On December 18, 2021, co-sponsored by the All China Lawyers Association and the China Certified Tax Agents Association, jointly organized by the Zhejiang Lawyers Association, the Zhejiang Certified Tax Agents Association, the Finance and Taxation Law Committee of the All China Lawyers Association, and the Finance and Taxation Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, and co-organized by the Finance and Taxation Law Committee of Zhejiang Lawyers Association, Zhejiang Zeda Law Firm, Tianjian Tax Agent Firm Co., Ltd., Hwuason Law Firm, and Huashui Tax Agent Firm Co., Ltd. The 2021 China Tax Law Forum and the 10th China Tax Lawyers and Tax Agents Forum was grandly held, with the theme of "Deepening the Reform of Tax Collection and Administration and Innovation of Tax-related Services".

At 8:15 a.m. on December 18, the opening ceremony of the forum was held. Xie Bin, Executive Vice President of China Certified Tax Agents Association, Zheng Jindu, Vice President of All China Lawyers Association, Liu Jianwen, President of Finance and Taxation Law Research Association of China Law Society and Professor of Peking University Law School, Shi Zhengwen, Director of Finance and Taxation Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, and Xing Youping, President of Zhejiang Certified Tax Agents Association, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Liu Tianyong, director of the Finance and Taxation Law Committee of the All China Lawyers Association and director of Hwuason Law Firm, presided over the opening ceremony.

The picture shows the speech of Vice President Xie Bin

In his speech, Vice President Xie Bin pointed out that as an annual event of the national tax-related service industry, the China Tax Law Forum has been expanding its social attention and influence, and is playing an increasingly important role in leading the development of the tax-related service industry and promoting the exchange and cooperation between tax accountants and lawyers. He said that in March this year, the Office of the Central Committee and the Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of Tax Collection and Administration", which requires focusing on the new stage of development, implementing the new development concept, building a new development pattern, deepening the reform of the tax collection and management system, and giving full play to the basic, pillar and guarantee role of taxation in national governance. As the main force of tax-related professional services, tax agents should take the initiative to integrate into the national strategy and serve the overall situation of reform, and at the same time achieve their own rapid development, they should more actively cooperate with and serve the requirements of deeper tax reform, and play a greater role in tax coordination and co-governance. In this regard, he put forward three suggestions. First, it is necessary to earnestly protect and safeguard the rights and interests of both parties. As a bridge and link between the tax collectors and taxpayers, tax agents should continue to study the new tax laws and policies, and reasonably safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of taxpayers while cooperating with and supporting the tax authorities to effectively protect the national tax interests. It is necessary to solve the problem of the lack of legal status of the tax agent industry, the mismatch between comprehensive service capabilities and professional service levels, and make up for the shortcomings of the industry's self-discipline management, strengthen the talent reserve and training, and focus on strengthening cooperation and exchanges between industries. Tax agents should strengthen cooperation and exchanges with lawyers, certified public accountants and other industries with a more open mind, so as to adapt to the new situation, new mission and new requirements of tax reform in the new era, and better serve the in-depth promotion of tax modernization and the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity in the new development stage.

