Decree No. 58 of the State Administration of Taxation

The Measures for the Administration of Tax-related Professional Services (for Trial Implementation) have been deliberated and adopted at the second meeting of the State Administration of Taxation on March 12, 2025, and are hereby promulgated to take effect on May 1, 2025.

Director of the State Administration of Taxation: Hu Jinglin

March 17, 2025

Measures for the Administration of Tax-related Professional Services (for Trial Implementation)

Chapter I: General Provisions

Article 1 These Measures are formulated in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection and its implementation rules, the Regulations on Optimizing the Business Environment and other laws and regulations and the relevant decisions of the State Council in order to standardize tax-related professional services, protect the legitimate rights and interests of taxpayers, maintain the national tax order, promote fair competition in the market, and further optimize the business environment.

Article 2 These Measures shall apply to the provision of tax-related professional services by tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel within the territory of the People's Republic of China.

Tax-related professional services refer to the tax agency and other services provided to the client on tax-related matters by accepting the entrustment and using professional knowledge and skills.

Tax-related professional service institutions refer to tax agent firms, accounting firms, law firms, bookkeeping agencies, tax agency companies, financial and taxation consulting companies and other institutions that provide tax-related professional services.

Tax-related service personnel refer to the personnel who serve or are employed to provide tax-related professional services in tax-related professional service institutions, as well as other personnel who provide tax-related professional services in accordance with laws, regulations and departmental rules.

Article 3 The taxation authorities shall establish and improve the credit management and risk management mechanism for tax-related professional services based on the real-name system, insist on attaching equal importance to management and services, regulate and support the tax-related professional service industry to provide personalized services to taxpayers in accordance with the principle of marketization.

Article 4 Tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel shall adhere to the principles of independence, objectivity, impartiality and standardization in providing tax-related professional services, abide by laws, regulations and relevant provisions, follow the business norms of tax-related professional services, and abide by professional ethics.

Article 5 The tax authorities shall strictly regulate the interaction between tax personnel and tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel.

Tax authorities and their tax staff shall not participate in or interfere with the business activities of tax-related professional service institutions in violation of regulations.

The tax authorities and their tax staff shall keep confidential the trade secrets or personal privacy learned in the course of the management of tax-related professional services in accordance with the law.

Article 6 The tax authorities shall strictly implement the duties of supervision and management, actively give play to the role of self-discipline and social supervision of industry associations, and strengthen the guidance of party building in the tax agent industry.

Chapter II: Scope of Management

Article 7 Tax-related professional services include the following:

(1) Tax declaration agency;

(2) General tax consultation;

(3) Professional tax advisors;

(4) tax compliance plan;

(5) Tax-related verification;

(6) Review of tax payment;

(7) Handling other tax matters;

(8) Other tax agents.

Article 8 The taxation authorities shall implement classified management of tax-related professional services. Tax-related professional services include general tax-related professional services and specific tax-related professional services.

Items 1, 2, 7 and 8 of Article 7 of these Measures are general tax-related professional services, and Paragraphs 3 to 6 of Article 7 are specific tax-related professional services.

Article 9 Those engaged in tax-related professional services shall have corresponding professional knowledge and skills in taxation.

Article 10 The tax authorities shall implement administrative registration management of tax agent firms.

Chapter III: Management and Services

Article 11 The taxation authorities shall establish and improve the working mechanism for the management of tax-related professional services, and implement centralized management and services for tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel.

The tax authorities shall strengthen the informatization of the management of tax-related professional services, improve the level of intelligence and digitization of management and services, and realize the functions of data integration, intelligent analysis, risk warning, real-time monitoring, and information push of tax-related professional services.

Article 12 The taxation authorities shall strengthen the management of the real-name system of tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel, and tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel shall provide tax-related professional services with their real identities.

Before providing tax-related professional services for the first time, tax-related professional service institutions shall truthfully report the basic information of the institution and its tax-related service personnel to the tax authorities, and update the relevant information in a timely manner according to the actual situation.

Other persons who provide tax-related professional services in accordance with laws, regulations and departmental rules shall, before providing services for the first time, truthfully report their basic information to the in-charge taxation authorities at the place of household registration, habitual residence or place where the services are provided.

Tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel shall truthfully sign the declaration form and other tax-related documents.

Article 13 The tax authorities shall use information technology to assign credit codes to tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel.

The credit code is in the form of a QR code, which can display the basic information of the holder and its credit status by scanning the code.

Tax-related professional service institutions submit basic information and make credit commitments, and obtain credit codes for tax-related professional service institutions.

Tax-related service personnel shall obtain the credit code of tax-related service personnel through real-name authentication through channels such as the electronic tax bureau.

