22.Income Taxes, Deferred Tax Assets and Deferred Tax Liabilities

 

  (a) Income taxes in the consolidated statements of comprehensive loss(income)

 

The Company’s provision for income taxes expenses consisted of:

 

   December 31,   December 31, 
   2024   2025 
PRC income tax  $   $ 
Current income tax expenses (credit), net   1,558,613    (184,686)
Deferred income tax expenses   -    - 
   $1,558,613   $(184,686)

United States Tax

 

CBAK is a Nevada corporation that is subject to U.S. federal tax and state tax. On December 31, 2017 the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”). The Tax Act makes broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code, including, but not limited to, (1) reducing the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent; (2) requiring companies to pay a one-time transition tax on certain unrepatriated earnings of foreign subsidiaries; (3) generally eliminating U.S. federal corporate income taxes on dividends from foreign subsidiaries; (4) providing modification to subpart F provisions and new taxes on certain foreign earnings such as Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI). Except for the one-time transition tax, most of these provisions go into effect starting January 1, 2018.

 

The Global Intangible Low-taxed Income (GILTI) is a new provision introduced by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. U.S. shareholders, who are domestic corporations, of controlled foreign corporations (CFCs) are eligible for up to an 80% deemed paid foreign tax credit (FTC) and a 50% deduction of the current year inclusion with the full amount of the Section 78 gross-up subject to limitation. This new provision is effective for tax years of foreign corporations beginning after December 31, 2017. The Company has evaluated whether it has additional provision amount resulted by the GILTI inclusion on current earnings and profits of its foreign controlled corporations. The Company has made an accounting policy choice of treating taxes due on future U.S. inclusions in taxable amount related to GILTI as a current period expense when incurred. As of December 31, 2024 and 2025, the Company does not have any aggregated positive tested income; and as such, does not have additional provision amount recorded for GILTI tax.

 

No provision for income taxes in the United States has been made as CBAK and CBAK Energy California had no taxable income for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2025.

 

Hong Kong Tax

 

The Company’s subsidiaries in Hong Kong are subject to Hong Kong profits tax rate of 16.5% and did not have any assessable profits arising in or derived from Hong Kong for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2025 and accordingly no provision for Hong Kong profits tax was made in these periods.

  

PRC Tax

 

The CIT Law in China applies an income tax rate of 25% to all enterprises but grants preferential tax treatment to High-New Technology Enterprises. CBAK Power was regarded as a “High-new technology enterprise” pursuant to a certificate jointly issued by the relevant Dalian Government authorities. Under the preferential tax treatment, CBAK Power was entitled to enjoy a tax rate of 15% for the years from 2024 to 2026 provided that the qualifying conditions as a High-new technology enterprise were met. Hitrans was regarded as a “High-new technology enterprise” pursuant to a certificate jointly issued by the relevant Zhejiang Government authorities. Under the preferential tax treatment, Hitrans was entitled to enjoy a tax rate of 15% for the years from 2024 to 2026 provided that the qualifying conditions as a High-new technology enterprise were met. Nanjing CBAK was regarded as a “High-new technology enterprise” pursuant to a certificate jointly issued by the relevant Nanjing Government authorities. Under the preferential tax treatment, Nanjing CBAK and Nanjing BFD were entitled to enjoy a tax rate of 15% for the years from 2023 to 2025 provided that the qualifying conditions as a High-new technology enterprise were met.

Malaysia Tax

 

CBAK Malaysia is subject to income tax laws of Malaysia at the statutory rate of 24%. CBAK Malaysia was newly incorporated on April 30, 2025 and did not have any operations as of the date of this report. There was no assessable profits arising in or derived from Malaysia for the year ended December 31, 2025.

