Fully digitalized e-invoices further expanded! Starting next month, electronic itineraries can be reimbursed without printing!

Following the promotion of fully digitalized e-invoices in the railway passenger transport sector, on November 6, the State Taxation Administration, the Ministry of Finance, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China jointly issued an announcement that, starting from December 1, 2024, fully digitalized e-invoices—air transport electronic ticket itineraries (hereinafter referred to as "electronic itineraries")—will be promoted in China's civil aviation passenger transport service sector, further facilitating travel for passengers and reimbursement for employers.

A relevant person in charge of the Tax Collection and Administration and Science and Technology Development Department of the State Taxation Administration introduced that tax authorities have conscientiously implemented the deployment requirements of the Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of Tax Collection and Administration issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council regarding "orderly advancing invoice electronification in railway, civil aviation and other fields", responded to the needs of the broad masses of passengers, and after promoting the use of fully digitalized e-invoices in the railway passenger transport field in the earlier stage, have now expanded it to the civil aviation passenger transport service field.

After the full promotion and use of electronic itineraries, passengers can obtain automated and intelligent issuance and delivery services for electronic itineraries, meeting different types of needs without needing to obtain paper itineraries, saving the mailing cost of paper itineraries. Unit financial personnel can use electronic itineraries for paperless reimbursement, posting, archiving, storage, and other business, realizing "online handling" of related business; units can log in to the electronic invoice service platform to query the VAT amount corresponding to the electronic itinerary and select deduction as required, eliminating the calculation procedure of converting based on the total price and reducing workload. In the future, as the use of paper itineraries decreases significantly, the costs of printing, distribution, voiding and recovery, printing system maintenance, and mailing of itineraries will also be greatly reduced.

To facilitate passengers and entities, a transition period from December 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025 has been set for the implementation of the civil aviation passenger transport service field. During the transition period, paper itineraries, electronic itineraries, and other invoices are used in parallel. It should be noted that paper itineraries, electronic itineraries, and other invoices cannot be issued repeatedly among the three.

(1) Announcement content

（II）Policy Q&A

I. How do air transport enterprises or agency enterprises issue and deliver?

Answer: Within 180 days after all itineraries of the purchased ticket are completed, passengers may apply for an electronic itinerary receipt through the official website, mobile client, service phone, and other channels of the air transport enterprise or agency enterprise, excluding additional services such as refunds, seat selection, and excess baggage; beyond 180 days, the agreement between the passenger and the air transport enterprise shall apply. Passengers purchasing international and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan air passenger transport services are temporarily not supported for electronic itinerary receipt issuance. The air transport enterprise or agency enterprise shall truthfully issue the electronic itinerary receipt based on the purchaser name, unified social credit code, and itinerary information provided by the passenger, and deliver the electronic itinerary receipt to the passenger via official website download, mobile client download, or email.

II. Can paper itineraries still be used for reimbursement, accounting, and tax deduction?

Answer: Passengers who need reimbursement and accounting shall obtain an electronic itinerary receipt or other invoice according to regulations; if the purchaser is a general VAT taxpayer, the input VAT amount for domestic civil aviation passenger transport services purchased shall be determined according to the VAT amount indicated on the electronic itinerary receipt or special VAT invoice. To maintain a smooth transition, for paper air transport electronic ticket itinerary receipts (hereinafter referred to as paper itinerary receipts) with flight dates before September 30, 2025, passengers may still use the paper itinerary receipt for reimbursement and accounting, and the purchaser may still determine the input VAT amount according to Article 6, Item 1, Point 2 of the Announcement on Policies Related to Deepening the VAT Reform (No. 39 of 2019).

III. How can a taxpayer or individual passenger obtain an electronic itinerary, and how can it be reimbursed and recorded after obtaining it?

Answer: The tax department synchronously transmits the electronic itinerary receipt to the purchaser through the Tax Digital Account of the Electronic Invoice Service Platform (hereinafter referred to as the Tax Digital Account). The purchaser may query, verify, download, print, and confirm the purpose of the electronic itinerary receipt through the Tax Digital Account, and may also throughNational VAT Invoice Verification Platform(https://inv-veri.chinatax.gov.cn) for verification. Passengers can query and download electronic itineraries through the personal ticket folder in the Individual Income Tax APP

At the same time, if reimbursement and booking are required, they should be executed in accordance with the Notice of the Ministry of Finance and the National Archives Administration on Standardizing the Reimbursement, Booking, and Archiving of Electronic Accounting Vouchers (Cai Kuai [2020] No. 6), the Measures for the Management of Accounting Archives (Order No. 79 of the Ministry of Finance and the National Archives Administration), the Work Specifications for Accounting Informatization (Cai Kuai [2024] No. 11), the Basic Functions and Service Specifications of Accounting Software (Cai Kuai [2024] No. 12), and the Ministry of Finance's provisions on accounting data standards for electronic vouchers.

