Notice of State Taxation Administration on Promulgation of the Implementation Plan for Comprehensively Promoting the Notification and Commitment System for Tax-related Certification Items
Shui Zong Fa [2020] No. 74
All tax services of the State Taxation Administration of provinces, autonomous regions, centrally administered municipalities and cities with independent planning status, all local special commissioner's offices of the State Taxation Administration, and all internal departments of the State Taxation Administration,
The Implementation Plan for Comprehensively Promoting the Notification and Commitment System for Tax-related Certification Items is hereby promulgated to you for your compliance. Any major problem encountered in the implementation shall be reported to the State Taxation Administration (Tax Policy and Legislation Department) in a timely manner.
Implementation Plan for Comprehensively Promoting the Notification and Commitment System for Tax-related Certification Items
This Implementation Plan is formulated in accordance with the Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Comprehensively Promoting the Notification and Commitment System for Certification Items and Enterprise-Related Business Licensing Items (Guo Ban Fa [2020] No. 42) and in light of the pilot practice and actual taxation practice for the purposes of further implementing the major decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on continuously carrying out the cut certification to create convenience reform initiative, deepening the reform of "streamlining administration, initiating decentralization while improving regulation and services", and optimizing the taxation and business environment.
(I) Guiding ideology. It is required to, by following the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement the guidelines of the 19th National Congress of the CPC and the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Plenary Sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee, comprehensively implement Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, adhere to the orient towards taxpayers, deeply promote the reform of "streamlining administration, initiating decentralization while improving regulation and services", and accelerate the transformation of government functions. It is imperative to fully promote the notification and commitment system for tax items based on application for taxpayers directly, effectively reduce the number of supporting documents to be submitted, strengthen fair interim and ex-post regulation, innovate concepts and methods of service management, promote the modernization of the tax governance system and governance capacity, and strive to build service-oriented tax authorities satisfactory to the people.
Problem-orientation. It is required to, by following the principle of convenience for taxpayers, pertinently solve the problem of submission of cumbersome certificates for handling certain tax items, and effectively improve the convenience for tax services, especially the enjoyment of preferential tax policies.
High efficiency and convenience for the people. It is required to focus on the fields and matters of great concern to taxpayers, optimize the procedure for handling affairs, improve service measures, and ensure the effective implementation of the work. The State Taxation Administration shall clarify the notification and commitment system in a unified manner and revise the information system so as to reduce the burden of grassroots authorities.
Overall planning and promotion. It is required to strengthen the system concept, pay attention to work integration, achieve the integration of institutionalization, standardization and informatization, and promote risk prevention and control, classified regulation and information sharing in a coordinated manner so as to effectively form a joint force for work.
Risk controllability. It is required to, by starting from the actual taxation work, comprehensively study and judge the risk degree of retained tax-related certification items, difficulty in verification and cost of correcting errors, steadily determine the scope of items subject to the notification and commitment system, and implement the notification and commitment system once the conditions are met, so as to ensure that the process and risks are under control and the regulation is effective.
(III) Work objectives. The notification and commitment system shall be implemented when tax authorities require the parties concerned to provide supporting materials for tax-related items processed upon application, such as tax registration, administrative confirmation, tax reduction and exemption. It is imperative to focus on clear notification by tax authorities and integrity and commitment by taxpayers, promote the formation of a tax governance model featuring open standards, fair rules, clear expectations, individual assumption of responsibilities and credit regulation, further solve taxpayers' problems concerning complicated procedures and difficulty in tax services from the institutional level, and continuously optimize the tax and business environment.
