Document of the State Administration of Taxation Shuizongfa [2017] No. 10

Provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, cities specifically designated in the state plan, state tax bureaus, local tax bureaus, and departments within the bureaus:
    Since 2014, the State Administration of Taxation has conducted the “Spring Breeze Action to Provide Better Tax Services for People” for three straight years (hereinafter referred to as “Spring Breeze Action”). 70 items of tax measures in 21 categories have been launched, fostering a sound atmosphere of “spring breeze brings vitality to thousands of trees and flowers and the tax measures benefit the public”. Taxpayers have become more satisfied and have more sense of benefits. In order to further implement the Plan of Deepening the Reform of the System of Collecting and Managing State Taxation and Local Taxation (hereinafter referred to as Reform Plan), Circular of the State Council on Issuing and Printing the Reform Work of Streamlining Administration, Delegating Power, Improving Regulation and Optimizing Services in 2016 (guofa [2016] No. 30), Opinions of the State Council on Speeding Up the Internet Plus Government Services (guofa [2016] No. 55), and Circular of the General Office of the State Council on Issuing and Printing the Work Plan of Further Streamlining Process, Increasing Efficiency and Optimizing Doing Business Environment (guobanhan [2016] No. 70).Efforts shall be made to step up the establishment of tax authorities to serve people and deliver tangible benefits to the public. The State Administration of Taxation decided to continue to conduct the “Spring Breeze Action” with the theme of “Elevation and Promotion”, strive to build the quality service brand in tax system, and improve taxpayers’ satisfaction and compliance with tax laws.
    I. Know the significance of continuously conducting “Spring Breeze Action”
    (1) Carrying out reform tasks needs expansion and upgrading of the “Spring Breeze Action” . The year 2017 is a critical year for deepening the reform of the tax collection and management system. Tax authorities at all levels should proceed from the perspective of “reduction of two burdens” to relieve the unnecessary burden of taxpayers and reduce the extra workload of tax authorities. Efforts shall be made to implement various reform measures to achieve the deep integration of services, the appropriate integration of law enforcement and high concentration of information. Through conducting “Spring Breeze Action” and based on the principle of “rational division of labor”, “good services”, “sound tax management system”,“good cooperation”, “sound management of teams” and “pool of efforts and wisdom from all parties”, it’s important to set targeted reform goals, formulate detailed reform measures and deliver tangible reform results to make the reform meet demand, live up to people’s expectations and wishes of taxpayers.
    (2) Optimizing Doing Business environment needs the continuous strength of the “Spring Breeze Action”. Good Doing Business environment needs a coordinated tax cooperation environment as the guarantee, a just and fair tax law enforcement environment as support, and a convenient and efficient tax service environment as foundation. Tax authorities at all levels should proceed from the perspective of taxpayers, further streamline administration, delegate power, improve regulation and optimize Services. Through conducting the “Spring Breeze Action”, efforts shall be made to streamline process, improve system, innovate management and promote the reform of tax system to make it easier for taxpayers to pay tax, provide more choices for them and lower their taxpayment costs.
    (3) To meet the expectation of taxpayers needs unremitting efforts of conducting “Spring Breeze Action”. Economic development and social changes also bring about increasing demand of taxpayers for services. The survey on taxpayers’ satisfaction shows that taxpayers hope tax authorities at different levels can proceed from their demand, and face up to the issues which they feel uncomfortable about, painful about, pay attention to, concern about and feel difficult about. Through conducting “Spring Breeze Action”, efforts shall be made to promote the innovation in management services, identify problems, break bottlenecks and take tougher measures to solve problems one by one, make improvement category by category, and implement measures step by step in a bid to make taxpayers have better experience, more sense of benefits and more satisfied.
    (4) To promote the Service Brand needs unremitting hard work of conducting the “Spring Breeze Action”. Over the past three years, “Spring Breeze Action” has achieved faster procedures, standardized services and deepened cooperation. A special tax service brand was built and the image of tax authorities was improved. Tax authorities at all levels should strive to meet the expectation of taxpayers, and review and summarize the effective measures taken in previous years to improve tax service for taxpayers. Through conducting the “Spring Breeze Action”, efforts shall be made to launch a series of practices and measures which can be borrowed, replicated and promoted, and strive for concrete achievements to make the service brand of tax authorities more popular, the management more effective, and its social image better.
