China moves to rewrite its tax-collection law: State Council approves draft revision for NPC deliberation
- The State Council Executive Meeting of 31 August 2026 discussed and approved in principle the draft revision of the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection and decided to submit it to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for deliberation — the first major overhaul of the law in 25 years since its 2001 revision.
2026年8月31日国务院常务会议讨论并原则通过《中华人民共和国税收征收管理法（修订草案）》，决定将草案提请全国人大常委会审议——这是该法自2001年修订以来时隔约25年的首次大修。
- The meeting called for tax collection in accordance with the law, more standardised tax enforcement, better taxpayer services, stronger protection of taxpayers’ lawful rights and interests, more equitable tax burdens and improved fiscal and tax governance — signalling that unification and fairness of enforcement across regions is a central theme.
会议强调依法组织税收征管、规范税务执法行为、着力优化纳税服务、强化纳税人合法权益保护，不断促进税负公平、完善财税治理——执法跨区域统一与公平成为核心主题。
- The draft text has not been made public; public analysis draws on the 2025 exposure draft jointly issued by the State Taxation Administration and the Ministry of Finance, which ran to 106 articles (16 added, 4 deleted, 69 amended) and kept the existing chapter structure.
修订草案文本尚未公布；公开分析主要基于税务总局、财政部2025年发布的修订征求意见稿——征求意见稿共106条，新增16条、删除4条、修改69条，章节结构保持现行征管法基本架构。
- Reported reform directions include unified nationwide administrative-penalty discretion standards, tighter rules on assessed (deemed) collection, third-party information reporting and assistance duties for digital platforms, and protection-oriented service measures — all aimed at a level playing field across the unified national market.
公开报道的改革方向包括：制定全国统一的处罚裁量基准、规范核定征收的条件和程序、强化数字平台第三方信息报送与征管协助义务、以及权益保护导向的服务举措——共同指向全国统一大市场下的公平竞争环境。
- The same executive meeting studied the high-quality development of investment attraction, calling for clear rules on what governments may encourage or prohibit — continuing the campaign against “tax depressions” and uneven regional subsidy competition, which directly affects how local incentives for foreign and domestic investors are designed.
同次常务会议研究促进招商引资高质量发展，要求明确政府招商引资鼓励和禁止的具体行为——延续整治”税收洼地”与地区间补贴竞争的部署，直接影响内外资地方激励政策的设计。
- For foreign-invested enterprises, the practical read is threefold: enforcement discretion is expected to converge across provinces; reliance on local ad-hoc tax deals will carry higher risk; and digital-era data duties (invoices, platform data, third-party information) will keep expanding under clearer legal authority.
对外资企业的实务含义有三：各省执法裁量预计趋于一致；依赖地方个案式税收安排的风险上升；数电发票、平台数据与第三方信息等数字时代的数据义务将在更清晰的法律授权下继续扩展。
China moves to rewrite its tax-collection law: State Council approves draft revision for NPC deliberation | 中国拟重修《税收征收管理法》：国常会原则通过修订草案并提请全国人大常委会审议
Overview
On 31 August 2026, Premier Li Qiang presided over a State Council executive meeting that discussed and approved in principle the draft revision of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection (《中华人民共和国税收征收管理法》) and decided to submit the draft to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) for deliberation. The same meeting also studied the high-quality development of investment attraction and adopted a revised implementation regulation for the Audit Law.
The meeting’s guidance for the tax-collection revision was concise: collect taxes in accordance with the law, standardise tax enforcement conduct, make real efforts to optimise tax services, strengthen protection of taxpayers’ lawful rights and interests, keep promoting equitable tax burdens, and improve fiscal and tax governance. Because the current law dates from its comprehensive 2001 revision (with piecemeal amendments in 2013 and 2015), this is the first major overhaul in roughly 25 years — and the first time the law has been rewritten in the era of the digital economy, e-invoices and nationwide data-driven tax administration.
Why the law is being rewritten now
The Tax Collection Administration Law entered into force in 1993, was comprehensively revised in 2001, and was lightly amended in 2013 and 2015 to accommodate commercial-registration reform. Three forces have made a full revision necessary:
- The economy has changed. China has shifted from an industrial economy in the early stage of marketisation to a high-quality-development phase. New business models — platform work, the gig economy, digital services — did not exist when the current text was drafted.
- Tax administration has changed. Administration has moved from manual oversight to digital and intelligent tax governance (“smart taxation”, tax administration by data). E-invoices, the electronic tax bureau and cross-department data sharing give tax authorities capabilities that the current law does not clearly regulate.
- The legal environment has changed. The unified national market requires consistent, fair and predictable tax enforcement across regions, with stronger statutory protection of taxpayer rights — and the tax system itself is shifting toward a larger share of direct taxes with more obligations owed by individuals.
What is known about the content
The revision draft approved by the State Council has not been published. What is publicly known comes from the exposure draft (征求意见稿) that the State Taxation Administration and the Ministry of Finance released in 2025, and from commentary by tax-law experts:
- 106 articles overall, keeping the basic chapter structure of the current law, adding 16 articles, deleting 4 and amending 69.