II. Main Tasks and Implementation Steps
(I) Sorting out and confirming retained tax-related certification items (by January 15, 2021)
It is required to, on the basis of sorting out tax-related certification items previously carried out, and in accordance with the laws, administrative regulations, rules and normative documents, and by comparing with the Operational Rules for Tax Collection and Administration and the Specifications on Tax Services for Tax Authorities Nationwide (Version 3.0), sort out and confirm the retained tax-related certification items, so as to lay a solid foundation for the full implementation of the notification and commitment system. (Under the leadership of the Tax Policy and Legislation Department with the cooperation of the relevant business departments and bureaus)
(II) Studying and clarifying tax-related certification items subject to the notification and commitment system (by the end of January 2021)
For the purpose of this Implementation Plan, "tax certificate" refers to the materials issued by administrative authorities or other organizations to describe objective facts or show that specific conditions are met that are provided by citizens, legal persons and other organizations when they apply to the tax authorities for handling tax items according to law. The notification and commitment system for tax-related certification items refers to the working mechanism under which when citizens, legal persons and other organizations apply to the tax authorities for handling tax items, the tax authorities inform the applicants of the obligation of proof, the content of proof and the legal liability for false commitment in a one-off manner in writing (including electronic text, the same below), and the applicants make a written commitment that they have met the relevant requirements of notification and are willing to assume the legal liability for false commitment, the tax authorities will no longer ask for the relevant certificates and shall handle the relevant tax items according to the written commitment.
Under the principle of facilitating people and benefiting enterprises to the maximum extent, it is required to study and clarify the tax-related certification items subject to the notification and commitment system in the retained tax-related certification items. The notification and commitment system shall be applied to the tax-related certification items that are closely related to the production, operation or life of taxpayers and are frequently used or difficult to obtain. The notification and commitment system shall be actively implemented for the certificates that can be obtained through information sharing and departmental assistance in investigation and can effectively prevent risks through ex post verification or that are issued by the tax authorities. However, the notification and commitment system shall not be applied to the relevant certificate matters that directly involve major national taxation security, State secrets or that belong to important foreign-related matters, which involve great risks, high cost of correcting errors and irretrievable damage. (Under the leadership of the Tax Policy and Legislation Department with the cooperation of the relevant business departments and bureaus)
(III) Determining the objects to which the notification and commitment system applies (by February 10, 2021)
For the tax-related certification items subject to the notification and commitment system, the applicants may decide at their own discretion whether to handle the items under the notification and commitment system. If the applicants are unwilling or unable to make the commitment, they shall submit the certificates required by the tax authorities in accordance with the laws and regulations or the decisions of the State Council.
For an applicant that has a relatively bad credit record or has made false commitment, the notification and commitment system shall not apply before the credit is restored. The specific circumstances to which the notification and commitment system shall not apply shall be specified by the State Taxation Administration. (Under the leadership of the Tax Policy and Legislation Department with the cooperation of the relevant business departments and bureaus)
(IV) Standardizing the working procedures for the notification and commitment system (by the end of March 2021)
The working procedures for the notification and commitment system shall be prepared item by item and the format of the letter of notification and commitment system shall be developed in accordance with the requirements of comprehensiveness, accuracy, clear rights and responsibilities and accessibility. The written notification shall include the name of the items , basis for setting, content of proof, means of commitment, civil, administrative and criminal liabilities that may be borne by any false commitment, the power of tax authorities to verify, whether the letter of commitment is made public, and the scope and time limit of the disclosure. It is imperative to adhere to the principle of seeking truth from facts, and ensure that the relevant requirements are quantifiable and easy to operate, without any vague expression or miscellaneous provision. The contents of the written commitment shall include the items of which the applicant is aware, the applicant has met the relevant conditions and is willing to bear the legal liability for any false commitment and the truthfulness of the commitment. (In the charge of the relevant departments and bureaus according to the assignment of their duties)
(V) Modifying the information system and guidelines for handling tax-related items (by the end of June 2021)