    II. General goal and overall arrangement
    (1) General goal
    The general goal is to implement the guiding principles of the 18th CPC National Congress and the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and carry out the Reform Plan. With “Elevation and Promotion” as the theme, taxpayers as the focus, their demand as guidance, institutional building as support and “Internet Plus Tax Services” as driving force, efforts shall be made to increase efficiency and reduce burden, innovate services, make targeted efforts, conduct just law enforcement and achieve win-win outcome through cooperation. It’s important to build an efficient, smart, convenient, fair and coordinated tax system to increase taxpayers’ sense of benefits, sense of satisfaction, and compliance, and create a tax service brand with unique tax features.
    (2) Overall arrangement
    Based on the principle of promoting the work in a continuous way with long-term vision and in a phased manner and based on the problems found in the survey on taxpayers’ satisfaction, efforts shall be made to reform the tax system, promote tax service brand, conduct overall plan and proceed step by step. Four measures will be taken to increase efficiency, reduce burden and build an efficient tax system including reducing waiting time, streamlining the submission of tax materials, speeding up the process of refunding and exemption of export taxes, and enhancing the tax declaration quality. Four measures will be taken to innovate services and build a smart tax system including upgrading service platform, optimizing invoice obtainment methods, expanding invoice issuance means and promoting the electronization of outbound business management. Four measures will be taken to make targeted efforts and promote convenient tax services including speeding up the tax process with real name registration, promoting tax system reform, enabling taxpayers to handle tax matters in non-local regions, and expanding the functions of hotline services. Four measures will be taken to conduct fair law enforcement and build a just tax system including improving tax law enforcement process, innovating tax law enforcement methods, consolidating the reform achievements of business registration and enhancing taxpayment credit management. Four measures will be taken to achieve win-win cooperation and build a coordinated tax system including strengthening the technological support for taxpayment methods, deepening coordinated work between state tax authorities and local tax authorities, expanding scope for social cooperation and serving the national development strategy. In total, 46 measures in 20 items of 5 categories were rolled out to provide more convenient tax services for taxpayers.
    III. Content of Action
    (1)Increase efficiency and reduce burden to provide efficient tax services
    1. Reduce waiting time for tax services. Efforts shall be made to encourage taxpayers to handle their tax matters more online and reduce unnecessary trips to the tax service halls with online tax service as the main way of handling tax matters, self-service and other social tax handling measures as the auxiliary way and bricks-and-mortar tax service halls as the most basic way. Mobile internet can provide taxpayers with information in real time such as the number of people waiting in the service hall, and the number of people who have completed their tax matters to help taxpayers choose appropriate locations to handle their tax matters to increase efficiency. As for the “peak” and “valley” hours, in rush hours, online tax service appointment will be promoted. Multiple channels are provided for taxpayers such as online appointment and mobile device appointment to reduce the waiting time in the queue in the tax service hall. Efforts shall be made to optimize real estate transaction tax services, implement the guidelines on real estate transaction tax service and management, promote the sharing of information among different authorities, and reduce duplicate entry of information and review time. Measures shall be taken to try to enable taxpayers to enter tax source information in advance required by tax declaration through internet, mobile apps or self-service tax terminals. Tax matters can be handled in every region in the city or jointly handled by real estate management authorities, property registration authorities and tax authorities to provide more convenient services for taxpayers.
    2. Streamline the submission of tax materials. Efforts shall be made to streamline the submission of materials of invoice issuance onother unit's or individual's behalf, the requirements on the submission of asset loss materials of banking sector, the proof materials of overseas construction service of projects, the record filing materials of international transport service exempted from value added taxes, the proof materials of travel services provided overseas and the declaration of non-resident enterprise source tax deduction and payment information to relieve burden on taxpayers and tax authorities at community-level.
    3. Speed up the handling of export tax refund(exemption). Efforts shall be made to improve the management of export tax refund(exemption) enterprises. Tax authorities should handle export tax refund(exemption) filed by Category I, II, III and IV enterprises in accordance with The Classified Management of Export Tax Refund(Exemption) Enterprises and other regulations. If the criterion is met after review, the relevant process should be completed within certain time limit.
    4. Improve the quality of tax declaration. The online tax declaration system will be optimized. After taxpayers enter basic information, the software will review data, do logic calculation and fill in the rest of information by category, which will effectively help taxpayers fill in the filing forms quickly and accurately and improve the quality of tax declaration. Questionable data of the corporate income tax declarationwill be inspected and reviewed for taxpayers and taxpayers can get feedback and alert services to reduce the risks of making mistake.
