Pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Measures of the People's Republic of China on Invoices (Order No. 587 of State Council) and the Administrative Measures on Online Electronic Invoices (Order No. 30 of State Taxation Administration), the Guangdong Provincial Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration has decided to enroll selected taxpayers in the pilot program of using the “Tax Chain” Blockchain Electronic Invoice Platform to issue general-purpose invoices. The relevant matters are announced as follows:

I. The general-purpose invoices issued by the “Tax Chain” Blockchain Electronic Invoice Platform are paperless electronic invoices with the same legal validity, basic function and general rules as the general-purpose invoices issued by other invoicing software recognized by the tax authorities. Should the invoice issuer and receiver require a paper invoice, they can print out the invoice format document by themselves.

II. The pilot work of the “Tax Chain” Blockchain Electronic Invoice Platform will be phased in among different user groups. Taxpayers in the pilot program should properly keep the user identity of the invoice issuer and ensure the authenticity, integrity and security of the invoicing information. Organizations and individuals receiving invoices issued by the “Tax Chain” Blockchain Electronic Invoice Platform can check and verify the invoices through the Guangdong e-Tax Bureau, and are entitled to reject non-compliant invoices.

III. The format of general-purpose invoices issued by the “Tax Chain” Blockchain Electronic Invoice Platform are consistent with other general-purpose invoices. The invoice code is 144001809010, in which the 6th and 7th digits indicate the year, the 8th digit (“0”) stands for the invoice type of “general-purpose invoice”, the 9th digit (“9”) distinguishes it from other invoicing software as a marker of invoices issued by the Blockchain Electronic Invoice Platform, the 10th and 11th digits tell the batch information and 12th digit represents the exemption from invoice value limit. The invoice number is in 8 digits, prepared by year and batch number. Please find the sample invoice in the annex. The manual of the “Tax Chain” Blockchain Electronic Invoice Platform is published on the Guangdong e-Tax Bureau (https://www.etax-gd.gov.cn/xxmh/html/index.html), accessible to taxpayers in the pilot program for download and reference.

IV. The pilot work of the “Tax Chain” Blockchain Electronic Invoice Platform will be phased in among different user groups, and the detailed arrangements, including the scope of pilot taxpayers, are available in the notice on the website of the Guangdong Provincial Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration (http://www.gd-n-tax.gov.cn/gdsw/index.shtml).

V. The Announcement shall take effect from the date of publication.

The above is hereby announced.

Annex: sample invoice

Guangdong Provincial Tax Service of State Taxation Administration

December 4, 2018