China’s first digital invoice on the blockchain has been issued in the southeastern city of Shenzhen, local news platform EEO reports August 10.
This is the first implementation of a pilot blockchain
ecosystem for invoices that has been developed by Tencent — the
developer of the 1 billion-user social media platform WeChat — together with the Shenzhen Municipal Taxation Bureau.
It is the only such pilot to have received the official
approval of the State Administration of Taxation, and has been designed
for comprehensive use by consumers, merchants and tax authorities,
according to EEO. In China, official invoices are dubbed “fapiao,”
indicating that they have been issued by the Chinese Tax Bureau for
goods and services purchased in the country.
EEO reports that the debut invoice was issued August 10 by a
local Shenzhen restaurant. Several other local merchants have already
been given access to the system, including a parking lot, auto repair
shop, and cafe.
The system allowed for a consumer payment via WeChat to
generate an invoice that would be eligible for inspection and management
by tax authorities. Cai Yunge, general manager of blockchain at
Tencent, is quoted by EEO as saying that the new system achieves a
frictionless link between consumer scenarios and tax services.
In the traditional scenario, processing an invoice entails
multiple and somewhat cumbersome steps, EEO notes. When a consumer
completes a given transaction, they must wait for the merchant to
generate the invoice, file it away safely, complete a returns form in
the Finance Department, wait for the return to be processed, and then
receive their returns.
Using a blockchain-enabled electronic invoice means that
the consumer can manage all these steps using one click on the WeChat
app after checkout, and is then able to track their reimbursement status
in real time, EEO writes.
As EEO notes, blockchain’s cornerstone innovation of
providing an immutable and transparent record-keeping system is highly
consistent with the invoice supervision process, as it effectively
traces the source, authenticity, and accounting of invoices, thereby
solving the problems of over-reporting, false-reporting, and other
true-false inconsistencies in the process of invoice circulation.
The technology also has the advantage of improving data
privacy through encryption methods and providing an overall
cost-effective streamlining of processes.
Cointelegraph has previously reported on Tencent’s ongoing cooperation
with the Shenzhen Municipal Office of the State Administration of
Taxation to establish an “Intelligent Tax” Innovation Laboratory focused
on tax management modernization and fighting fraudulent “fapaio” with
blockchain technology.
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