Article 14 Tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel shall truthfully report the information on the elements of the business entrustment agreement to the tax authorities when providing the tax-related professional services agreed in the business entrustment agreement to the client. Among them, the provision of tax-related professional services in Paragraphs 1 and 7 of Article 7 of these Measures shall be submitted before the provision of services, and the relevant information shall be updated in a timely manner according to the actual situation; Those who provide tax-related professional services in items 2 to 6 and 8 of Article 7 of these Measures shall submit them within 30 days from the date of signing, changing or terminating the business entrustment agreement.

When taxpayers and withholding agents entrust tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel to handle tax matters on their behalf, they shall indicate to the tax authorities the principal-agent relationship and relevant authorization matters, and clarify the rights and obligations of both parties.

The tax authorities shall conduct real-name verification on the taxpayers and tax agents authorized by the withholding agents. For taxpayers and withholding agents who work as tax personnel, the taxpayers, withholding agents and tax personnel shall confirm the employment or entrustment agency relationship in the tax information system.

The tax authorities shall rely on the tax information system to verify the tax handling personnel in the tax handling process to ensure that they handle tax-related matters within the scope authorized by the client.

Article 15 The taxation authorities shall establish a system for collecting information on tax-related professional services, and use the existing information platform to collect business information by classification and improve the level of analysis and utilization.

Where tax-related professional services are provided in paragraphs 3 to 6 of Article 7, information on relevant business elements shall be submitted to the tax authorities.

Article 16 Tax-related professional service institutions shall strengthen the construction of compliance, improve the internal control system, establish a quality management system and risk control mechanism, and standardize the contracting and conduct of business in accordance with the requirements of the tax-related professional service business specifications.

In the course of business implementation, tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel shall strengthen the publicity and guidance of the client's tax law to promote the improvement of tax law compliance.

If it is necessary to issue tax-related reports and documents, the tax-related service personnel undertaking the business shall sign and affix the seal of the tax-related professional service institution to the client and deliver it to the client, which shall be retained by both parties for future reference. If it is submitted by laws, regulations and the provisions of the State Administration of Taxation, it shall be submitted to the tax authorities.

Tax-related professional service institutions shall support tax-related service personnel to participate in continuing education and business training to maintain their professional competence.

Article 17 Tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel shall truthfully and accurately issue invoices in accordance with the tax classification codes of goods and services corresponding to the tax-related professional services category when providing tax-related professional services to the client.

Article 18 The taxation authorities shall establish a credit evaluation management system for tax-related professional services, and the credit of tax-related professional service institutions (English name is Tax Service Credit, abbreviated as TSC) is divided into five levels in order from highest to lowest, namely TSC5, TSC4, TSC3, TSC2 and TSC1.

The tax authorities shall adopt a combination of credit scores and negative professional records for tax-related service personnel to conduct credit records, establish an incentive mechanism for accumulating credit scores, and provide them with inquiry and download services for their own credit records.

The tax authorities shall take incentive and restraint measures based on the credit status of tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel.

Article 19 The taxation authorities shall publicize the list of tax-related professional service institutions and their credit status on the portal website, electronic tax bureaus and tax service venues, and at the same time publicize the list of tax agent firms that have not been administratively registered, the list of key supervision targets, and the untrustworthy entities in tax-related services.

The tax authorities shall establish an information announcement system for tax-related professional service institutions, and provide inquiry services such as the credit rating and ranking of tax-related professional service institutions, so as to facilitate taxpayers and withholding agents to independently compare and select tax-related professional service institutions.

Article 20 The tax-related professional services required by the tax authorities shall strictly implement the relevant provisions on government procurement of services.

Article 21 The tax authorities shall provide facilitation services for tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel, and continuously optimize the tax agency function of the tax information system.

The tax authorities may set up a special window or area for tax-related professional service institutions in areas where tax-related professional service institutions are concentrated.

Article 22 The tax authorities shall intelligently aggregate the relevant data of tax-related professional service institutions through the information system, simplify the information submission, and regularly generate the overall annual service information of the tax-related professional service institutions, so as to provide reference for them to strengthen internal management, prevent practice risks, and improve the credit rating of tax-related professional services.

Article 23 The taxation authorities shall strengthen the publicity, guidance and professional training of tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel, and establish and improve the communication mechanism with tax-related professional service institutions, their industry associations and taxpayers.

Article 24 The tax authorities shall strengthen the supervision and guidance of the tax agent industry associations, give full play to the exemplary and leading role of the tax agent industry in the tax-related professional service industry, establish a working contact system with other relevant industry associations such as certified public accountants, lawyers, and bookkeepers, strengthen industry self-discipline and supervision, guide compliance and integrity management, and promote the high-quality development of the tax-related professional service industry.