    (2)Innovate services to provide smart tax services
    5. Improve and upgrade the service platform. The 12366 tax service platform of State Administration of Taxation will be upgraded to achieve the connectivity of hotline, network cable and wireless services. Efforts shall be made to provide consultation for taxpayers, promote publicity, protect their rights and interests, providecredit management and other services. Meanwhile, the tax service entrants will be integrated and diversified interaction with taxpayers will be enhanced to improve their experience.
    6. Optimize ways to receive invoices. Taxpayers can apply for invoice online or by mobile devices and can get the paper invoice by delivery or going to the window or self-service terminal in person. A mode of “Online Application and Offline Delivery”will be formed to receive invoices.
    7. Expand ways of issuing invoices. The value added tax invoice can be issued on taxpayers’ behalf and taxpayers can make appointment and application online or by mobile devices. Taxpayers can use online tax platform, mobile apps and other channels to let invoices issued on their behalf. The tax fees will be collected in an integrated way. Taxpayers can choose delivery or go to the window or self-service terminal in person to get paper invoices. A mode of “Online Handling and Offline Issuance”will be formed to issue invoices on taxpayers’ behalf. The scope will be expanded for the pilot project of small-scale taxpayers issuing special invoices independently. Efforts shall be made to promote the pilot project of paperless invoices and enhance the use of electronic invoices in e-commerce to achieve the transformation from paper invoices to electronic invoices step by step.
    8. Enhance the electronization of outbound business management. Taxpayers who do business in othercounties(cities) in the jurisdiction of provincial tax authorities need to have Tax Management Certificate of Outbound Business Activities(hereinafter referred to as outbound management certificate). Tax authorities accept the online applications of taxpayers, issue the outbound management certificatesto them and send electronic messages to them. The electronic outbound management certificatedoesn’t need to be printed and is not subject to inspection and registration in the operational places. Efforts shall be made to issue outbound management certificate online for taxpayers who do business in other provinces and gradually achieve electronization of the issuance of the certificate, information transmission and the follow-up management.
    (3) Take targeted measures to promote convenient tax services
    9. Speed up the tax process with real name registration. Efforts shall be made to enhance the real name registration in tax matters. The information of taxpayers and their agents can be collected online and offline to strengthen the seamless connectivity with the business system. Personalized services will be provided for taxpayers with real name registration and the duplicate submission of materials will be reduced. The internal risk control and external result submission will be enhanced. The real name registration will be applied in the whole process of “registration, tax matters handling, services and management”.
    10. Promote the reform of tax system. Efforts shall be made to enhance overall coordination and business planning, strengthen the transformation of the mode of providing tax services based on different tax categories and businesses, and promote the merger of businesses with high correlation. Taxpayers will be encouraged to do tax declaration independently and have their responsibility and rights back. The credit tax management and handling system will be launched and the basic tax service management system will be upgraded and improved.
    11. Expand the scope of universal tax handling. Efforts shall be made to expand tax handling scope in different regions of the same city and in different provinces. On the basis of inter-provincial tax handling, more tax businesses and levels will be covered in the universal system.
    12. Increase the hotline service functions. New media such as internet, mobile apps and third party platforms will be used to provide diversified and comprehensive consulting and counselling services for taxpayers. Hotline 12366 will deal with the report of illegal activities and a “fast passage”will be established to deal with petty crimes in tax matters.
    (4)Just law enforcement to provide fair tax services
    13. Improve the tax law enforcement process. Efforts shall be made to promote National Taxation Inspection Standards(1.0 version), improve the regulations on tax inspection, punishment notice, punishment hearing, collective review, decision making and documents submission. Measures to hear major tax cases will be strictly implemented.
    14. Innovate tax law enforcement measures. The regulatory mechanism of “Two Random and One Disclosure”will be improved, which is to randomly choose targets of inspection, randomly dispatch inspection personnel and disclose result to the public. The random tax inspection will be promoted to demonstrate the fairness of law enforcement and increase the effectiveness of law enforcement. The guideline system of administrative law enforcement cases of taxes will be established and implemented.
    15. Consolidate the reform result of business registration system. Efforts shall be made to improve the supporting measures of tax collection and management after the reform of business registration system and enhance the follow-up management work after the reform of “Merging Business License and Taxation Registration Certificate” of individual businesses. It’s also important to enhance the effectiveness analysis of reform, and strengthen the follow-up interim and ex-post regulation.