For the supporting modification of the working procedures and documents in the information system, the notification and commitment system, the text of the letter of notification and commitment and the identification and handling documents of false commitment shall be embedded in the information system, and relevant information shall be recorded, collected and pushed in the information system. The relevant guidelines for handling tax-related items shall be modified. (Under the leadership of the Tax Policy and Legislation Department, the Taxpayer Service Department and the Revenue Planning and Accounting Department, with the cooperation of the relevant business departments and bureaus)
(VI) Releasing the catalogue, text and guidelines (by the end of June 2021)
The catalogue of tax-related certification items subject to the notification and commitment system shall be released in the form of an announcement, made available to the public through the websites of the tax authorities, at tax service places, and the format text of the letter of notification and commitment and guidelines for handling tax-related items shall be simultaneously released to facilitate the applicants to consult, request or download the same. (In the charge of the Tax Policy and Legislation Department and the Taxpayer Service Department in accordance with the assignment of their duties)
(VII) Official Implementation and Continuous Improvement (from July 1, 2021)
The notification and commitment system shall be formally implemented in accordance with the scope of tax-related certification items and guidelines for handling tax-related items announced for promoting the notification and commitment system, and follow-up analysis and evaluation shall be strengthened. The State Taxation Administration shall, in light of the status of the inter-department information sharing and administrative assistance mechanism as well as the level of interim and ex-post regulation, expand the scope of application of the notification and commitment system in due time, and further promote the complete cancellation of the relevant tax-related certification items. All tax services of the State Taxation Administration of all provinces, autonomous regions, centrally administered municipalities and cities with independent planning status (hereinafter referred to as "all provincial tax services") may, at their own discretion, announce the decision not to ask for the relevant supporting documents and letter of commitment any more, and file the same with the State Taxation Administration for record, replacing the supporting documents with the inspection results. (Under the leadership of the Tax Policy and Legislation Department with the cooperation of the relevant business departments)
(I) Strengthening interim and ex-post verification. The measures for interim and ex-post verification shall be determined in light of the characteristics of tax-related certification items and other classification method; the credit and risk status of the one making the commitment shall be taken as important factors for determining the verification measures, and the time, standard and method of verification as well as whether to be exempted from verification shall be specified. For the items that are exempted from verification, the regulatory authorities shall comprehensively apply "oversight through inspections by randomly selecting law enforcement officers/inspectors and requiring the prompt release of inspection results", focused regulation, "Internet plus regulation" and smart regulation, and shall not take discriminatory regulatory measures against the applicants that are handled by means of the notification and commitment system. If a false commitment is found in the verification or daily regulation, the handling shall be terminated; rectification shall be ordered within a time limit; administrative decisions shall be revoked or administrative penalties shall be imposed in accordance with the law, and the information shall be determined as dishonesty information based on the identification and handling documents of false commitment. If a crime is suspected, the case shall be transferred to the judicial authorities in accordance with the law. Efforts shall be made to conscientiously implement the Several Provisions of the State Council on Online Government Services and strive to solve the problem of poor sharing of government information resources between tax authorities and local governments. The relevant data shall be collected and compared by making use of the government information sharing platform, government service mobile client, block chain technology, etc., and online verification shall be conducted, and on-site verification may also be carried out by means of inspection, etc. If on-site verification is indeed necessary, the information on the commitment shall be timely and accurately pushed to the relevant tax officers by relying on the "Internet plus Regulation" platform and applications, so as to provide information support for front-line regulation and law enforcement. Meanwhile, work procedures shall be optimized and business collaboration shall be strengthened to avoid annoyance or disturbance to enterprises or citizens. If the relevant data has not been shared online or it is difficult to verify through the aforesaid methods, the tax authorities shall actively request other administrative organs to assist in the verification through the tax assistance and tax protection mechanism. (In the charge of relevant business departments in accordance with the assignment of their duties)
