Zhang Hui, Deloitte China TaxAtion South China |, Southern Finance Dialogue: Deepening tax collection and management reform and optimizing the tax business environment in the Greater Bay Area

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Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has undergone three major changes in tax collection and management, achieving breakthroughs from "cooperation" and "merger" to "synthesis".

In 2015, the "Plan for Deepening the Reform of the National Tax and Local Tax Collection and Management System" issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council promoted the "cooperation" of national tax and local tax;

In 2018, the "Reform Plan for the Collection and Management System of National Tax and Local Tax" issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council implemented the "merger" of national tax and local tax;

In March 2021, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council announced the Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of Tax Collection and Management, which will promote the third reform of tax collection and management, which can be summarized as "synthesis", which is the system optimization of law enforcement, service and supervision, and the integration and upgrading of business processes, system norms, information technology, data elements, and job responsibility systems.

This is a breakthrough in the deep integration of tax services, law enforcement and supervision, and a breakthrough in tax reform and innovation from gradual to systematic integration.

The tax department is the public service window unit with the most contact with the public, the highest frequency, the closest connection and the most direct service, closest to the market entity, related to tens of millions of corporate taxpayers, hundreds of millions of natural person taxpayers and more than one billion payers, the tax business environment is the main symbol of the competitiveness of the region in the global industrial order.

As one of the four provinces in the country that has deepened the tax collection and management reform, Guangdong has experienced tax-related service institutions as the tax department further deploys a series of measures to deepen the tax collection and management reform? Zhang Hui, Deloitte China TaxAtion South China Regional Leader, southern financial all-media dialogue, on how to optimize the tax business environment in the Greater Bay Area and how to continue to stimulate the vitality of market players, and gave views and suggestions.

Southern Finance and Economics: This year,the two provincial meetings will include "coordinated tax management" in the government work report, and the tax department also proposed to deepen and expand the pattern of tax co-governance. Tax-related intermediaries are one of the links in the tax co-governance pattern, in the deepening of tax collection and management reform, how can tax accountant firms play the role of third-party intermediaries and integrate into the deepening of tax collection and management reform?

Deloitte China Zhang Hui: Actively participating in government-led collaborative governance and playing a benign role in the reform of collection and management is our unshirkable responsibility as a tax-related service agency. Specifically, we need to play three roles in the reform:

First, it is necessary to be a good "liaison" for government-enterprise communication. We serve all walks of life, all types of enterprises and individual customers, including large foreign enterprises, state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, as well as small and micro enterprises and individuals. We are willing to assist tax authorities to collect feedback on the implementation of tax policies and the effects of tax services from the perspective of enterprises and professional service institutions, pay attention to the "pain points" and "blockages" reflected by taxpayers, and provide suggestions and suggestions for optimizing the tax business environment in Guangdong. For tax risk matters that arise in the operation of enterprises, they will also communicate through the increasingly normalized three-party communication mechanism between tax authorities, tax-related professional service institutions and taxpayers, so as to play a positive role in improving tax compliance, early detection and control of tax risks, and cracking down on tax-related violations.

The second is to be a good "counselor" for business operations. Taking the current electronic invoice reform, which has attracted much attention as an example, we have collected, sorted out and feedback on the demands of taxpayers in a timely manner, helping many enterprises to complete the preparation and implementation of the implementation of the landing work. At the same time, on the basis of the reform of electronic invoices, we are also actively studying tax big data and carrying out tax economic analysis, hoping to assist the Guangdong Taxation Bureau and taxpayers in this field to create smart taxation with high integration functions, high security performance and high application efficiency, and further improve the ability of tax data to serve taxation and serve society.

The third is to be a good "propagandist" of tax and fee policies. This year, the Guangzhou Municipal Taxation Bureau cooperated with us to compile and release the "Guangzhou Foreign-Invested Enterprise Tax Publicity Manual". The handbook includes three themes: introduction to China's tax system, preferential fiscal and tax policies, business environment and tax facilitation, which will help foreign investors understand Guangzhou's policy environment, feel the enthusiasm of Guangzhou's investment promotion, and enhance the city's competitiveness. In the next step, we will continue to pay attention to the various tax policies issued by the tax department and help to popularize the relevant policies.

Southern Finance: Which of the series of measures deployed in Guangdong is the one you are most looking forward to?

Deloitte China Hui Zhang: What I'm most looking forward to is the innovative approach to cross-border tax administration and services. As the forefront of reform and opening up, Guangdong is taking the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area as the guide and continuing to deepen reform and opening up.

As the highland of reform and opening up, Guangdong is not only a hot land to attract foreign investment, but also an important base for many domestic enterprises to go overseas. Therefore, we have found in our work that cross-border taxation is a very concerned issue for many taxpayers.

In fact, in recent years, we have seen the tax authorities of Guangdong Province make a lot of efforts in this regard. For example, the Guangdong Taxation Bureau took the lead in launching the electronic system of foreign payment tax filing "International Foreign Exchange Tax Pass", which facilitates taxpayers to handle the filing of foreign exchange payment; explores the innovative application of cross-border RMB business in the field of taxation, and promotes the online cross-border RMB electronic tax payment (fee) business function; the Guangzhou Nansha District Taxation Bureau has also issued the "Advance Ruling System" and "Early Neutral Assessment Measures for Cross-border Tax-related Matters in the Bay Area" on the basis of learning from foreign experience, which has carried out useful explorations in enhancing tax certainty. Although we are still facing uncertainties such as the downward pressure on the global economy and the new crown epidemic, we have reason to expect that Guangdong Province will "go further" in the field of cross-border taxation, better serve "bringing in" and "going out" enterprises, and enhance the international competitiveness of Guangdong Province.

