Beijing's tax authorities launched new measures on March 28 to facilitate tax payment and certification, enabling online services for 66 tax-related items and administrative procedures.
The Beijing Municipal Office of National Tax Bureau and Local Tax Bureau has put efforts into streamlining tax paying procedures, eliminating the run around for taxpayers so that they only have to make one visit to a single location. Thanks to these efforts, 144 tax-related procedures including reporting, invoicing, declaring, filing and certifying can be done under one roof.
These procedures include collecting taxpayer information, filing for tax credits, receiving specially issued invoices, and making changes to VAT declaration from small-scale taxpayers.
The local tax authorities have also established a natural person's individual income tax service platform. The platform’s 15 functions cover six aspects, including taxpayer authentication, online search and printing of certificates of individual income tax payment, tax filing for taxpayers whose annual income exceed 120,000 yuan (about US$19,000), and equity transfer.
The tax authorities are also allowing tax services through the mobile apps of various banks, as they establish cooperation with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the China Construction Bank and the Postal Savings Bank of China. As of the end of 2017, Beijing had collected 11,000 tax payments via mobile apps.
Making an appointment at the tax bureau in Beijing was previously an obstacle for paying taxes. Today, taxpayer could queue up on WeChat, and go straight to the window after receiving a notification through the app. In 2017, WeChat issued 400,000 queue numbers and 50,000 online reservation, allowing taxpayers to manage their time more effectively. At a number of tax bureaus in Dongcheng District where queuing via WeChat was heavily promoted, 98 percent of taxpayers used this service.
The tax authorities are also making efforts to assist new businesses inexperienced in the administrative procedures. Eligible companies could apply for a packaged service that covers 10 tax-related procedures, and complete paying taxes and receiving the invoices on the same day. The packaged service was launched on March 1, and it has already benefited over 1,000 new businesses.