The State Administration of Taxation ("SAT") has recently issued the Announcement on Matters Concerning the First-time Application for Value-added Tax Invoices by Newly Established Taxpayers (the "Announcement"), effective from August 1, 2018 in areas other than Xinjiang, Qinghai and Tibet and effective from October 1, 2018 in Xinjiang, Qinghai and Tibet.
The Announcement expressly states that for the first-time application filed by a newly established taxpayer for obtaining value-added tax (VAT) invoices, the competent tax authority shall complete processing this application within two working days from the acceptance of the application, provided that the taxpayer meets three given conditions, one of which reads that "the real-name information of tax officers and the legal representative of the taxpayer has been collected and verified", and the competent tax authority, where conditions permit, may conclude this matter on the exact day such application is accepted. Moreover, the Announcement notes that for newly established taxpayers that apply for the first time for obtaining VAT invoices and satisfy the aforesaid criteria, tax authorities shall assess the categories of invoices; the maximum sum indicated on either VAT special invoices or VAT ordinary invoices is CNY100,000, and a taxpayer may obtain 25 sets of VAT special invoices and 50 sets of VAT ordinary invoices at most each month.