The tax authorities may entrust industry associations to evaluate the quality of the practice of tax-related professional services provided by tax-related professional service institutions.

The National Association of Tax Agents is responsible for formulating the business specifications for tax-related professional services, which shall be implemented after approval by the State Administration of Taxation.

Chapter IV: Supervision and Inspection

Article 25 The  taxation authorities shall carry out risk management on tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel, and supervise and inspect their risk matters such as evasion of tax-related professional service management, non-payment of taxes in accordance with law, and practice violations.

The tax authorities shall strengthen the monitoring and handling of the issue of tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel publishing information on tax-related violations of laws and regulations.

Article 26 The taxation authorities shall be responsible for inspecting the practice of tax-related professional services, including the following inspections:

(1) The internal system construction of tax-related professional service institutions;

(2) The basic information submitted by the tax-related professional service institutions;

(3) The professional qualifications of tax-related professional service institutions;

(4) The business information submitted by the tax-related professional service institutions;

(5) The implementation of tax-related professional service business specifications by tax-related professional service institutions;

(6) Tax-related reports and documents to be retained for future reference;

(7) Other supervision and inspection matters.

Article 27 The tax authorities shall formulate an inspection plan based on the daily management of the credit and risk of the tax-related professional service institutions, clarify the basis, frequency, method, content and procedures of the inspection, and select the objects to be inspected; It can also be inspected according to the monitoring of reports and complaints, tax-related violations and regulations.

Article 28 The taxation authorities may inspect the tax-related professional service institutions by means of on-the-spot inspection, collection of business files, inquiry, inquiry, and remote investigation, and may record, record, videotap, photograph and reproduce the circumstances and materials related to the inspection.

Article 29 After the completion of the inspection, the tax authorities shall form an inspection report.

If the inspection finds that the tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel have violated the provisions of these measures, the in-charge tax authorities shall deal with it.

If the inspection finds that there are other tax-related problems of tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel, the tax authorities shall deal with them in accordance with the regulations; If it is the responsibility of other departments, it shall be transferred by the in-charge taxation authorities to the department with the right to handle it.

If the inspection finds that the tax personnel have improper contacts with tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel, or are suspected of abusing their powers, dereliction of duty, favoritism, etc., the tax authorities shall transfer them to the discipline inspection and supervision institutions for handling according to the cadre management authority, and transfer the suspected violations and crimes to the judicial organs.

Article 30: The tax authorities shall strengthen coordinated management with relevant departments such as finance, judicial administration, market regulation, and internet information.

Chapter V: Disposition and Punishment

Article 31 In case of any of the following circumstances in violation of these Measures, the in-charge taxation authorities shall remind and order correction within a time limit or give an interview.

Deduction of credit points or inclusion in negative credit records (except in the first and second cases); If the circumstances are more serious or the corrections are not made within the time limit, the in-charge taxation authorities shall list them as key targets for supervision, deduct credit scores, lower credit ratings, or include them in negative credit records (except for the first and second circumstances), and give risk warnings to the client and the in-charge taxation authorities where the client is located; If the circumstances are serious, the in-charge taxation authorities shall list them as untrustworthy entities in tax-related services and make an announcement, and give risk warnings to the client and the in-charge taxation authorities for the place where the client is located, and the tax-related business they represent shall be handled by them and the client at the tax authorities on the spot:

(1) Using the name of a tax agent firm without going through administrative registration;

(2) Providing tax-related professional services but failing to submit the basic information of tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel as required;

(3) Failing to submit the entrustment agreement and business information of tax-related professional service business as required;

(4) The basic information, business entrustment agreement, and business information submitted are inconsistent with the actual situation;

(5) Obstructing the tax authorities from performing their duties in accordance with these Measures;

(6) Failing to handle business as a tax-related service personnel but as a tax officer of the entrusting party, or otherwise handling business without a real identity;

(7) Failing to truthfully fill in and sign the declaration form and other tax-related documents on behalf of the tax-related business;

(8) Engaging in relevant tax-related professional services without the corresponding professional ability;

(9) Tax-related service personnel provide tax-related professional services in their personal name in violation of regulations;

(10) Other acts in violation of the administrative regulations of the tax authorities.

Where there are circumstances in item (1) of the preceding paragraph and corrections are not made within the time limit, in addition to handling it in accordance with the above provisions, the tax authorities shall request the market regulation department at the same level to order it to change the registration of market entities within a set period of time; If the correction is still not made within the time limit of the market regulation department, the tax authorities shall request the market regulation department at the same level to revoke their business licenses.

