The platform companies' tax filing for the first quarter will start on April 1st. The platform will strictly review the quality of submitted data.

On April 1, the State Taxation Administration held a regular press conference.

In response to the chaos of “invoice-related economy” that disrupts the country’s unified national market and distorts economic data, the tax authorities reported the phased achievements of the special governance efforts in the first quarter, and clarified that they will implement cross-departmental coordinated supervision and joint punishment, removing the soil that allows the “invoice-related economy” to grow. At the same time, the submission of tax-related information by internet platform enterprises for the first quarter of 2026 was officially launched.

Crack down hard on the “invoice-related economy,” and solidify the bottom line of tax rule of law for fair competition

The “invoice-related economy” is a prominent form of irregular investment promotion and “involution-style” competitive comparison in some regions at present. A relatively typical situation is that some localities attract all kinds of platforms engaged only in invoice issuance business or “shell companies” registered locally by means such as irregular fiscal rebates tied to taxes, and that some enterprises, for the purposes of boosting performance, obtaining financing, and so on, artificially inflate sales revenue through “circular invoice issuance” and “mutual invoice issuance” among related enterprises, injecting “water” into the local GDP and creating a false impression of “digital prosperity.”

Wang Daoshu, Deputy Director of the State Taxation Administration, said that the “invoice-related economy” violates the Tax Collection and Administration Law, the tax substantive law, and the measures on invoice administration. It not only disrupts the order of economic tax collection and causes actual losses of fiscal resources to the state, but also damages the environment for fair competition, splitting the unified national market. It may also trigger other risks due to enterprises’ performance embellishment and irregular lending, seriously deviating from the requirements of the CPC Central Committee on establishing and practicing a correct outlook on political achievements, and seriously affecting high-quality development.

In recent years, tax authorities have continued to carry out special governance on tax-related problems involving irregular investment promotion. At the national tax work meeting held earlier this year, it was required that tax authorities at all levels strictly implement the predetermined measures for special governance of tax-related problems involving irregular investment promotion, and intensively address the problem of the “invoice-related economy.”

Wang Daoshu said that the tax authorities have also achieved preliminary results in correcting “circular invoice issuance” and “mutual invoice issuance.” According to data from the State Taxation Administration, from January 1 to March 25, the invoice amounts of such enterprises concentrated more in the wholesale industry fell year on year by 2.6%. Of these, the invoice amounts for wholesale of coal and related products, and wholesale of metals and metal ores, fell year on year by 8.7% and 5.2%, respectively.

Wang Daoshu said that in the next step, tax authorities will intensify the efforts to correct the “invoice-related economy” in accordance with the law and regulations. By focusing on key areas for rectification such as cluster-based registrations, key industries, and related companies, they will improve risk monitoring indicators, strengthen routine scanning and analysis, and, based on verification results, quickly iterate and upgrade, continuously improving screening accuracy.

Tax authorities will carry out key verifications of high-risk areas, industries, and enterprises pointed to by risk scanning, and will continue to reduce existing stock and curb new growth, driving a continuous decline in both the number of enterprises issuing invoices irregularly nationwide and the invoice amounts. For illegal acts such as issuing fraudulent invoices, they will investigate and punish them severely, with zero leniency. For “shell companies” and invoice platforms attracted through irregular bonus-and-subsidy measures or tax rebates, as well as for violations such as “turning around to move orders” and “circular invoice issuance,” they will take targeted handling measures.

Wang Daoshu said that to clear away the soil that allows the “invoice-related economy” to grow, relevant parties and all sectors of society need to work together. For regions and business entities where problems related to the “invoice-related economy” are more prominent, the tax authorities will promptly share the relevant information with departments such as the NDRC, the Ministry of Finance, the statistics authorities, market regulation authorities, and financial institutions, and will improve and完善 the institutional mechanisms for coordinated rectification of “invoice-related economy” problems, pool the forces of cross-department coordinated supervision, implement joint punishment, and enhance governance effectiveness.

Tax-related submission by platform enterprises has officially started in Q1

“Tax-related information submission work for the first quarter of 2026 has started today.” Li Lianqifeng, Director of the Tax Administration and Technology Development Bureau under the State Taxation Administration, said that tax authorities will continue to provide consultation and guidance and technical support, continuously improving the convenience of platforms’ reporting of numbers. They also urged platform enterprises to continue依法依规 submitting in accordance with the law 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 “Provisions on the Submission of Tax-Related Information by Internet Platform Enterprises” (hereinafter referred to as the “Provisions”), requiring internet platform enterprises to submit, on a quarterly basis, tax-related information such as the identity information and income information of operators and practitioners within the platform to their competent tax authorities.

