The State Administration of Taxation ("SAT") has recently formulated and released the Announcement on Matters Concerning the Reshuffle of Tax Authorities and the Circular on Ensuring Effective Tax Collection and Administration during the Transition Period for the Reform in Tax Collection and Administration Systems for Local SAT Offices and Local Tax Bureaus, and distributed the Decision on Revising Some Rules of Tax Authorities, the Announcement on Revising Some Tax Normative Documents and the Announcement on Publishing the Catalog of Tax Normative Documents Entirely Invalidated and Those with Some Articles Invalidated (collectively as the "institutional documents") at the same time.
The institutional documents clearly state that, once the new tax authorities after the reshuffle have been established, functions and duties of the original local SAT offices and local tax bureaus with respect to tax levy and administration will be taken up by the new authorities that continue to perform these functions and duties, matters that have not been concluded yet shall be processed by the new authorities that continue to perform these functions and duties, and administrative decisions previously made shall remain valid. Taxpayers may handle tax affairs under the jurisdiction of original local SAT offices and local tax bureaus in the comprehensive taxpayer service halls or on the online taxpayer service system, meaning that all tax affairs may be handled in a one-stop way in the service hall or on the network. The institutional documents also sort out rules and normative documents of tax authorities that are incompatible with requirements on the reform in tax collection and administration systems for local SAT offices and local tax bureaus and unify the standards for the implementation of policies and the law enforcement criteria.