companies, to avoid high fines and information disclosure risks, choose to actively "clear mines" and announce after annual report audits and tax settlements. This multi-resonance of technology-driven enforcement, policy tightening and proactive compliance has concentrated cumulative hidden issues in 2026, creating a seemingly sudden catch-up wave.

Regarding whether this round of tax catch-ups is limited to this year or will become a normal phenomenon, Gui said it is not limited to 2026. The large-scale catch-ups in 2026 are mainly one-time centralized cleanups of historical stock risks (usually back-checking 3-5 years). As proactive self-inspections progress, huge retrospective tax catch-ups will gradually decrease in the next 1-2 years. However, normalized tax adjustments will persist: Golden Tax Phase IV's "data-based tax governance" is permanent infrastructure; strict supervision of tax preferences (high-tech annual review, R&D super deduction real-time review) will become routine; enterprises may still face catch-ups due to policy caliber refinements and transfer pricing adjustments in annual settlements, but amounts will return to normal levels, no longer involving concentrated "sky-high old debts". Tax compliance will solidify from occasional "mine-clearing events" into routine operating costs.