Standardizing supervision and promoting development, and trying to create a fair and competitive tax environment-Interview with Wang Jun, Director of the State Administration of Taxation

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 20th, title: Regulating supervision and promoting development, and trying to create a fair competitive tax environment-Interview with Wang Jun, Director of the State Administration of Taxation

Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Yuxiao

A fair and competitive market environment is a necessary condition for the healthy development of market players, and it is also an inherent requirement for building a new development pattern, promoting high-quality development, and promoting common prosperity. What role does the tax department play in promoting fair competition? How to further improve the level of tax and fee service and better stimulate the vitality of market players? The reporter interviewed Wang Jun, director of the State Administration of Taxation.

　　Reduce tax burden and create a fair competitive market environment

A good tax environment is an important guarantee for promoting fair competition and healthy development of enterprises.

“General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we should promote the formation of a fair and competitive market environment, and create broad development space for various market entities, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.” Wang Jun said that this important directive is implemented by the taxation department, which is to find ways to reduce the nominal tax rate. In the end, we will try every means to increase the actual levy rate, try every means to combat tax evasion, and try every means to optimize tax and fee services, and promote the formation of a situation where enterprises of various ownerships and large, medium and small enterprises of all sizes compete for development, benign interaction, and standardization.

Wang Jun introduced that in recent years, taxation authorities have actively participated in tax system reforms and the formulation of preferential tax and fee policies, promoted the continuous reduction of nominal tax rates and fee rates, ensured that large-scale tax reductions and fee reductions took effect, and actively supported the development of various market entities, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. .

-Multi-tax reforms will effectively reduce the nominal tax rate. Through the implementation of the VAT reform reform, double taxation was eliminated, the value-added tax rate was drastically reduced for two consecutive times, the standard tax rate of 17% was reduced to 13%, and the tax rate of small-scale taxpayers was reduced from 3% to 1% in stages. The policy of halving the corporate income tax for small and low-profit enterprises has been stepped up, bringing the actual tax rate to 2.5%. The contribution rate of basic pension insurance units for urban employees has dropped from 20% to 16%, and the social insurance payment burden of enterprises, especially small and micro enterprises, has dropped substantially.

-Large-scale tax cuts and fee reductions have significantly reduced the macro tax burden. During the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period, the country’s new tax cuts and fees totaled more than 7.6 trillion yuan, of which tax cuts were 4.6 trillion yuan, driving China’s macro tax burden from 18.13% in 2015 to 15.2% in 2020. Nearly 3 percentage points.

Tax reduction and fee reduction not only focus on inclusiveness, but also focus on pertinence. Wang Jun said that from the perspective of enterprise types, science and technology innovation enterprises are the main beneficiaries. With the continuous strengthening of the R&D expense deduction policy, the number of enterprises in the country enjoying the policy has increased from 52,600 in 2015 to 427,000 in 2020. From the perspective of different ownership systems, private enterprises are the main beneficiaries. From January to August this year, private enterprises increased taxes and fees by 304.4 billion yuan, accounting for more than 70%. From the perspective of enterprise scale, small and micro enterprises are the main beneficiaries. From January to August this year, a total of 140.2 billion yuan in tax cuts were added to the preferential tax and fee policies to promote the development of small and micro enterprises, accounting for 45.2% of the total new tax cuts.

　　Pay equal attention to “rigid” and “soft”, and promote fair competition with fair supervision

Tax supervision is very complicated, and the task of scientific supervision is even heavier. Wang Jun pointed out that in recent years, the taxation department has differentiated the situation, implemented effective policies, tried every means to stop leakage and increase revenue, increased the actual collection rate, and tried every means to investigate and quickly investigate tax evasion, and promote fair competition through fair supervision.

First, for minor violations without subjective intention, optimize tax enforcement methods and implement flexible and warm enforcement. For example, in April this year, the first batch of tax administrative penalties including 10 items of “first violation without penalty” list was launched, and more than 60,000 taxpayers have benefited in six months. In the first quarter of next year, the second batch of “No Punishment for First Violation” list will be launched.

Second, for general tax-related violations, use big tax data to continuously improve the dynamic “credit + risk” supervision system, strengthen precise supervision, and improve supervision efficiency. Do not disturb or less disturb taxpayers with high credit and low risk; strictly manage and supervise taxpayers with low credit and high risk. During the “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” period, the number of risky taxpayers analyzed and dealt with by the taxation department fell by an average of 22.1% annually, and the average tax paid by each household increased by 29.7% annually. This reflects the effectiveness of precise supervision on the one hand, and also shows that taxpayers are on the other hand. Risk awareness and awareness of the rule of law have been continuously improved, and tax law compliance and compliance have been continuously improved.

Third, we will resolutely and severely crack down on criminals’ malicious tax evasion and will not be merciless at all. From August 2018 to the end of September 2021, the State Administration of Taxation, the Ministry of Public Security, the General Administration of Customs, and the People’s Bank of China jointly launched a three-year special action to continuously and accurately combat “fake enterprises”, “fake invoices” and “fake exports” to obtain tax refunds and preferential tax and fee discounts. , Investigated and dealt with 444,800 enterprises suspected of violating the law, and cracked 325 cases involving more than one billion yuan and 39 cases involving more than 10 billion yuan.

　　Optimize services to better stimulate the vitality of market players

To promote the formation of a more fair and competitive market environment, high-level services are indispensable. Wang Jun introduced that this year the taxation department launched the “I Do Practical Work for Taxpayers and Facilitate Private Tax Services” and introduced 100 service measures. The number of service complaints in the first three quarters decreased by 17.8% compared with the same period in 2020.

Wang Jun said that the focus of the tax department’s work on optimizing tax and fee services is mainly reflected in the “three changes” –

Shift from focusing on offline services to focusing on both online and offline services. At present, 203 of the 214 businesses can be handled online. Nearly 90% of tax-related matters and 99% of tax declarations can be handled online. The social insurance premiums paid by enterprises and individuals that have just been transferred to the taxation department were also handled in June this year. Basically realized online and handheld operations.

Shift from focusing on common services to focusing on personalized services. Relying on big tax data, the preferential tax policies are linked with the data of taxpayer payers, and a nationwide unified 9-category 4-level 4219 tax label system has been established, and “point-to-point” accurate push. Since the beginning of this year, 47 batches of tax preferential policies have been accurately pushed, benefiting 513 million taxpayers.

Shift from focusing on procedural services to focusing more on rights and interests services. For example, in recent years, in order to serve the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, the “16+10” Yangtze River Delta integrated taxation support system has been built to promote the uniformity of law enforcement standards in the region. Since October 1 this year, the taxation department has implemented a unified tax administrative penalty discretionary standard in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, unified the penalty standards for 53 tax violations in 7 categories, and effectively protected the legitimate rights and interests of taxpayers.

Wang Jun said that the taxation department strives to build a smart taxation driven by big tax data after five years of hard work, and realize the transition from empirical law enforcement to scientific and precise law enforcement, and from undifferentiated services to refined, intelligent and personalized services. Service transformation, from “tax management by invoice” to “tax management by data” classified and precise supervision, comprehensively improve tax law enforcement, service, and supervision capabilities, and better create a fair and competitive tax environment.