The picture shows the speech of Vice President Zheng Jindu

In his speech, Vice President Zheng Jindu pointed out that in the context of the new era of the reform of the national fiscal and taxation system and the expansion and deepening of the reform of tax collection and administration, it is of great significance for the China Tax Law Forum to deeply discuss the new trends and new businesses of tax-related services with the theme of "Deepening the Reform of Tax Collection and Administration and Innovation of Tax-related Services". He pointed out that in recent years, under the scientific guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, China's lawyer career has advanced in development, the lawyer system has been improved in reform, the lawyer team has grown in development, and remarkable achievements have been made in lawyer work. The majority of lawyers should actively participate in the practice of comprehensively governing the country according to law, and play an important role in protecting the lawful rights and interests of the public, safeguarding the correct implementation of the law, serving economic and social development, and promoting social fairness and justice. As professionals who are proficient in tax-related legal and financial knowledge, tax lawyers have the professional ability to solve complex tax-related issues, and tax lawyers should continuously improve the level of legal services to provide guarantees for the rule of law in international tax governance. In this regard, he put forward three demands. First, it is necessary to actively serve the overall situation, strengthen the legislative study of the tax law system from the perspective of professionalism and practicability, promote the deepening of the reform of the fiscal and taxation system, implement the legal principles of taxation, and make contributions to the improvement of the state's tax legislation; second, it is necessary to actively serve enterprises, make use of the advantages of tax policies and laws, assist enterprises in establishing tax risk control mechanisms, prevent tax-related legal risks, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of enterprises; third, it is necessary to actively serve the masses, carry out services around the legal needs of tax-related fields that the masses are paying close attention to, continuously improve the quality of services, and earnestly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the people。

Pictured is President Liu Jianwen's speech

In his speech, Chairman Liu Jianwen pointed out that lawyers and tax accountants are an important force in promoting common prosperity. First of all, he pointed out that the realization of common prosperity requires the people of the whole country to work together to make the cake bigger and better, and then cut and divide the cake well through reasonable institutional arrangements. Therefore, the 2021 Central Economic Work Conference mentioned that it is necessary to increase the adjustment of taxes, social security, transfer payments, etc., which is to aim at the outstanding shortcomings and weaknesses in promoting common prosperity and improve the accuracy of policy support with the system. He believes that lawyers and tax accountants have a lot to play in this process. Secondly, he looked forward to the reform of fiscal rule of law in the process of promoting common prosperity during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. First, it is necessary to improve the direct tax system and rationally adjust the pattern of income distribution, including optimizing the tax structure. Appropriately increase the proportion of direct taxes; second, it is necessary to strengthen fiscal policy incentives, boost the development of public welfare and charity, and build basic institutional arrangements that are coordinated with the third distribution; third, it is necessary to improve fiscal transfer payments, promote the equalization of basic public services, and enhance the ability to guarantee grassroots public services; fourth, it is necessary to deeply integrate into major national strategies such as the digital economy; fifth, it is necessary to highlight the function of regulation and promote the reform of consumption, especially the determination of the scope and tax rate of consumption tax. He believes that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the pace of China's fiscal and taxation reform and fiscal and taxation rule of law construction will be further accelerated, and he hopes that lawyers and tax agents can contribute their strength and wisdom in promoting common prosperity.

The picture shows Prof. Shi Zhengwen's speech

In his speech, Professor Shi Zhengwen pointed out that the China Tax Law Forum co-sponsored by the two associations is a grand event for the national tax-related service industry, and this forum was held as scheduled to overcome the difficulties brought about by the epidemic, and he would like to thank everyone for their concern and efforts. He pointed out that finance is the foundation and pillar of national governance, and lawyers and tax accountants in the new era undertake the lofty mission of financial management, governance and serving the people. As tax agents in the new era, lawyers and tax agents must have a broad vision, keen insight, and pay close attention to the country's fiscal and tax reform and fiscal and tax legislation, so as to always be at the forefront of the times. He believes that lawyers and tax accountants should focus on the following three aspects. The first is tax reform. In the process of achieving common prosperity, fiscal and tax reform has an important mission, so lawyers and tax accountants should pay attention to the reform of the tax system, focusing on the challenges brought by direct tax reform, green tax system and economic digitalization to the domestic tax system. The second is tax legislation. At present, new steps have been taken in implementing the legal principles of taxation, especially the proposal by some deputies to the two sessions this year to formulate general provisions of the tax law and start the compilation of the tax code in due course, which has put forward new requirements for the systematization and modernization of the entire tax law, and it is necessary for lawyers and tax accountants to study it. The third is tax collection and management. Since the beginning of this year, the tax system has carried out centralized rectification of celebrities and online anchors, which shows that tax law enforcement has shifted from the traditional focus on corporate violations and crimes to the focus on tax evasion by high-net-worth individuals. Finally, he hoped that everyone would attend the meeting attentively and learn something.

