What is a fully digitalized electronic invoice?

On November 30, 2021, the Shanghai Municipal Tax Service, Guangdong Provincial Tax Service, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Tax Service successively issued the "Announcement on Carrying Out the Pilot Work of Fully Digitalized Electronic Invoices" (hereinafter referred to as the "Announcement"), clarifying that starting from December 1, relying on the nationwide unified electronic invoice service platform, the pilot of fully digitalized electronic invoices (hereinafter referred to as "fully digitalized e-invoices") would be carried out, providing taxpayers with 24-hour online free services such as issuance, delivery, and verification of fully digitalized e-invoices, and realizing the electronicization of invoices in all fields, all links, and all elements.

The Shanghai Municipal Tax Service, Guangdong Provincial Tax Service, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Tax Service simultaneously released interpretations of the Announcement. We will answer difficult questions beyond the interpretation of the Announcement and take you to gain an in-depth understanding of fully digitalized e-invoices.

1. Policy background

Question 1: Why did the Shanghai Municipal Tax Service, Guangdong Provincial Tax Service, and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Tax Service simultaneously issue the Announcement on November 30 to carry out the fully digitalized e-invoice pilot?

In March 2021, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of Tax Administration," taking as the guiding ideology "focusing on building smart taxation with high integration functions, high security performance, and high application efficiency, centered on serving taxpayers and fee payers, with invoice electronicization reform as the breakthrough, and driven by tax big data," and also requiring "(5) steadily implement the invoice electronicization reform. In 2021, build a nationwide unified electronic invoice service platform to provide taxpayers with 24-hour online free services such as application, issuance, delivery, and verification of electronic invoices." Fully digitalized e-invoices are precisely an important part of national tax work in the 14th Five-Year Plan and also the implementation of the 2021 work requirements of the "Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of Tax Administration."

2025

Basically achieve electronification of invoices across all fields, all links, and all elements, focusing on reducing institutional transaction costs;

Continuously expand the scope of nationwide handling of tax- and fee-related matters for cross-province operating enterprises, basically achieving nationwide handling by 2025;

Achieve deep integration, efficient linkage, and comprehensive upgrading of tax law enforcement, services, supervision, and big data intelligent applications;

2023

Deeply advance automatic analysis and management of taxpayer and fee payer behavior;

Change the traditional filing model based on forms; by 2023, basically achieve automatic data extraction, automatic tax calculation, and automatic pre-filling of filings by information systems;

2022

Build a nationally unified and standardized electronic tax bureau, continuously expanding "contactless" and "no-meeting" tax and fee payment services;

Simplify the procedures for enterprises to handle cross-province relocation of tax- and fee-related matters, and basically achieve mutual recognition of qualifications across regions by 2022;

2021

Build a nationally unified electronic invoice service platform, providing taxpayers with 24-hour online free services for e-invoice application, issuance, delivery, and verification;

Formulate and issue national standards for electronic invoices, and orderly advance the electronification of invoices in railway, civil aviation, and other fields;

Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of Tax Collection and Administration - 14th Five-Year Plan