

04 Part Four Personalized Taxpayer Services
updated:2025-09-03 China
To better meet taxpayers' development needs, taxpayer services require continuous updates and improvements. Influenced by varying levels of economic development, historical contexts and cultural factors, countries and regions exhibit diverse taxpayer service models. Many have begun developing more refined and personalized taxpayer services beyond universal offerings to enhance service quality and efficiency, creating "tailored-to-each-individual" taxpayer service ecosystems. This section will expand on universal taxpayer services by focusing on five groups: large enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises, cross-border enterprises, individuals, and tax-related intermediary. It will introduce more tailored and personalized service measures based on the characteristics and needs of different taxpayers, along with five corresponding Taxpayer Service Products.
Large enterprises, as critical pillars of the national (regional) economy, play vital roles in securing fiscal revenue, driving industrial upgrading, and promoting regional development. They are also key targets for taxpayer services. International experience shows that large business taxpayers, accounting for less than 1% of the total, contribute approximately 60-70% of tax revenue. Many countries and regions have established specialized taxpayer service and management agencies for large enterprises. With the deepening of global economic integration, the number of large enterprises operating across regions and countries has increased significantly. Their group-based and internationalized operational models present significant challenges to the service and management capabilities of tax authorities. Therefore, conducting in-depth analysis of the characteristics of large enterprise taxpayers and providing more practical, precise, and efficient taxpayer services tailored to their tax-related needs are essential measures to foster a favorable business environment, enhance tax compliance, and ensure stable tax revenue sources.
The concepts of classified and tiered management, cooperative compliance, and risk management are three universally accepted key principles in modern international tax governance for large enterprises. Large enterprise taxpayer services refer to the practice where tax authorities identify large enterprises based on established criteria and provide them with customized tax-related services. Through differentiated management, targeted services, and forward-looking collaboration, integrated services are provided to large enterprises before, during, and after tax-related activities. This approach helps large enterprises enhance their tax compliance awareness and management capabilities, continuously improves tax compliance rates, reduces the costs of both tax authorities and taxpayers, and is highly significant for both parties. First, it helps large enterprises efficiently fulfill their tax obligations. Large enterprises have extensive business chains and complex tax structures. By offering intelligent tax platforms and tailored policy guidance, these services can significantly reduce the time required for tax processing. Second, it helps large enterprises mitigate tax risks. Due to complex transactions and numerous related parties, large enterprises face risks such as transfer pricing disputes, cross-border double taxation, and policy misapplication. Big data analytics and risk warning models can be utilized to provide full-cycle taxpayer services, serving as a "firewall" for large enterprises. Third, it facilitates collaboration between tax authorities and taxpayers and supports national (regional) governance. This service model moves beyond the traditional "one-size-fits-all" approach to tax administration, placing greater emphasis on building equal and mutually trusting partnerships with enterprises. It helps foster a virtuous cycle of "compliance convenience---tax equity---mutually beneficial ecosystem", making compliance easier, tax burdens fairer and development more sustainable.
So, how can we provide differentiated, precise, and forward-looking taxpayer services to large enterprises to improve their tax management efficiency? We will launch the Taxpayer Service Product No. 8: Make the Elephant Dance: Taxpayer Service Strategies for Large Enterprises (to be released in 2027).
In the global economic landscape, SMEs, as key economic entities, make significant contributions to boosting economic growth, creating employment opportunities and driving innovation. However, due to constraints in organizational scale, resource allocation, and professional capabilities, they generally face structural challenges such as insufficient professionalism in tax management and weak risk resistance mechanisms. This places them in a relatively disadvantaged position in market competition, making them a key group of taxpayers that require focused attention in the tax governance system. The OECD clearly stated in its report "Tax Administration 3. 0: The Digital Transformation of Tax Administration" that the current digital tax administration model still heavily relies on voluntary compliance from taxpayers, including SMEs. With the acceleration of global economic integration and the evolution of the digital economy, SMEs urgently need professional and efficient taxpayer service support in order to adapt to the complex and dynamic tax governance environment.
