The State Administration of Taxation ("SAT") has recently issued the Announcement on Matters Concerning the Administrative Registration of Certified Tax Agents (the "Announcement"), effective from March 1, 2018.
The Announcement expressly states that a certified tax agent may serve as the partner or shareholder of another certified tax agent, provided that it fulfill three conditions, two of which read as "its managing partner or legal representative is a tax accountant" and "it has not received any tax administrative punishment for its tax-related professional services in the past three years". Also, the Announcement provides that a technology company or a consulting company that engages in tax-related professional services, is allowed to serve as the partner or shareholder of a certified tax agent, on the condition of meeting three requirements, such as "it is initiated and established by a tax account or a partner (shareholder) of a certified tax agent and its legal representative is a tax accountant" and "it has not received any tax administrative punishment for its tax-related professional services in the past three years".