China’s taxpayers on edge as Beijing tightens oversight with big data and artificial intelligence
- China’s Golden Tax IV system will harness big data and artificial intelligence to form a web of information on taxpayers
- Beijing has vowed to clamp down on tax evasion in 2022 and tighter scrutiny has small firms and the wealthy on edge
Anxiety is spreading across China’s business community as authorities gear up to introduce a powerful new tax surveillance system that some have likened to a “giant X-ray machine”, capable of hoovering up huge amounts of personal and financial data.
In a bid to tighten supervision, China is proceeding with the construction of the Golden Tax IV system, under which company data, as well information from owners, executives, banks and various market regulators will all be connected and accessible for tax authorities to scrutinise.
“We’ve completed the design and come up with strategies and approaches to push ahead with Golden Tax IV,” said Wang Jun, head of the State Taxation Administration, at the annual tax work meeting last month.
“By upgrading the system, we’ll transition from ‘managing tax through invoices’ to ‘managing tax through big data and the cloud’.
“It’s a taxation innovation and can be used for reference by other countries.”
