City sets target date for completion of national smart tax ecosystem

Shanghai has set a goal to build a national first-class smart tax ecosystem by the end of 2025, and to improve its capacity in tax law enforcement, service and supervision.

The city on July 30 released an implementation plan for deepening tax reform. It proposed 28 tasks in six major areas: digital upgrading and intelligent transformation, tax law enforcement, intelligent services, tax supervision, tax co-governance and organizational support.

It has set targets for three stages. By 2022, it plans to further deepen and expand the trials of a dynamic "credit+risk" monitoring system and tests of better tax-paying services, as well as make further achievements in cloud-based smart tax services.

The monitoring system has already accomplished some innovation in tax services and management, achieving intelligent audit and automated handling for 138 affairs so far, said the city's taxation administration.

It has effectively cut the time for paying tax, simplified the procedures of examination and approval, and greatly improved the experience and efficiency of taxpayers in dealing with tax administrative affairs.

The city also aims to basically establish new systems of tax law enforcement, tax and fee services, and tax supervision by 2023, all compatible with modernization of the tax system, and in the meantime develop a new pattern of tax co-governance to enhance the efficiency of tax collection and management.

By the end of 2025, Shanghai expects to have completed its building of a national first-class smart tax ecosystem, and improved its capacity in all aspects of tax law enforcement, service and supervision.

Of note, the tax reform will also serve the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, said the city's development and reform commission.

The tax authorities of Shanghai and some other areas in the Delta have set up special pages on their online administration platforms. These support the one-stop tax services across the Delta region for certain affairs. More innovations will be made to facilitate enterprises' cross-provincial tax affairs.