On March 28, the "Tax Collection and Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised Draft for Soliciting Opinions)" publicly solicited opinions from the public. Among them, words such as "electronics" and "information" appear repeatedly, such as establishing the legal effect of electronic certificates and electronic materials, and stipulating the reporting of platform enterprise information and handling tax declarations of operators and practitioners within the platform. Zhu Qing, a professor at the School of Finance and Finance of Renmin University of China, believes that the revision of the Tax Collection and Administration Law conforms to the development requirements of the digital era and consolidates the results of tax collection and administration reform in recent years, which will help promote the digital transformation of tax collection and administration and promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the digital economy.
For individuals, obtaining electronic invoices when shopping and not having to print paper reimbursement vouchers at the train station when traveling is the most intuitive manifestation of tax digitalization. For enterprises, electronic vouchers, electronic information, accounting intelligence, paperlessness, dataization, etc. are common.
Zhang Dejun, financial director of Anhui Changwei Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., believes that the draft for soliciting opinions establishes the legal effect of electronic vouchers and electronic information, dispels the society's concerns about the legality of electronic vouchers and taxpayers' reporting of electronic information, reduces the company's compliance operating costs, and creates favorable conditions for the digital transformation of enterprises.
This year's "Government Work Report" proposes to "promote the standardized and healthy development of the platform economy." In recent years, new economic and new business formats such as online live broadcast and e-commerce have emerged continuously, and the platform economy has grown rapidly and become an important engine of economic development. However, some companies reported that some merchants used improper means to engage in malicious competition and even used means to split income to evade taxes, distort the real supply and demand relationship of the market, and infringe on the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises paying taxes in accordance with the law. The operators of e-commerce platforms and other online trading platforms should submit tax-related information to the operators and practitioners on the platform in accordance with regulations and write them into the law, and clarify that platform enterprises should handle tax declarations and other related tax-related matters such as operators and practitioners on the platform in accordance with regulations, which is conducive to promoting fair competition in the market and promoting the sustained, standardized and healthy development of the platform economy.
Digitalization aims to improve efficiency and benefit the people. The draft for soliciting opinions solidifies the results of the tax department's digital reform and convenient tax service measures into laws to reduce the tax burden on taxpayers. For example, tax authorities share the information and information that can be obtained in real time with relevant departments, and shall not require taxpayers and withholding agents to provide it repeatedly; implement taxpayer identification number and real-name tax payment management system, and simplify the provision of information.
The reporter learned from the Tax Service Department of the State Administration of Taxation that the new electronic tax bureau, which is unified and standardized in 2024, will be launched to innovate and expand intelligent service scenarios, and will achieve 96% of tax payment matters online, and the average tax payment time for taxpayers will be shortened by 20%. The draft for soliciting opinions clearly states that tax authorities are actively using modern information technology to provide convenient tax payment services for taxpayers. Tax authorities will use tax big data to continuously carry out accurate push of tax policies, continuously optimize intelligent declaration methods, and realize the transformation from undifferentiated services to refined, intelligent and personalized services.
The reporter noticed that clauses such as strengthening the application of tax big data and deepening the construction of smart taxation appeared in the draft for soliciting opinions. For example, according to Article 38, tax authorities may use tax-related big data to evaluate taxable amounts. Li Zhi, deputy director of the Big Data and Risk Management Bureau of the State Administration of Taxation, said that the tax authorities can use tax-related data to conduct risk analysis, and can mainly allocate regulatory forces to subjects, links and areas with higher tax risks, avoid unnecessary disturbances to most risk-free taxpayers and reduce the burden on taxpayers. The draft for soliciting opinions raises the effective institutional measures formed by the risk management practices of tax authorities in recent years to the legal level and regulates them, which is conducive to further promoting precise law enforcement and promoting strict, standardized, fair and civilized law enforcement.
The draft for soliciting opinions has made special institutional arrangements for information security issues that are of particular concern to the public. Shi Zhengwen, director of the Finance and Taxation Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, believes that the security of taxpayers' information will be guaranteed, and the scope of information obtained by tax authorities is limited to "tax-related information" and will not be over-collected; at the same time, the draft for soliciting opinions stipulates that tax authorities can only use tax-related information obtained in accordance with the law for collection and management purposes and shall not disclose it to other units and individuals.
