Free trade zone online service a boon in taxing times

One of the institutional innovations initiated in the Shanghai free trade zone, an all-in-one online tax service, has benefited many enterprises since its inception in 2014.

With most tax-related items, such as qualification checks, invoice collection and tax declarations, submitted and processed online, account managers of companies in the zone are free from making multiple trips between their offices and the tax center.

After the implementation of quarterly reporting, companies save at least two thirds of the accounting workload every year. The pressure on capital turnover is also greatly reduced.

If the “all-in-one tax service” was a preliminary attempt at providing tax services online, the launch of the third phase of the Golden Tax service is a big step in the daily operation of online tax services.

In order to serve the development of enterprises and meet the needs of taxpayers, the scope of online tax processing is being extended from dealing with specific tax related matters in the “all-in-one tax service” to the digitalization of daily tax operations. Users are not only companies in the free trade zone but enterprises throughout the Pudong New Area. 

Therefore, about 95 percent of tax-related items can be submitted and processed online.

The new tax system has greatly facilitated the daily operations of taxpayers, overturned the traditional mode of enterprise tax operations, saved enterprises costs, and makes the concept of “paying tax in the office” come true.

The system also adopts the same standards nationwide, and legalizes the collection and standardized processing of tax data.

Moreover, tax invoices can be delivered to companies in the free trade zone. The service was initiated in 2017 amid the cooperation between Pudong tax service and China Post EMS.

By the end of last year, nearly 2,400 companies in Pudong had enjoyed the privilege, with more added.

It has played an important role in the implementation of “no-contact” tax service amid COVID-19 outbreak.