SME taxpayer service is a series of initiatives launched by tax authorities to meet the unique tax needs of SMEs. Through measures such as precise policy implementation, innovative service provision, and collaborative social governance, tax authorities aim to reduce the tax compliance burden on SMEs and create a favorable tax environment for them in all aspects. First, we popularize tax law knowledge and support compliant operations. Through targeted propaganda and specialized guidance, tax authorities improve SMEs' understanding of applicable tax laws and regulations, clarify the boundaries of tax obligations, and thereby mitigating compliance risks and associated legal costs resulting from policy misinterpretations. Second, we leverage digital transformation to reduce compliance costs. Through leveraging digital tools, tax authorities have streamlined tax filing processes and launched convenient online platforms that integrate multiple functions such as tax declaration, payment, and enquiry. Additionally, multilingual support and intelligent guidance are offered to help SMEs overcome language barriers and operational hurdles, making tax filing easy and convenient. Third, we develop response strategies to proactively mitigate risks. SMEs are often more vulnerable to economic fluctuations and market changes. Tax authorities assist enterprises in building forward-looking risk identification frameworks and developing adaptive response strategies to enhance their resilience with the aid of the tools such as early warning notifications and tax health assessments.
How can we better serve SMEs and help them grow and thrive? We will launch the Taxpayer Service Product No. 9: Accompanying Entrepreneurs: Nurturing Growth with Premium Services (to be released in 2027).
Amid economic globalization, a growing number of enterprises are engaged in cross-border business, accompanied by new forms of business such as the digital economy and cross-border e-commerce. Due to the differences in tax policies among jurisdictions, the dynamic changes in compliance requirements, and the continuous evolution of international tax rules, multinational enterprises are facing an increasingly complex tax environment. It has become particularly important for tax authorities to provide efficient, professional, and convenient taxpayer services for cross-border enterprises.
Multinational enterprises taxpayer services are personalized measures launched by tax authorities to assist cross-border enterprises in properly fulilling compliance obligations across multiple tax jurisdictions, reducing tax risks, and resolving tax disputes within the framework of international tax rules. These services hold significant importance for cross-border enterprises. First, it helps remove information barriers. Tax regimes vary across jurisdictions, which create a barrier for enterprises engaged in cross-border investment. Tax authorities proactively provide preliminary guidance on tax policies to enterprises interested in cross-border investments, helping them understand the business environment and tax policies of relevant jurisdictions, reducing cross-border investment decision-making costs, and improving tax policy transparency. Second, it can strengthen the compliance foundation. Amid the wave of international tax cooperation with initiatives such as the "Two-Pillar" solution and BEPS Action Plan, multinational enterprises face stricter tax transparency requirements and compliance obligations. Tax authorities assist enterprises in accurately understanding new international tax rules, appropriately adjusting tax structures, ensuring compliance with global tax governance frameworks, mitigating tax risks and legal liabilities arising from insufficient compliance, and improving tax compliance of multinational enterprises. Third, it can protect the legitimate rights and interests of multinational enterprises. Tax authorities can actively utilize international tax rules such as the Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) and Advance Pricing Arrangement (APA) to help enterprises resolve potential issues of international double taxation during cross-border operations. This enables multinational enterprises to better safeguard their legitimate rights and interests in the global market, minimize operational obstacles caused by tax uncertainties, ensure fair and reasonable tax treatment, and enhance their confidence in international trade and investment.
How can we provide more reliable, convenient, and internationally-oriented taxpayer services for multinational enterprises? We will launch the Taxpayer Service Product No. 10: Precision Guidance for Cross-Border Enterprise Compliance (to be released in 2027).
