Interpretation of the Announcement of State Taxation Administration on Amending the Measures for Administration of Complaints Regarding Tax Service

Source: General Office of the State Taxation Administration

I. Background for Revision of the Measures

Tax authorities at all levels have accepted taxpayers' complaints and safeguarded their legitimate rights and interests under the guidance of the Measures for Administration of Complaints Regarding Tax Service (Announcement No. 49 of State Taxation Administration, 2015, hereinafter referred to as the previous Measures), since its revision in 2015. In recent years, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have deepened the reform of collection and management system of national and local tax, promoted the reform of "Streamlining Administration, Delegating Power, Strengthening Regulation and Improving Service", tax system, tax cut and fees reduction and other major decision-making arrangements, and put forward new requirements for speed-up and efficiency-increase in the management of complaints regarding tax service. Only by further standardizing the management of tax service complaint and improving the efficiency of complaint handling can we better solve the most concerned, direct and realistic problems of the taxpayers and payers. This is also an important measure for tax authorities at all levels to seriously implement the theme education of “Remaining True to Our Original Aspiration and Keeping Our Mission Firmly in Mind”. Therefore, the previous Measures was revised and the Announcement on Amending the Measures for Administration of Complaints Regarding Tax Service was issued by the State Taxation Administration, striving to “satisfy” taxpayers and payers with the “painstaking efforts” of tax staff.

II. Main Considerations for Revision

The followings are considered in revising the previous Measures: The first thing is to serve people and solve their problems following the theme of “Remaining True to Our Original Aspiration and Keeping Our Mission Firmly in Mind”. Adhere to problem orientation, conquer problems with quick action, and revise the previous Measure in view of taxpayers’ centralized reflection of problems in complaint management. The second thing is to focus on the new situation and new requirements to enrich the content. Improve the main body of complaints, add the review link, and broaden the effective channels for taxpayers to safeguard their rights in accordance with the division of duties and responsibilities of tax authorities after deepening the reform of collection and management system of the national and local tax. The third thing is to response to taxpayers’ demands and guard their rights and interests. Further reduce the time limit for handling and optimize the process, and establish rapid handling mechanism to protect taxpayers’ legitimate rights and interests to the greatest extent in view of such problems as long time limit and complexity of dealing with complaints that taxpayers reflect. The fourth thing is to integrate existing regulations, facilitate the taxpayers and regulate the taxpayers. Sort out and integrate the tax preferential policies of small and micro enterprises in different documents to implement the provisions of rapid handling of complaints and personal income complaints regarding tax service, which facilitates not only taxpayers, but also the standardization and implementation of grass-roots tax authorities.

III. Main Contents of the Revision

(I) Extending the subject of complaints. The revised Measures includes the payers in the scope of tax service complainant to meet the requirements of the reform of the collection and management system of national and local tax and the duties of social insurance premiums and non-tax income collection and management transferred to tax department.

(II) Clarifying the business boundaries. The revised Measures reorganizes the scope of acceptance of complaints regarding tax service and further clarifies the boundary between the complaints and reporting regarding tax service.

(III) Defining the scope of acceptance. The revised Measures further optimizes the acceptance scope and classification of complaints after comparing with the provisions on the legal rights of taxpayers in the Announcement on the Taxpayers’ Rights and Duties and in combination with the Tax Service Standards for National Tax Authorities and the Guide to Taxation for Taxpayers: The first thing is to revise the complaint of “service attitude” to “words and deeds of services”, so as to further clarify the complaint content. The second thing is to reclassify and describe the contents of service quality and effectiveness complaints and complaints against the rights and interests of taxpayers, thus making it more consistent with the deepening of "Streamlining Administration, Delegating Power, Strengthening Regulation and Improving Service" in the tax system, with more detailed content to facilitate the implementation of local tax authorities.

(IV) Shortening the handling time limit. The first thing is that the handling time limit of various affairs is shorten by 50%: The duration of acceptance review is reduced from 2 working days to 1 working day, and the handling time limit for service quality and rights protection complaints is reduced from 20 working days to 10 working days, and that for complaints of service words and deeds is reduced from 10 working days for complaints regarding original service attitude to 5 working days. The second thing is that the summary procedures of the complaints are simplified. Simple procedures are applicable to on-site complaints, the same complaints that occurred in a certain period of time and situations with clear opinions, and immediate settlement is taken to further speed up the handling.

(V) Establishing a rapid handling mechanism. To implement the decisions and deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council in recent years, the State Taxation Administration has promulgated tax preferential policies for small and micro enterprises, implemented the rapid handling mechanism of complaints, and strengthened the complaint management of personal income tax service. To maximize the protection of taxpayers’ legitimate rights and interests, this revision integrates the current effective complaints to facilitate the implementation of tax authorities at the grass root. Furthermore, considering the perspectiveness of the reform, the rapid handling mechanism is also applicable to the complaints of social insurance premiums and non-tax income collection services raised by natural persons, and better meet the more diverse and urgent demands of natural persons.

(VI) Standardizing the complaint handling process. The first thing is related to receiving and acceptance. Where a taxpayer makes repeated complaints on the same matter through different channels, it is stipulated that the tax authorities may consolidate the complaints for handling. In the case of repeated complaints without new evidence, the procedures for the taxation authorities to terminate the investigation are stipulated; the second thing is that the procedures of investigation and verification are standardized, clarifying the basic procedures such as verification, communication, mediation, and submission of opinions; The third thing is that the requirements for handling and feedback of complaints are further clarified, handling decisions are made to the tax authorities, and the feedback implement results is regulated.

(VII) Adding the review process. In recent years, the remedy way for taxpayer's objection to the handling result is not clarified in the previous Measures, which led to the increase of the taxpayer's entanglement with the complaint. This revision regards the review of higher tax authorities as a relief. If the handling results are considered unfair, the complainant may apply to the higher tax authorities for review, which not only improves the effective channels for taxpayers to safeguard their rights, but also strengthens the supervision and management of the complaint handling of lower units by the higher authorities through the implementation of the review mechanism.