The General Office of the State Administration of Taxation ("SAT") has recently issued the Circular on Working Smoothly and Orderly on the Collection and Administration of Social Insurance Contributions (the "Circular").
The Circular outlines requirements in five respects. First, all levels of tax authorities engaged in the handover of duties in respect of the collection and administration of social insurance contributions shall ensure tasks of this reform will be completed smoothly as expected. Second, all levels of tax authorities that have undertaken the collection of social insurance contributions shall ensure the collection policy remains unchanged and their work continues steadily. Third, contribution services need to be optimized to ensure constant improvements to the business environment. Fourth, the guidance of public opinions shall be made better to ensure social expectations are stabilized. Fifth, vocational studies shall be intensified to ensure the proper duty performance. In particular, the Circular requires that, all levels of tax authorities shall, pursuant to requirements for the reform of "streamlining administration, delegating power and strengthening regulation, and improving services", assess the carrying capacity of the taxpayer service hall, the 12366 taxpayer service hotline and the information system, and optimize the setup of contribution windows and functions of online taxpayer service halls, in consideration of demands of social insurance contribution payers and the local actual situations, so as to enable such payers to make social insurance contributions by various means, such as in physical service halls, on the internet, on the mobile devices, and on the self-service machines.