Perusahaan platform akan memulai pelaporan pajak kuartal pertama pada 1 April. Platform akan melakukan pemeriksaan ketat terhadap kualitas data yang disampaikan.

4 April, the State Taxation Administration held a regular press conference.

Regarding the chaos of “invoice issuance economy” that disrupts the national unified big market and distorts economic data, the tax authorities briefed on the phased effectiveness of the special governance campaign in the first quarter, clarified that they will implement cross-departmental coordinated supervision and joint punishment, and remove the soil in which “invoice issuance economy” breeds; at the same time, the tax information reporting work for internet platform enterprises for the first quarter of 2026 officially kicked off.

Crack down hard on “invoice issuance economy” and firmly uphold the bottom line of tax rule of law for fair competition

“Invoice issuance economy” is currently a form of outstanding performance in some regions’ illegal investment attraction and “involution-style” competitive comparison. A fairly typical situation is that some localities attract all kinds of platforms or “shell companies” that only engage in invoicing business to register and settle locally through illegal financial rebates linked to taxation, and some enterprises, for purposes such as making bigger performance and obtaining financing, artificially inflate sales revenue by means like “circular invoicing” and “mutual invoicing” among related enterprises, inject “GDP water” into the local area, creating the illusion of “digital prosperity.”

Wang Daoshu, vice minister of the State Taxation Administration, pointed out that “invoice issuance economy” violates the Tax Collection and Administration Law, the tax substantive law, and the Measures for Invoice Administration. It not only damages the order of economic taxation and causes actual losses to the state’s financial capacity, but also harms a fair competition environment, splitting the national unified big market. It may also, due to enterprises’ performance embellishment and illegal borrowing, trigger other risks, seriously deviating from the requirements of the CPC Central Committee on establishing and practicing the correct view of political achievements, and seriously affecting high-quality development.

In recent years, the tax authorities have continued to carry out special governance of tax-related issues involving illegal investment attraction. The national tax work conference held earlier this year required tax authorities at all levels to strictly implement the established measures for special governance of tax-related issues concerning illegal investment attraction, and to thoroughly rectify the problem of “invoice issuance economy.”

Wang Daoshu said that the tax authorities’ rectification of “circular invoicing” and “mutual invoicing” has also achieved initial results. According to data from the State Taxation Administration, from January 1 to March 25, the invoicing amounts of enterprises concentrated more in the wholesale industry decreased year-on-year by 2.6%. Among them, the invoicing amounts of wholesale of coal and related products decreased by 8.7%, and wholesale of metals and metal ores decreased by 5.2% year-on-year.

Wang Daoshu said that next, the tax authorities will step up the rectification of “invoice issuance economy” in accordance with laws and regulations. By focusing on key areas for treatment such as clustered registrations, key industries, related companies, etc., improving risk monitoring indicators, strengthening normalized scan-and-analysis, and based on verification results, rapidly iterating and upgrading, they will continuously improve screening accuracy.

The tax authorities will conduct key verifications on high-risk regions, industries, and enterprises pointed to by risk scans, continue to clear out existing stock and curb incremental growth, and promote a sustained decline in both the number of enterprises engaging in illegal invoicing nationwide and the invoicing amounts. For illegal acts such as issuing fake invoices, they will investigate and deal with them strictly—absolutely no leniency; for related illegal behaviors such as “shell companies” and invoicing platforms attracted through illegal reward-and-subsidy and tax rebate measures, as well as violations like “switching without real transactions” and “circular invoicing,” they will take targeted handling measures.

Wang Daoshu said that clearing the soil in which “invoice issuance economy” breeds requires joint efforts from relevant parties and all sectors of society. For regions and operating entities where “invoice issuance economy” problems are more prominent, the tax authorities will promptly push relevant information to agencies such as the NDRC, the Ministry of Finance, the National Bureau of Statistics, market regulation departments, and financial institutions, to improve and完善 the system and mechanisms for coordinated rectification of “invoice issuance economy.” They will pool the enforcement strength of cross-department coordinated supervision, implement joint punishment, and enhance governance effectiveness.

First-quarter tax-related information reporting by platforms has officially started

“Tax-related information reporting work for the first quarter of 2026 has already started from today.” Ren Qifeng, director of the Tax Collection and Administration and Technology Development Division of the State Taxation Administration, said that tax authorities will continue to provide consultation and guidance and technological support, continuously improve the convenience for platform enterprises to submit reports; they also ask all platform enterprises to continue reporting in accordance with laws and regulations to ensure that the information is true, accurate, and complete.

To create a fair and unified tax environment and promote the standardized and healthy development of the platform economy, in June last year the State Council issued the《Measures for the Reporting of Tax-Related Information by Internet Platform Enterprises》（hereinafter referred to as the《Measures》）, requiring that internet platform enterprises, on a quarterly basis, report to their主管 tax authorities tax-related information such as the identity information and income information of operators and employees within the platform.