The picture shows the speech of President Xing Youping

In his speech, President Xing Youping pointed out that after nine years of accumulation, the China Tax Law Forum has formed a brand of tax law forum with national influence, which has played a positive role in leading the majority of lawyers and tax agents to better carry out tax-related professional services. 2021 is the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Under the correct leadership of the China Certified Tax Agents Association and the Zhejiang Provincial Taxation Bureau of the State Administration of Taxation, the Zhejiang Certified Tax Agents Association serves the overall situation of national tax reform, accelerates the transformation of the tax agent industry, and promotes the high-quality development of the industry. Finally, he pointed out that Zhejiang is the starting place of the Red Boat of the Chinese Revolution, the pioneer of China's reform and opening up, the important germination place of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and the benchmark of China's innovation and development.

Pictured is Director Liu Tianyong presiding over the opening ceremony

After the opening ceremony, the theme session of the forum officially began. This year's forum includes four themes: (1) Improving the Modern Tax System and Deepening the Reform of Tax Collection and Administration, (2) Tax Dispute Dynamics and Tax Agency Practice, (3) High-quality Development and Innovation of Tax-related Services, and (4) Digital Transformation and International Tax-related Services.

The first part of the theme was "Improving the Modern Tax System and Deepening the Reform of Tax Collection and Administration", which was presided over by Xu Qiping, Director of the Finance and Taxation Law Committee of Zhejiang Lawyers Association and Managing Partner of Zhejiang Zeda Law Firm. Li Linjun, Vice President of the China Certified Tax Agents Association and former Director of the Department of Taxation of the State Administration of Taxation, Li Wanfu, Vice President of the China Taxation Society, and Shi Zhengwen, Director and Professor of the Finance and Taxation Law Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law and Vice President of the Finance and Taxation Law Research Association of the China Law Society, delivered keynote speeches respectively.

The picture shows Vice President Li Linjun's speech

Vice President Li Linjun's speech was entitled "Interpretation of the Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of Tax Collection and Administration", and he discussed the topic from five aspects. First of all, he introduced the six stages of tax collection and management reform, and especially pointed out that in the sixth stage, that is, the deepening of reform practice, the launch of the individual income tax APP, the design and construction of the fourth phase of the golden tax, and the implementation of the electronic reform of special VAT invoices are the three major events in this stage. Subsequently, he introduced the main contents of the "Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of Tax Collection and Administration" from five aspects: guiding ideology, working principles, main objectives, key tasks, organizational guarantee and implementation. Then, he summarized the main measures taken by the State Administration of Taxation to implement the "Opinions" from three aspects: fully understanding the great significance of the "Opinions", accurately grasping the main content of the "Opinions", and resolutely grasping the implementation of the "Opinions". After that, he analyzed the background of the "Opinions" from the perspectives of General Secretary Xi Jinping's talk about the digital economy and the 14th Five-Year Plan. Finally, he pointed out the impact of the issuance of the Opinions on the tax agent industry. He believes that the "Opinions" heralds the arrival of smart taxation, and how to connect the tax agent industry with smart taxation in the future is worthy of serious thinking and innovative practice, and puts forward countermeasures from three aspects: in-depth study and implementation of the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee, strengthening party building, and promoting the high-quality development of the industry.

The picture shows Vice President Li Wanfu's speech

Vice President Li Wanfu's speech was on the theme of "Fiscal and Taxation Governance Based on Common Prosperity", and he pointed out that in the process of promoting common prosperity, the fundamental and important pillar role of finance and taxation in national governance should be fully demonstrated. He elaborated on the theme from four aspects: the overall handling of the relationship between the government, the market and society, the primary distribution and fiscal and tax governance, the redistribution and fiscal and tax governance, and the increase of fiscal and tax support for agriculture, rural areas and rural areas.