Southern Finance: For enterprises and individuals, what changes will this reform bring?

Deloitte China Zhang Hui: First of all, tax processing will be more convenient. Under the current situation of normalization of the prevention and control of the new crown epidemic, "non-contact" tax-handling services are a major "weapon" created by the tax bureau. This reform will make the scope of "contactless" tax services larger and faster, and the application of scenarios will be more humane. It is conceivable that in the future, enterprises and individuals can realize online handling and handheld handling of tax matters without leaving their homes. At the same time, we expect that the intensity of consolidated tax declarations will also increase, which can greatly reduce the burden of taxpayers to fill in the report, but also reduce the probability of taxpayers making false declarations.

Second, the application of policies will be more precise. First, the tax bureau will use big data means to actively identify the different needs of taxpayers and payers, and accurately push information such as declaration reminders, the latest policies, and tax guidelines. The second is to improve the implementation of preferential tax policies, and the interpretation and implementation of preferential policies will be released simultaneously with preferential policy documents, so as to help taxpayers understand the policy practice in a timely manner and reduce the uncertainty caused by the lag of supporting measures. Moreover, the procedures and procedures for enjoying preferential policies will also be further streamlined, and most of the preferential policies in the future will no longer require prior approval by the tax authorities, and taxpayers only need to do a good job of "self-judgment declaration and data retention for future reference" to enjoy.

In addition, businesses and individuals will feel the impact of "taxation by numbers" more. The "Opinions" of the two offices depict the future planning of digital taxation, in which management methods such as electronic invoice reform, "one-household" tax information for legal persons, "one-person" intelligent aggregation of tax information for natural persons, and sharing and application of tax big data will have a significant and far-reaching impact on taxpayers. Therefore, taxpayers should also actively consider improving the tax management model and means, docking the digital application of the tax authorities, and accelerating the digitalization and professionalization of tax management to adapt to and match the future tax management methods of the tax authorities.

Southern Finance: What positive impact will this reform have on Guangdong's economic development and the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area?

Deloitte China Zhang Hui: There is no doubt that this reform will become a powerful "booster" for Guangdong's economic development and the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which is mainly reflected in several aspects in the field of tax collection and management:

First of all, it is to promote the unification of tax enforcement standards. Tax authorities in different regions or different departments of tax authorities sometimes have inconsistent interpretations, characterizations and treatment calibers for the same tax-related behavior, which is a problem that taxpayers have reflected more in the past. This reform will further strengthen precise law enforcement and enhance the standardization and uniformity of tax law enforcement, with the intention of preventing and correcting extensive, selective, and one-size-fits-all arbitrary law enforcement. To this end, the tax authorities will take a series of measures, such as publicizing the law enforcement process, conducting collective review of major law enforcement decisions, and providing online inquiries on the law enforcement circulation process and results.

Second, it is to implement a more scientific classification management model. For enterprises engaged in new industries, new formats and new models, the tax bureau will adhere to an inclusive and prudent attitude to promote the development of enterprises and fair competition; for enterprises with general risks, the tax department will carry out risk tips, effectively use "flexible" law enforcement methods such as persuasion education, interview warnings, etc., so that law enforcement has both strength and temperature; for illegal and criminal acts such as false tax fraud, the tax department will increase its efforts to implement accurate and effective crackdowns.

Finally, this reform will also push cross-regional cooperation to become the norm. The Guangdong tax department will actively serve the construction of the "dual zone" of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Shenzhen Pilot Demonstration Zone by deepening cross-regional cooperation, realizing the exchange of law enforcement information and mutual recognition of law enforcement results. The Guangzhou Municipal and Shenzhen Municipal Taxation Bureaus are carrying out a "twin-city linkage", and for tax matters involving non-resident enterprises involving the two places, they can only apply to the tax department of one city for prior ruling, and the tax authorities of the two places will reach a unified ruling opinion through internal cooperation and issue it to non-resident taxpayers for enforcement. Through this innovative service initiative, non-resident taxpayers can no longer submit information multiple times, and can also enhance the certainty of tax law application and the consistency of tax policy enforcement.

In short, through this reform, the tax department is expected to achieve "a ruler" for law enforcement, "classification" of management, and "seamless docking" of cooperation, which will help optimize the business environment in Guangdong and help the coordinated development of the Greater Bay Area.

Planning: Zhou Zhongqing, Jiang Linshan

Producer: Fang Xiaorong Xiang Xiufang

Camera: Yuan Sijie, Xiao Hang

Written by: Fang Xiaorong

Dubbing: Hong Kaining

Producer: Yuan Sijie

Intern reporters: Wang Yi, Wu Yingru, Wang Yinghua

Gu RuiHaolan Liu together

Poster Design: Jojo Zhang

Editor: Li Qun

Correspondent: Weng Hanhao Guan Lian

Styling design: Wang Yu'an CICI

New Media: Ding Qingyun, Zeng Tingfang, Lai Xi, Ding Haili

Producer: Southern Finance All Media Group

(Author: Yuan Sijie Xiao Hang Editor: Li Qun)

(Author: Yuan Sijie Xiao Hang Editor: Li Qun)