SHANGHAI - China will lower its tax rebates nationwide for employers that hire disabled workers, after cutting them in seven industrial provinces last July, amid concerns that companies have been abusing the policy to boost profits.

Companies whose work force comprises more than 50 percent disabled workers have been eligible for a full rebate of sales and value-added taxes.

Since last July, however, Chinese companies in seven provinces have been limited to a maximum rebate of 35,000 yuan ($4,600) a year per disabled worker, and that restriction will be extended nationwide next month, the State Administration of Taxation said on Tuesday.

"Due to some imperfect provisions in the policy, there have consistently been cases of cheating in order to receive the rebates," the agency said in a news release.

Some firms have profited from the policy by hiring disabled workers at low wages, while reaping gains from the tax rebate, industry and trade sources have said.

The move could hurt earnings of many scrap metal refiners and minor metals and ferro-alloy processors, which had made widespread use of the rebates, the sources said.

($1=7.621 Yuan)