The theme of Professor Shi Zhengwen's speech was "Key and Difficult Issues in VAT Legislation", and he analyzed a series of key and difficult issues in VAT legislation through concise language. First of all, he pointed out that the current VAT legislation is facing a new situation, and that the VAT legislation should be based on the new stage of development, the new development concept, the new development pattern, and the new stage of the construction of the rule of law in China, and enhance the legislative concept to improve the quality of the legislation; then, he made clear the basic principles and objectives of the VAT legislation, and he held that the basic principles of the VAT legislation are, first, to adhere to the neutral characteristics of the VAT, and second, to raise fiscal revenue as the main function; the goal of the VAT legislation is to build a unified, neutral, standardized, and concise modern VAT system. He then analysed the specific tax elements of VAT. As for the constituent elements of taxable transactions, he believes that it is necessary to legislate and clearly define them, and makes comments on the types of taxable transactions, deemed taxable transactions and non-taxable transactions in the draft of the VAT Law; Simplify and optimize the tax rate structure and implement two levels of tax rates; with regard to tax deductions, he believes that it is necessary to legally determine taxpayers' right to deduct tax credits, and should consider allowing full tax refunds of retained tax credits and appropriate stock tax refunds in the future, and allowing deductions with other vouchers other than special bills under specific circumstances; as for tax incentives, he believes that it is necessary to reduce regulatory preferences, expand preferential treatment for daily necessities, and standardize preferential management. With regard to export tax rebates, he believes that it is necessary to improve export tax rebates in accordance with the principle of thorough tax rebates and the principle of taxation in the place of consumption. In addition, he also analyzed the taxation rules for small-scale taxpayers, value-added tax in the digital economy, value-added tax collection and management, and the reasonable division of intergovernmental value-added tax revenue.

After the keynote speech, Chen Shaoying, professor of the School of Economics and Law of East China University of Political Science and Law and vice president of the Finance and Taxation Law Research Association of China Law School, and Liu Yi, dean and professor of the Department of Finance of the School of Economics of Peking University and counselor of the Counselor's Office of the State Council, made comments.

The second part was entitled "Tax Controversy Dynamics and Tax Agency Practice", which was chaired by Chen Shuangzhuan, Director of the Editorial Department of Tax Research, China Tax Magazine. Wang Jiaben, legal counsel of the State Administration of Taxation and senior partner of Beijing Tiantai Law Firm, Cao Qiong, deputy director of the Policy and Regulation Division of Zhejiang Provincial Taxation Bureau of the State Administration of Taxation, and Yan Xizhong, deputy director of the Finance and Taxation Law Committee of the All China Lawyers Association and senior partner of Shanghai Zuo Securities Law Firm, delivered keynote speeches respectively.

The picture shows the speech of Mr. Wang Jiaben

Mr. Wang Jiaben's speech was entitled "Analysis of the Latest Typical Tax Administrative Dispute Cases", in which he made an in-depth analysis of the issues related to who should bear the legal responsibility when the tax authorities found that the company had tax violations after the company had completed the industrial and commercial deregistration through one of the latest typical tax administrative dispute cases. First, he introduced the basic facts and development of the case in detail, and then analyzed the legal issues in the case in four aspects. Firstly, as to whether the tax authority can make a specific administrative act on the company after the company is canceled, he thinks that civil law is the foundation of tax law, and only in the case of the existence of the subject who bears the civil responsibility will there be the subject who bears the tax obligation, and the cancellation of the company does not only imply the demise of the civil subject, but also implies the annihilation of the subject who pays taxes, so for the company which has already been canceled, the tax authority can not make any administrative act on it. Secondly, as to whether the shareholders are liable for the taxes owed by the company during the period of its existence after the company has been written off, he believes that if the shareholders abuse the limited liability of the company and maliciously cheat the legal person's deregistration registration to evade the tax debts by means of false liquidation report, they can utilize the provisions of the company law to regulate the relationship between the tax creditor debt, so as to make the shareholders bear the legal responsibility. Thirdly, as to whether and how the criminal liability for tax evasion can be pursued after the company is canceled, he believes that this is a legislative defect of the current criminal law, which does not consider how to deal with the criminal liability during the company's existence after the company is canceled, and this issue needs to be studied and discussed. Fourthly, for cases similar to the present one, how to bear the responsibility for the tax owed during the period of the company's existence after the company's cancellation, especially who should bear the responsibility when the company has more than one shareholder, he believes that it is necessary to be clarified by the legislation, and it is necessary to prevent the loss of tax resources to the maximum extent through perfecting the legislation and preventing the enterprises from evading the legal responsibility by maliciously cancelling the company's accounts.