    16. Strengthen tax credit management. Efforts shall be made to continue expanding the coverage of tax payment credit appraisal, and conduct evaluation and make comments on the tax payment credit of individual businesses and other types of taxpayers. The benefits of interaction and cooperation among tax authorities, banking regulatory authorities and financial institutions in banking sector will be expanded. The credible individual businesses and other types of taxpayers will be incorporated into the coverage of “interaction among tax authorities, banking regulatory authorities and financial institutions in banking sector”.
    (5)Strive for win-win outcome through cooperation to provide coordinated tax services
    17. Strengthen the technological support of tax payment methods. Efforts shall be made to enhance the technological support for diversified tax payment methods such as POS machines, online banks and mobile banking services. The pilot project will be launched to encourage non-resident enterprise taxes of residententerprise to be paid online on their behalf.
    18. Deepen the joint tax handling between state tax authorities and local tax authorities. Efforts shall be made to integrate the service resources of state tax bureaus and local tax bureaus and promote the joint tax service mode between state tax authorities and local tax authorities of “One Window One Person” in the tax service halls.
    19. Expand the scope of social cooperation. The grid outlets will be made full use of such as banks, communities and streets to set up 24/7 self-service tax service facilities in the self-service area of banks, sub-district offices and other areas to extend the 24/7 self-service tax services. The postal agencies will be entrusted to issues invoices and collect taxes on behalf of an individual or enterprise. The modern logistic system will be used to achieve online and offline delivery of tax business documents and paper invoices or enable taxpayers to get them in person at designated place by making appointment.
    20. Serve national development strategy. Based on the demand of taxpayers for “going global”, different tax measures will be implemented and improved to support the “Belt and Road initiative”. Efforts shall be made to optimize and improve the function of “Comprehensive Tax Service Network in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region” and consolidate the achievements of the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in tax services. It’s important to deepen the application of data from the Yangtze River Economic Belt Tax Information Sharing Platform and take measures to innovate the tax collection and management services. Effortsshall be made to innovate the service measures for the development of free trade pilot zone.
    IV. Work requirements
    (1) Enhance organization and coordination. The coordinationand leading role of the leading group of “Spring Breeze Action” will be given full play to. The principle leaders will make general planning in person, the heads of each division are in charge of organizing and coordinating the project of different agencies. Each division of the State Administration of Taxation should abide by the division of labor and give full play to the role of formulation, implementation and supervision of different measures. State tax authorities and local tax authorities should establish joint conference system and enhance coordination with each other. Competent departments of provincial tax authority should cooperate with supporting agencies to formulate specific implementation plans, identify main tasks, division of labor and other specific requirements, lay out timetable and roadmap to make breakthrough as soon as possible.
    (2) Enhance innovative guidance. Tax authorities at all levels are encouraged to play a leading role to innovate services. In particular, the innovation enthusiasm of community-level authoritiesshould be boosted to foster a good atmosphere of “new breeze in every season, and new ideas in every move”. The superior tax authorities should summarize and promote the innovative measures and work experience of community-level tax authorities in a timely manner. A working mechanism guided by innovation should be established featuring “sifting after collection, improvement after getting feedback and promotion by replication”.
    (3) Enhance publicity and report. Efforts shall be made to enhance the publicity of “Spring Breeze Action” and make brochures, small videos and other promotion materials based on concrete conditions. Online media platforms such as Weibo and Wechat and special activities such as tax revenue promotion month should be made full use of to increase the publicity and report of the highlights of tax service work and experience to foster a good atmosphere of “The Spring Breeze Action delivers benefits in every season”.
    (4) Strengthen supervision and inspection. Different regions should set clear goals and tasks of the work, make clear specific responsibilities of provincial tax bureaus, municipal tax bureaus and county tax bureaus and other agencies. Special supervision and inspection activities should be carried out on a regular basis to check the implementation progress of various measures of the “Spring Breeze Action”. If conditions permit, third party evaluation should be conducted by professional agencies. The State Administration of Taxation will launch targeted supervision and inspection based on the progress of the “Spring Breeze Action” to ensure that every measure is fully implemented. The implementation progress of the “Spring Breeze Action” will be incorporated into the performance evaluation system to be quantified. Provincial tax authorities will report the quarterly development to the State Administration of Taxation (Taxpayer Service Department).