Issued by: State Taxation Administration Shanghai Tax Bureau / Jiangsu Provincial Tax Bureau / Zhejiang Provincial Tax Bureau / Anhui Provincial Tax Bureau /                           Fujian Provincial Tax Bureau / Jiangxi Provincial Tax Bureau / Shandong Provincial Tax Bureau / Ningbo Municipal Tax Bureau / Xiamen Municipal Tax                       Bureau / Qingdao Municipal Tax Bureau
Issue No.: Announcement No. 3 of 2024
Release Date: November 25, 2024
Effective Date: January 1, 2025
Links: http://shanghai.chinatax.gov.cn/zcfw/zcfgk/zhsszc/202411/t474202.html

To promote the unification of enforcement standards across regions, the tax bureaus of the ten provinces and cities in East China have jointly formulated the "Administrative Penalty Discretionary Benchmark for East China" (the "Discretionary Benchmark"). The specific provisions are as follows: 

1. Applicable provinces and cities: Shanghai, Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province, Anhui Province, Fujian Province, Jiangxi Province, Shandong Province, Ningbo, Xiamen, Qingdao.

2. The Discretionary Benchmark include 55 types of tax violations across 7 categories, such as violations of tax registration management, violations of account book and voucher management, violations of tax declaration management, violations of tax collection, violations of tax inspection, violations of invoice and ticket management, and violations of tax guarantee management regulations. It specifies the basis for penalties and clarifies the applicable conditions and specific standards for different discretionary levels. 

3. "Failure to file tax returns and submit tax materials within the prescribed time limit" and "Failure to submit withholding/collecting and remitting tax reports and related documents to the tax authorities within the prescribed time limit" should be subject to “the first violation without penalty”.

4. For tax violations that occurred before the implementation of the Discretionary Benchmark and for which the tax authority has not yet made an administrative penalty decision, they shall be handled according to the original regulations, except where handling them according to the Discretionary Benchmark would be more favorable to the tax administrative counterpart.