- Unified enforcement standards. Reported directions include a nationwide unified administrative-penalty discretion benchmark and standardised conditions and procedures for assessed collection (核定征收), reducing differences in enforcement between regions and preventing “tax depressions” from unfair competition.
- Digital-platform duties. The revision is reported to give digital platforms clearer assistance duties in tax collection — third-party information reporting, assistance with tax payment and declaration — to level the playing field between online and offline business while reducing compliance burdens on compliant platform operators.
- Protection and service. Reported drafting themes include optimising taxpayer services, protecting taxpayers’ lawful rights and clarifying procedures that protect taxpayers during enforcement.
None of these points should be read as the final text: they describe the direction indicated by the 2025 exposure draft and expert commentary, and the NPC deliberation process may adjust the content through several readings.
The parallel agenda: standardising investment attraction
The same executive meeting discussed promoting the high-quality development of investment attraction. It called for continued work to define what governments are encouraged and prohibited from doing when attracting investment, stronger positive guidance and binding constraints on local governments’ economic-promotion conduct, and a shift of focus toward improving the business environment, nurturing the industrial ecosystem and providing high-quality government services.
For the tax world, this is the continuing thread of the campaign against “tax depressions” and irregular regional subsidies. Local governments have in recent years been required to clean up tax rebates and fiscal subsidies that favour specific investors, under the banner of the unified national market. The tax-collection revision reinforces that direction at the statutory level: if enforcement discretion and assessed-collection rules become nationally uniform, the space for regionally idiosyncratic tax treatment narrows further.
What this means for foreign-invested enterprises
- Converging enforcement across provinces. A national penalty-discretion benchmark and uniform assessed-collection rules should reduce the situation in which the same factual pattern is treated differently in different provinces. Multinationals operating across several provinces can expect more consistent outcomes in audits, penalties and waivers.
- Higher risk for ad-hoc local tax arrangements. As “tax depression” cleaning continues and the law tightens, incentives that were structured as discretionary local tax deals should be re-examined: what was marketed as a regional benefit may carry retroactive or audit risk under a stricter statutory regime.
- Broader, clearer data duties. The trend toward third-party information reporting and platform assistance duties means the data trail on your payments, invoices and transactions will be more complete. For foreign-invested groups, this raises the stakes on accurate classification of cross-border and domestic payments and on clean master-and-local transfer-pricing documentation.
- A service-and-rights agenda. Protection of taxpayer rights and better services are stated goals; in practice this supports orderly dispute channels — including administrative reconsideration and litigation — that foreign investors can use when they disagree with enforcement measures.
- Legislative timeline. After submission to the NPC Standing Committee, the draft would normally go through multiple readings before a vote. Companies should track the published draft when it appears and assess impacts on their China tax operating model.
Practical steps