IV. After a general VAT taxpayer issues or obtains an electronic itinerary, how should the VAT return be filled out?

Answer: The amount and tax amount of electronic itineraries issued by general taxpayers shall be filled in columns 3 to 4, "Other Invoices Issued," of the VAT and Additional Tax Return Attached Information (I) (Details of Current Period Sales). The input tax amount of electronic itineraries declared for deduction by general taxpayers shall be filled in the relevant columns of "Verified Special VAT Invoices" in the VAT and Additional Tax Return Attached Information (II) (Details of Current Period Input Tax) at the time of tax filing. If a general taxpayer has already used an electronic itinerary for VAT declaration and deduction, after the invoicing party initiates the red-ink reversal process, the VAT amount listed in the corresponding Red-Letter Invoice Information Confirmation Form shall be filled in column 20, "Input Tax Amount Specified in the Red-Letter Special Invoice Information Form," of the VAT and Additional Tax Return Attached Information (II) (Details of Current Period Input Tax).　

(3) Kailing Technology smart reimbursement solution

To help enterprises properly address the difficulties that flight fully digitalized e-invoices bring to employee reimbursement, Kailing Technology · Lingshuitong specially launched a "fast reimbursement, deduction, and archiving" solution, reshaping a new model of enterprise financial management and driving enterprises to achieve intelligent management across the entire chain from reimbursement to archiving.

▪ Automatically obtain invoices

The system connects seamlessly with the national tax platform and can automaticallySyncGet all of the company's invoice information(including air tickets - fully digitalized e-invoices). This automatic acquisition mode will greatly increase invoice processing speed, effectively reducing manual operation costs while ensuring the accuracy of invoice data.

▪ Fast invoice verification

In the invoice verification process, even if finance personnel are cautious, oversights may still occur, and the multiple verification methods of the Ling Shui Tong system are precisely able to address this situation. Whether it isMultiple mobile entry methods,Whether by scanner gun, manual entry, or file selection, any method canAutomatically verify invoice authenticity and check for duplicates during entry, avoid problematic invoices being recorded.

▪ Intelligent invoice selection

When enterprises perform checkbox certification, they can choose any method such as quick checkbox, intelligent checkbox, scanner checkbox, or mobile checkbox to select invoices (including flight tickets - fully digitalized e-invoices) for checkbox certification.

▪ One-click invoice archiving

In the invoice archiving stage, enterprises only need to log in to their electronic tax bureau account to obtain invoice data with one click (including air tickets - fully digitalized e-invoices), achieving one-click archiving.

▪ Anomaly - automatic alert

Abnormal invoice activity is not frightening; what is frightening is that enterprises cannot detect it in time, thereby planting hidden risks. LingShuiTong's underlying risk prevention and control capabilities can precisely solve this problem for enterprises! It conducts real-time online monitoring of seller risk points such as invoice title, item, specification, tax rate, remarks, as well as special invoice non-deductible business, seller absconding and loss of contact, seller tax registration status, and seller tax violations.

AtKailing TechnologyBusiness-Finance-Tax Integration Solution's support, enterprises will achieve full-process intelligent management in all links from invoice acquisition, verification, deduction, and archiving to risk prevention and control, greatly improving invoice management efficiency and easily handling invoice-related tax risks。

Policies are constantly changing, and Kailing Technology's services will continue to update accordingly, welcome to contact Kailing Technology to experience it!

As a comprehensive business-finance-tax digitalization solution service provider, Kailing Technology provides business-finance-tax management digital transformation products and operational services for various government agencies, institutions, and large, medium, and small enterprises. The product line includes:

Solutions for businesses including sales contract management system, procurement contract management system, fully digitalized Leqi interface project, output automatic invoicing system, employee expense control and reimbursement system, input VAT invoice management system, supply chain collaborative reconciliation system, image OCR recognition system, automatic financial bookkeeping system, and electronic accounting archives system, comprehensively driving the digitalization process across various fields.

If you have any business-finance-tax digital transformation needs, welcome to contact us. Beijing Kailing Technology will serve you wholeheartedly.