Article 32 In any of the following circumstances, tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel shall be listed as key targets of supervision by the in-charge taxation authorities, deduct credit scores, lower credit ratings or include them in negative credit records, and give risk warnings to the client and the in-charge taxation authorities where the client is located; where the circumstances are more serious, the in-charge taxation authorities are to list them as untrustworthy entities in tax-related services and make an announcement, and give risk warnings to the client and the in-charge taxation authorities for the place where the client is located, and the tax-related business they represent shall be handled by the tax authorities together with the client; where the circumstances are serious, the tax authorities of districted cities and autonomous prefectures are to list them as seriously untrustworthy entities in tax-related services and make a public announcement, and give risk warnings to the client and the competent tax authorities where the client is located, and the tax-related business they represent shall be handled by the tax authorities on the spot with the client, and the information shall be notified to the relevant departments for supervision and joint disciplinary action, and the tax authorities for which the tax agent firm is administratively registered shall declare the "Tax Agent Firm Administrative Registration Certificate" invalid, and request the market regulation department to revoke its business license. The National Association of Tax Agents is requested to cancel the registration of the professional qualification certificate of tax agents, withdraw its professional qualification certificate and announce it to the public, and the tax authorities shall submit to other industry authorities and industry associations for corresponding treatment of other tax-related professional service institutions such as accounting firms, law firms, bookkeeping agencies and their tax-related service personnel:

(1) Violating tax laws and administrative regulations, causing the client to fail to pay or underpay taxes or fraudulently obtain tax incentives, and is punished in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection" and its implementation rules;

(2) Failing to practice in accordance with the norms of tax-related professional service business and issuing false opinions;

(3) Employing improper means such as concealment, fraud, bribery, collusion, kickbacks, improper promises, malicious low prices, false tax-related publicity and advertising, etc., to undertake business, harming the interests of state taxation, the interests of the client or others;

(4) Publicly distorting and interpreting tax policies and disrupting the normal tax order;

(5) Instigating, inducing, or helping others to carry out tax-related activities;

(6) Taking advantage of services to seek improper benefits;

(7) Extorting taxpayers or withholding agents in the name of tax authorities and tax personnel;

(8) Conveying improper benefits to the staff of the tax authorities and their spouses, children and their spouses and other relatives and other persons with specific relationships, or instigating or inducing the client to convey improper benefits;

(9) Other violations of taxation and related laws and regulations.

Article 33: Where there are any of the circumstances listed in the first paragraph of Article 31, and the circumstances are more serious or corrections are not made within the time limit, a fine of up to 1,000 RMB is to be imposed on the institution and up to 500 RMB is to be imposed on the personnel; where the circumstances are serious, a fine of up to 2,000 RMB is to be imposed on the institution and up to 1,000 RMB is to be imposed on the personnel.

If the client violates tax laws and administrative regulations, causing the client to fail to pay or underpay taxes or fraudulently obtain tax incentives, the tax-related professional service institutions and tax-related service personnel shall be punished in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection and Collection and its implementation rules; If the tax-related professional service institution has been punished in accordance with the law, and the tax-related service personnel to which it belongs have not been punished in accordance with the law, the tax-related service personnel who are directly responsible shall be fined less than 1,000 yuan; where the circumstances are more serious, a fine of up to 2,000 RMB is to be imposed; where the circumstances are serious, a fine of up to 5,000 RMB is to be imposed.

In the case of items 2 to 9 of Article 32, if the person is not punished in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations, the tax-related professional service institution shall be fined not more than 2,000 yuan and the tax-related service personnel shall be fined not more than 1,000 yuan; if the circumstances are more serious, a fine of not more than 5,000 yuan shall be imposed on the tax-related professional service institution and not more than 2,000 yuan shall be imposed on the tax-related service personnel; If the circumstances are serious, a fine of not more than 10,000 yuan shall be imposed on the tax-related professional service institution and up to 5,000 yuan shall be imposed on the tax-related service personnel.

Article 34 If a tax-related professional service institution has evidence to prove that the illegal acts of tax-related service personnel are personal acts unrelated to the institution, it may be exempted from the punishment of the tax-related professional service institution.

Article 35 Where the tax authorities and their tax staff violate the provisions of these Measures, the directly responsible persons and relevant responsible persons shall be dealt with in accordance with regulations, discipline and law.

Chapter VI: Supplementary Provisions

Article 36 The provincial-level taxation authorities may, in accordance with these Measures and in light of local conditions, formulate specific implementation measures and report them to the State Administration of Taxation for the record.

Article 37:  The term "below" in these Measures includes this number.

Article 38: These Measures take effect on May 1, 2025.

If the relevant administrative provisions on tax-related professional services before the implementation of these Measures are inconsistent with these Measures, these Measures shall prevail.

Article 39 These Measures shall be interpreted by the State Administration of Taxation.