In tax theory and practice, taxes paid by individual taxpayers are generally referred to as individual taxes, while taxes paid by corporate taxpayers (including legal and non-legal entities) are referred to as corporate taxes. For the state, individual taxpayers as a source of tax revenue contribute to social stability and economic development through compliant tax payments. From an equity standpoint, individual taxpayers typically lack specialized tax knowledge. Tax authorities can effectively address information asymmetry between taxpayers and collectors through services such as intelligent filing guidance and visualized policy interpretation, thereby avoiding unintentional tax evasion. Additionally, implementing customized service strategies for diverse groups---including salaried workers, freelancers, and high-net-worth individuals---helps achieve substantive fairness in taxpayer services.
Individual taxpayers' services are taxpayer-focused services provided by tax authorities. Through digitalization and diversified tax service options, individual taxpayers are provided with convenient and personalized tax-related assistance. These services aim to help individual taxpayers properly fulfill their obligations, enjoy preferential tax policies, safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and improve the convenience and efficiency of tax compliance. Tax authorities should design taxpayer services based on the actual needs of individual taxpayers. First, we shall accurately design the objectives, functions, and methods of taxpayer services. Given that most individual taxpayers lack specialized tax knowledge, innovative approaches to policy interpretation and publicity should be adopted to help them understand their obligations. By establishing various processes and procedures, they can better comprehend tax laws and enhance their awareness of tax compliance. Second, we shall provide personalized services for individual taxpayers. Tax authorities should identify the personalized needs of individual taxpayers based on their diverse characteristics, analyze the psychological preferences, behavioral traits, and moral beliefs of different categories of individual taxpayers, and develop tailored taxpayer service solutions. For vulnerable groups such as the elderly and the disabled, convenient measures like door-to-door services and simplified filing procedures can be provided. Third, we shall improve the digitalization of taxpayer services. We shall fully utilize digital technologies to streamline tax information processes and enhance the convenience of online tax platforms, and elevate intelligent service standards of tax filing, enquiry, and complaint handling for individual taxpayers, thereby reducing compliance costs.
Then what specific taxpayer services are available for individuals? We will launch the Taxpayer Service Product No. 11: Personal Tax Assistant for Individuals (to be released in 2027).
Tax-related professional services refer to services provided by specialized agencies that accept engagement and utilize expertise and skills in the field of finance and taxation to assist clients with tax agency and tax-related services. Tax-related professional service providers include tax advisory firms, as well as accounting firms, law firms, bookkeeping agencies, tax agency companies, and financial and tax consulting firms that are qualified to offer tax-related professional services. Taxpayer service professionals refer to individuals employed or engaged by tax-related intermediaries to offer tax-related professional services, as well as other personnel authorized by laws, regulations, or departmental directives to provide such services. In today's diverse and dynamic economic landscape, tax-related intermediaries and professionals play a vital role in the taxpayer service system. They assist taxpayers in fulfilling their obligations, optimizing tax management, and mitigating tax-related risks through tax-related professional services.
In the process of fully opening the tax-related professional services market, the tax authorities' management and services for tax-related professional services are highly significant. Tax authorities can enhance the management of tax-related professional services through measures such as real-name registration management, business information collection, credit evaluation management, and handling of violations of laws and regulations in tax-related professional services. Additionally, by implementing convenient service measures for tax-related intermediaries and practitioners, the administrative supervision and industry self-regulation of tax-related professional services can be effectively enhanced, and the active participation of these professionals in tax governance can be further encouraged. Through specialized tax-related services, tax-related intermediaries and practitioners assist taxpayers in better understanding tax policies, improve their compliance with tax laws, and offer substantial support for fostering a harmonious tax environment and optimizing the tax governance system.
How can tax authorities enhance supervision of tax-related intermediaries and practitioners to ensure that they deliver more accurate tax-related professional services to taxpayers? We will launch the Taxpayer Service Product No. 12: Guiding Tax-Related Intermediaries to Practice in Compliance (to be released in 2027).
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