With active support and cooperation from platform enterprises and operators and employees on the platforms, currently nearly 8,200 domestic and overseas platforms have already reported tax-related information to tax authorities. Ren Qifeng said that in the fourth quarter of 2025, the invoiced amount obtained by small-scale taxpayers within platforms increased by 28% year-on-year; the role of tax-related information reporting in promoting compliant linkage along the industrial chain has continued to be evident. The number of merchants within the platforms that paid taxes increased by 32% compared with before the implementation of the《Measures》; the gap in average tax burden between online merchants and offline merchants has become noticeably smaller.

Judging from tax-related information reporting in the fourth quarter of 2025, most platforms brought forward their reporting time significantly compared with their first submission (the third quarter of 2025); the numbers of operators and employees within the platforms and the revenue scale of the platforms increased quarter-on-quarter by more than 10% for each platform, and the quality of submitted information has further improved.

At the same time, the operating order of the platform economy has begun to improve. With tax-related information reporting, platform operating data becomes explicit; compliance spaces for illegal operations such as operators who should have registered but did not, and hiding income, splitting income, converting income nature, etc., have been significantly compressed. Violations in operations such as false marketing, malicious order-faking, and price dumping at low prices have begun to decrease. The “anti-involution” effect on the platform economy driven by tax-related information reporting continues to show.

Ren Qifeng said that next, tax authorities will strictly verify the quality of data reported by platforms, and will prevent issues such as fabrication and reporting that does not match the facts. At the same time, they will further deepen the analysis and application of tax-related information, identify tax risk of merchants within platforms and carry out compliance declaration reminders. For those who refuse to correct illegal behaviors, tax authorities will investigate and deal with them seriously. In addition, they will also select typical cases for public exposure afterward, so as to effectively maintain a fair and unified tax environment and better promote the standardized and healthy development of the platform economy.

Over 2 trillion yuan of tax incentives for tech innovation rolled out in full; strictly prevent “fake high-tech” and “pseudo R&D” from gaming policy benefits

The outline of the “Fifteenth Five-Year Plan period” sets “a significantly higher level of scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening” as one of the major goals for economic and social development. To support technological innovation, tax authorities have continued to promote the implementation of various tax and fee preferential policies supporting technological innovation.

Huang Yun, spokesperson and director of the General Office of the State Taxation Administration, introduced that in 2025, the main tax and fee policies currently supporting technological innovation, including tax cuts and fee reductions and tax refunds, exceeded 2 trillion yuan. Among them, the policy of an additional deduction for R&D expenses reduced taxes by over 760 billion yuan; the policy for high-tech enterprises of levying corporate income tax at a reduced rate of 15% reduced taxes by nearly 400 billion yuan; manufacturers and science and technology service enterprises received value-added tax input credit refund exceeding 180 billion yuan; and advanced manufacturing enterprises enjoyed the policy of an additional offset of value-added tax input credit, with tax reductions and exemptions exceeding 170 billion yuan.

Huang Yun pointed out that driven strongly by a package of supporting policies including tax and fee preferential policies, the integration of China’s scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation is accelerating.

On the one hand, the competitiveness of high-tech industries has been strengthened. In 2025, the sales revenue of high-tech industries grew by 13.9% year-on-year. From January 1 to March 25 this year, it also grew by 14.6% year-on-year, reflecting that industrial upgrading driven by technological innovation as the core driving force is continuing to deepen.

On the other hand, the力度 of transforming scientific research成果 has been increased. In 2025, the sales revenue of the scientific research and technology services industry and of knowledge property-intensive industries with higher technology content grew by 20.4% and 10.7% year-on-year respectively. From January 1 to March 25 this year, they further grew by 21% and 10.9% year-on-year respectively, showing that scientific and technological achievements are accelerating their transformation into real productive forces.

In addition, the development of integration between digital and real industries has been steadily deepening. In 2025, the sales revenue of core industries of the digital economy and the nationwide enterprises’ procurement amount of digital technologies grew by 9.4% and 9.6% respectively. From January 1 to March 25 this year, they grew by 9.5% and 9.7% respectively, reflecting that both digital industrialization and industrial digitization are being continuously promoted.

Huang Yun said that next, tax authorities will rely on tax big data and information technology means to continue to carry out precise policy delivery, further improving policy awareness, declaration convenience, and the precision of benefits. At the same time, they will closely focus on policies with large amounts of tax reductions, fast growth in scale, and high risk of gaming benefits; they will improve a normalized risk scanning and early warning mechanism. They will not only strictly prevent tax personnel from dereliction of duty and dereliction of responsibilities, but also strictly crack down on acts of gaming benefits through means like “fake high-tech” and “pseudo R&D,” and resolutely prevent policy “benefits” from landing in the “pockets” of illegal actors.

Proofread by: Liu Rongzhi