(II) Strengthening credit regulation. The dishonesty in notification and commitment shall be based on legally binding documents. If a false commitment is found through verification or daily regulation, etc., the information on dishonesty shall be determined according to the identification and handling documents of false commitment. The relevant information shall be recorded and collected in the tax administration system, and included into taxpaying credit evaluation. If a tax firm has objection to the deduction of points for dishonesty based on false commitment, it may apply to the tax authorities for review or review of taxpaying credit. It is required to strengthen the interconnection and sharing of taxpaying credit evaluation results by relying on the credit information sharing platforms at all levels and the taxation credit information system. It is imperative to apply taxpaying credit evaluation results, and implement differentiated service and administrative measures. It is also required to protect the relevant information and trade secrets of taxpayers properly in accordance with the laws and regulations. (In the charge of the Tax Service Department, Revenue Planning and Accounting Department, and relevant business departments in accordance with the assignment of their duties)
(III) Strengthening the prevention and control of taxation risks. It is required to sort out the risk points in the work links and take measures to effectively improve their risk prevention capabilities. It is also required to strengthen administrative guidance and intensify the obligations of notification and guidance. Meanwhile, it is imperative to establish a commitment withdrawal mechanism; prior to the completion of the tax-related items, the applicant may withdraw the application for commitment if it has a proper reason. After the withdrawal, the tax-related items shall be handled under the original procedures. For tax-related certification items that involve social public interests or interests of a third party, or for which verification is difficult, the party concerned shall announce the letter of commitment to the public and accept social supervision. If the party concerned refuses to do so, it shall submit the required supporting documents for the tax-related items. (In the charge of relevant business department in accordance with the assignment of their duties)
(I) Strengthening the organization and leadership. Tax authorities at all levels shall effectively strengthen the leadership over the full implementation of the notification and commitment system, and effectively deal with the organization and implementation. The Tax Policy and Legislation Department of the State Taxation Administration shall take the lead in effectively carrying out the notification and commitment system for tax-related certification items, make overall arrangements for the items to be promoted and the needs for reporting to the information system modification. All competent business departments or bureaus shall study and formulate work procedures for each tax-related certification item that is subject to the notification and commitment system, clarify the format of the letter of notification and commitment, risk control measures, inspection measures and the identification document of false commitment. The Taxpayer Service Department shall update the guidelines for handling tax-related items, and implement the provisions on including false commitment into taxpaying credit evaluation. The Revenue Planning and Accounting Department and the E-Tax Management Center shall effectively deal with modifying and adjusting the information system. All provincial tax services shall make careful arrangements, put in place the responsibilities, take an active part in the work coordination mechanism established by local governments, strengthen information sharing and administrative assistance among departments, and report the effectiveness, data and typical experience and practice of the notification and commitment system in a timely manner.
(II) Carrying out training and publicity. It is imperative to organize study and training, strengthen business communication, and improve the ability of front-line personnel to implement the policies. It is imperative to strengthen publicity and guidance, publicize in depth the significance, main practices, typical experience and implementation effects of the full implementation of the notification and commitment system for tax-related certification items through newspapers, radio, television, the Internet and other channels, give play to the demonstration and leading role, reasonably guide social expectations, respond to social concerns in a timely manner, and create a favorable atmosphere for public opinions. (In the charge of the Tax Policy and Legislation Department and Tax Publicity Department in accordance with the assignment of duties)
(III) Strengthening supervision and inspection. Tax authorities at all levels shall strengthen supervision and inspection of the implementation of the notification and commitment system for tax-related certification items, carry out focused inspection of outstanding problems reported by taxpayers such as inadequate implementation of the system, and strictly investigate the liability of taxpayers according to the law for ineffective implementation or outstanding problems. (In the charge of the Tax Policy and Legislation Department, and the Supervision and Internal Audit Department in accordance with the assignment of their duties)
Tax authorities at all levels shall take the full implementation of the notification and commitment system for tax-related certification items as an important measure, accelerate the promotion of the reform of "streamlining administration, delegating powers, strengthening regulation and optimizing government services", reduce institutional transaction costs, reduce the burden of taxpayers, and stimulate the vitality of market players for development. All provincial tax services shall report to the State Taxation Administration (Tax Policy and Legislation Department) any problems found during the full implementation of the notification and commitment system for tax-related certification items as well as relevant opinions and suggestions.