With active support and cooperation from platform enterprises, as well as operators and practitioners within the platforms, nearly 8,200 domestic and overseas platforms have already submitted tax-related information to tax authorities. Li Lianqifeng said that in the fourth quarter of 2025, the amount for which small-scale taxpayers within the platform obtained invoices increased year on year by 28%. The role of tax-related information submission in promoting compliance-driven linkage across the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain continued to become more apparent. The number of merchants within the platforms that paid taxes increased by 32% compared with before the implementation of the “Provisions,” and the gap between the average tax burden of online merchants and offline merchants was clearly narrowed.

Judging from the tax-related information submission situation in the fourth quarter of 2025, most platforms substantially brought forward their submission time compared with the first submission (the third quarter of 2025). The number of operators and practitioners within the platforms, and the scale of revenue reported by each platform, both saw month-on-month growth of more than 10%, and the quality of submitted information was further improved.

At the same time, the operating order of the platform economy began to improve. Tax-related information submission makes platform operating data explicit. The space for illegal operations such as merchants within the platform failing to register, hiding income, splitting income, converting income nature, and so on has been greatly compressed. Illegal business activities such as false marketing, malicious order padding, and low-price dumping within the platform began to decrease. The effect of tax-related information submission in enabling the platform economy to “push back against involution” continued to become evident.

Li Lianqifeng said that in the next step, tax authorities will strictly verify the quality of data submitted by platforms and firmly prevent issues such as fraud and reporting that does not match the facts. At the same time, they will further deepen the analysis and application of tax-related information to identify tax risks of merchants within platforms and provide compliance declaration reminders. For those that have违法 behavior and do not correct it, tax authorities will severely investigate and punish them. In addition, they will select typical cases for external disclosure in due course to effectively maintain a fair and unified tax environment and better promote the standardized and healthy development of the platform economy.

More than RMB 2 trillion in tax benefits for science and technology have been implemented; strictly prevent “fake high-tech” and “pseudo R&D” from cheating for policy dividends

The “14th Five-Year Plan” Outline sets “a significantly higher level of scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening” as one of the main goals for the development of economic and social undertakings. To support scientific and technological innovation, tax authorities have continued to promote the implementation of various tax and fee preferential policies that support technological innovation in a practical and detailed manner.

Huang Yun, spokesperson of the State Taxation Administration and director of the General Office, introduced that in 2025, the main tax and fee policies supporting scientific and technological innovation—via reducing taxes and fees and via tax refunds—amounted to more than RMB 2 trillion. Among them, the policy on additional deduction for R&D expenses provided tax relief exceeding RMB 760 billion; the preferential income tax rate of 15% for high-tech enterprises resulted in tax relief of nearly RMB 400 billion; enterprises in manufacturing and scientific and technological service industries received VAT credit refunds exceeding RMB 180 billion; and the tax relief enjoyed by advanced manufacturing enterprises under the VAT additional deduction and offset policy exceeded RMB 170 billion.

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

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

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

In addition, the integration of the digital economy with the real economy is steadily deepening. In 2025, the sales revenue of core industries of the digital economy and the total amount of national enterprises’ procurement of digital technology increased year on year by 9.4% and 9.6%, respectively. From January 1 to March 25 this year, they further increased year on year by 9.5% and 9.7%, respectively, reflecting that digital industrialization and industrial digitization are continuing to be advanced.

Huang Yun said that in the next step, tax authorities will rely on tax big data and information technology means to continue conducting targeted policy delivery, further improving policy awareness, the ease of filing, and the accuracy of enjoyment. Meanwhile, they will focus on policies with large amounts of tax reduction and exemption, fast growth in scale, and high risks of fraudulent enjoyment, and will improve the mechanisms for routine risk scanning and early warning. They will both strictly prevent tax personnel from failing in their duties, and strictly investigate and punish fraudulent enjoyment of preferential benefits through means such as “fake high-tech” and “pseudo R&D,” and resolutely prevent policy “bonuses” from ending up in the “pockets” of illegal actors.

（Source: Securities Times）