 

A reconciliation of the provision for income taxes determined at the statutory income tax rate to the Company’s income taxes is as follows:

 

   Year ended
December 31,
2024
   Year ended
December 31,
2025
 
Income (loss) before income taxes  $11,143,763   $(11,136,621)
United States federal corporate income tax rate   21%   21%
Income tax expenses (credit) computed at United States statutory corporate income tax rate   2,340,190    (2,338,690)
Reconciling items:          
Over provision of deferred taxation in prior year          
Rate differential for PRC earnings   524,791    (373,565)
Tax effect of entity at preferential tax rate   (1,751,421)   496,840 
Non-deductible (income) expenses   (108,841)   331,509 
Share based payments   79,096    16,129 
Utilization of tax loss   (1,640,692)   (600,199)
Tax effect of utilization of tax losses previously not recognised   (274,323)   (809,655)
Valuation allowance on deferred tax assets   3,156,312    3,092,945 
Decrease in opening deferred tax assets resulting from a decrease in applicable tax rate   (766,499)   - 
Income tax expenses (credit)  $1,558,613   $(184,686)

 

  (b) Deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities

 

The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant portions of the deferred tax assets and liabilities as of December 31, 2024 and 2025 are presented below:

 

   December 31,
2024
   December 31,
2025
 
Deferred tax assets        
Trade receivable  $723,916    662,239 
Inventories   591,678    927,350 
Property, plant and equipment   1,992,540    1,868,073 
Non-marketable equity securities   91,842    95,539 
Equity method investment   343,850    335,398 
Intangible assets   133,684    151,340 
Accrued expenses, payroll and others   614,417    865,885 
Provision for product warranty   66,617    117,854 
Net operating loss carried forward   38,116,873    18,761,298 
Valuation allowance   (42,522,990)   (23,659,551)
Deferred tax assets, non-current  $152,427    125,425 
           
Deferred tax liabilities, non-current          
Long-lived assets arising from acquisitions  $152,427   $125,425 

As of December 31, 2025, the Company’s U.S. entity had net operating loss carry forwards of $3,812,589. As of December 31, 2025, the Company’s PRC subsidiaries had net operating loss carry forwards of $67,737,362, which will expire in various years through 2025 to 2034. Management believes it is more likely than not that the Company will not realize these potential tax benefits as these operations will not generate any operating profits in the foreseeable future. As a result, a valuation allowance was provided against the full amount of the potential tax benefits.

  

According to the PRC Tax Administration and Collection Law, the statute of limitations is three years if the underpayment of taxes is due to computational errors made by the taxpayer or its withholding agent. The statute of limitations extends to five years under special circumstances, which are not clearly defined. In the case of a related party transaction, the statute of limitations is ten years. There is no statute of limitations in the case of tax evasion.

 

The impact of an uncertain income tax positions on the income tax return must be recognized at the largest amount that is more likely than not to be sustained upon audit by the relevant tax authority. An uncertain income tax position will not be recognized if it has less than a 50% likelihood of being sustained. Interest and penalties on income taxes will be classified as a component of the provisions for income taxes.

Historical Timeline

Fiscal YearFiled
2025Mar 31, 2026Showing above
2024Mar 17, 2025
2023Mar 15, 2024
2022Apr 14, 2023
2021Apr 15, 2022
2020Apr 13, 2021
2019May 14, 2020
2018Apr 16, 2019
2017Apr 17, 2018
2016Jan 13, 2017
2015Jan 13, 2016

About Income Taxes Disclosures

The income tax disclosure reveals how much a company actually pays in taxes versus what the statutory rate would predict. Analysts focus on the effective tax rate (ETR) reconciliation, which breaks down every item driving the gap between the 21% federal rate and the company's reported ETR — including R&D credits, foreign rate differentials, and state taxes. Deferred tax assets (DTAs) and their valuation allowances signal management's confidence in future profitability: a rising allowance suggests the company doubts it can use accumulated tax benefits. Uncertain tax benefit (UTB) reserves quantify exposure to IRS challenges on aggressive positions.

Key signals to watch: sudden ETR drops without clear operational reasons, large increases in valuation allowances, growing UTB balances, and significant unremitted foreign earnings. Post-TCJA, pay attention to GILTI and BEAT provisions that affect multinational tax structures. Compare the cash taxes paid (from the cash flow statement) against the income tax provision to gauge earnings quality.