How do I interpret these income tax numbers for Chinese public company Dangdang Inc. (DANG)?

Question

I'd like some help with understanding the financial statements of E Commerce China Dangdang Inc (ADR).

You can see the Income Statement/Balance Sheet/Cash Flow statements on Google Finance.

If you select "Annual Data" for the Income Statement, you see that:

Income Before Tax 18.72 16.92 -81.76 -70.51

Income After Tax 30.78 16.92 -81.76 -70.51

This implies that the company simply wasn't taxed in 07, 08, or 09, and actually got a refund in 2010. Now the company IPO'd in December 2010, so was it not taxed because it wasn't publicly traded before then? Am I just not aware of Chinese tax codes, or is it something else?

In the cash flow statement you see:

Issuance (Retirement) of Stock, Net 1,610.88

which seems to imply that they issued stock (or stock options?) worth that much. How exactly is this information used when deciding whether or not to invest in a company? Obviously stock issuance dilutes the per-share value, but does this figure affect other parts of the financial statements?

Thanks.

Answer 1

It was not taxed in the previous years because it wasn't in profit.

The amount for 2010 is more due to accounting treatment, on account of "Deferred Domestic Income Tax". The figures are at http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/DANG/tab/7.2

You can search for a better understanding of Deferred Domestic Income Tax, a brief explanation is at http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/deferredincometax.asp