- Review any incentive arrangements received from local governments (tax rebates, subsidies, land or fee waivers) and assess their durability under the unified-market framework.
- Map enforcement exposure across provinces where you operate, and standardise positions on transfer pricing, deemed collection and penalty-sensitive filings.
- Prepare for expanded digital data duties: ensure e-invoice processes, platform transaction data and third-party information flows are accurate and auditable.
- Engage with provincial tax services and industry associations during the legislative window to inform your reading of the final text.
- Watch for the published draft after NPC deliberation begins, and update internal tax-control policies once the final law and its implementation rules are settled.
Sources
- 中国政府网（新华社2026年8月31日电）— 李强主持召开国务院常务会议（讨论并原则通过税收征收管理法修订草案、研究促进招商引资高质量发展）: https://www.gov.cn/yaowen/liebiao/202608/content_7079712.htm
- 新浪新闻（2026-09-01）— 国常会讨论并原则通过税收征管法修订草案，这些变化值得关注: https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2026-09-01/doc-iniqfuyn4950392.shtml
- 澎湃新闻 — 税收征管法修订进入关键环节，有哪些亮点: https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_33984919
Related reading
- see also: non-taxable transactions and input-VAT deductibility under the 2026 VAT Law (vat-non-taxable-input-deduction)
- see also: how labour-dispatch fees are treated for VAT and what it signals for service fees (labour-dispatch-vat)
中国拟重修《税收征收管理法》：国常会原则通过修订草案并提请全国人大常委会审议
概述
2026年8月31日，国务院总理李强主持召开国务院常务会议，讨论并原则通过《中华人民共和国税收征收管理法（修订草案）》，决定将草案提请全国人大常委会审议。同次常务会议还研究了促进招商引资高质量发展有关工作，并审议通过《中华人民共和国审计法实施条例（修订草案）》。
会议对征管法修订提出的要求十分凝练：依法组织税收征管，规范税务执法行为，着力优化纳税服务，强化纳税人合法权益保护，不断促进税负公平、完善财税治理。现行税收征收管理法于1993年施行、2001年全面修订、2013年和2015年配合商事制度改革作了个别修正——本次是时隔约25年的较大修订，也是该法首次在数字经济、电子发票与全国性”以数治税”时代进行整体重写。
为何现在重修
税收征收管理法1993年施行，2001年全面修订，2013年、2015年仅配合商事登记改革作小修。三重力量使全面修订势在必行：
- 经济形态变了。 中国已从市场经济初期的工业经济转向高质量发展阶段，平台用工、零工经济、数字服务等新业态在现行文本起草时尚不存在。
- 税收征管方式变了。 征管从人工监管迈向数字化、智能化，”智慧税务””以数治税”成为管理基础，电子发票、电子税务局与跨部门数据共享赋予税务机关的能力，现行法律尚无清晰规范。
- 法治环境变了。 全国统一大市场要求税收执法跨区域统一、公平、可预期，并以更强的法定形式保护纳税人权益；税制本身也在优化结构、逐步提高直接税比重，征管对象更多面向自然人。
目前已知的内容
国常会通过的修订草案尚未公布。公开信息主要来自税务总局、财政部2025年发布的修订征求意见稿及财税法专家的解读：
- 共106条，章节设置保持现行征管法基本架构，新增16条、删除4条、修改69条。
- 统一执法标准。 公开报道的方向包括制定全国统一的行政处罚裁量基准、规范核定征收的条件和程序，消除地区间执法差异，防止”税收洼地”式的不公平竞争。
- 数字平台义务。 报道显示修订将赋予数字平台更明确的税收征管协助义务——第三方信息报送、协助税款缴纳与申报等，既保障税收收入，也减轻合规平台经营者的遵从负担，营造线上线下公平竞争的税收环境。
- 保护与服务。 报道中的起草主题还包括优化纳税服务、保护纳税人合法权益、在执法程序中为纳税人提供更明确的程序保障。
需要强调的是，以上均非最终文本：它们描述的是2025年征求意见稿与专家解读所显示的方向，全国人大常委会的审议程序可能经多轮审议后调整内容。
并行议程：规范招商引资
同次常务会议研究促进招商引资高质量发展有关工作。会议指出，规范招商引资是建设全国统一大市场的重要内容，要明确政府招商引资鼓励和禁止的具体行为，进一步规范地方政府经济促进行为，强化正向引导和刚性约束，把工作重点更多放在优化营商环境、培育产业生态、提供高水平政务服务上来。
对税务世界而言，这是整治”税收洼地”与不规范区域补贴这条政策线的延续。近年来地方被要求清理针对特定投资者的税收返还与财政补贴。征管法修订在立法层面强化了这一方向：一旦处罚裁量与核定征收规则全国统一，地域性税收特例的操作空间将进一步收窄。
对外资企业的意义
- 跨省执法趋于一致。 全国统一的处罚裁量基准与核定征收规则，有望减少”同一事实、不同省份不同处理”的现象。在多省经营的外企可在稽查、处罚与减免中期待更一致的对待。
- 个案式地方税收安排风险上升。 随着”税收洼地”清理推进与法律收紧，凡以地方个案式税收约定形式构建的激励都应重新审视：曾被宣传为区域红利的部分，在更严格的法律框架下可能带有追溯或稽查风险。
- 数据义务更广、更明确。 第三方信息报送与平台协助义务的趋势，意味着企业付款、发票与交易的数据痕迹将更完整。对跨国集团而言，跨境与境内付款的准确归类、转让定价主文档与本地文档的规范程度，其重要性进一步提高。
- 服务与权利议程。 保护纳税人权益与优化服务是明确目标；实践中这支持有序的争议解决渠道——包括行政复议与诉讼——外国投资者在与执法措施产生分歧时可加以运用。
- 立法时间表。 草案提交全国人大常委会后，通常需经多次审议方可表决。企业应在草案文本公布后跟踪其内容，评估对在华税务运营模式的影响。
实务建议
- 复查从地方政府获得的各类激励安排（税收返还、补贴、用地或收费减免），在统一大市场框架下评估其可持续性。
- 梳理各经营省份的执法敞口，统一在转让定价、核定征收与易罚事项上的立场与档案标准。
- 为不断扩展的数字数据义务做好准备：确保数电发票流程、平台交易数据与第三方信息流准确、可审计。
- 在立法窗口期通过省级税务服务与行业协会渠道保持关注，帮助准确理解最终文本。
- 待全国人大常委会启动审议并公布草案后跟进研读，在最终法律及其实施规则确定后更新内部税务内控政策。
来源
- 中国政府网（新华社2026年8月31日电）— 李强主持召开国务院常务会议（讨论并原则通过税收征收管理法修订草案、研究促进招商引资高质量发展）: https://www.gov.cn/yaowen/liebiao/202608/content_7079712.htm
- 新浪新闻（2026-09-01）— 国常会讨论并原则通过税收征管法修订草案，这些变化值得关注: https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2026-09-01/doc-iniqfuyn4950392.shtml
- 澎湃新闻 — 税收征管法修订进入关键环节，有哪些亮点: https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_33984919
相关阅读
- 见：2026增值税法下非应税交易与进项抵扣（vat-non-taxable-input-deduction）
- 见：劳务派遣费的增值税处理及其对服务费的启示（labour-dispatch-vat）