Figure shows Deputy Director Cao Qiong's statement

Deputy Director Cao Qiong's speech was titled "Analysis of Difficult Problems in Administrative Mediation of Tax-Related Disputes", and she discussed the current situation of administrative mediation system, the status quo of administrative mediation of tax-related disputes, and the suggestions to improve the system of administrative mediation of tax-related disputes in three aspects. She discussed the current situation of administrative mediation system, the status quo of administrative mediation of tax-related disputes, and the suggestions to improve the system of administrative mediation of tax-related disputes. Firstly, she reviewed the development history of administrative mediation system in China and emphasized the important role of administrative mediation system in resolving social conflicts. Secondly, she pointed out that the "administrative mediation" system of tax-related disputes is currently facing the dilemmas of weak institutional support, unclear definition of the scope, unclear subject of mediation, non-unification of mediation procedures, and difficulties in internal and external supervision. In this regard, she put forward targeted suggestions to improve the system of "administrative mediation" for tax-related disputes, firstly, to promote the legislation of administrative mediation system and the synchronization of tax departments in formulating the relevant system; secondly, to change the concepts and expand the applicable stages and scope of mediation; thirdly, to further clarify the main body of mediation and to set up a professional mediation team to protect the administrative disputes; and thirdly, to establish a professional mediation team to ensure that the administrative disputes will be resolved in a timely manner. Thirdly, it is necessary to further clarify the subject of mediation and establish a professional tax-related dispute mediation team in order to guarantee the effective implementation of the administrative mediation system.

Mr. Yan Xizhong, Deputy Director, made a statement.

Deputy Director Yan Xizhong's speech was entitled "Identification of Subjective Elements in Tax Disputes", in which he analyzed the issue of identification of subjective elements in tax disputes based on typical cases in practice and relevant provisions of the tax law. Firstly, he introduced in detail the basic facts of two typical cases, namely, Beijing CNPC State Gate v. Shunyi State Taxation Bureau and Esco v. Ningbo Municipal Taxation Bureau Inspection Bureau, and then, comparing the trial results of the two cases, he pointed out that "The case of Beijing Zhongyou Guomen marked the change from inconsistency to consistency in the determination of tax evasion, while the case of Esco indicated that inconsistency between the determination of tax evasion and the determination of tax evasion was still retained in the practice of the determination of false opening. In this regard, he believes that the criminal law for the false opening of the crime has gone through the cognitive change from behavioral crime to result crime and purpose crime. After the judicial interpretation made it clear that the crime of false opening is a purposeful crime, in fact, it means that the false opening in criminal law and the false opening in administrative law are no longer a category of illegal nature, and the two can no longer be compared.

After the keynote speech, Zhou Xuzhong, Professor of Law School of Capital University of Economics and Business and Secretary General of Research Society of Finance and Taxation Law of China Law Society, Wang Zhaohui, Director of Finance and Taxation Law Committee of Beijing Lawyers' Association and Senior Partner of Beijing Jincheng & Tongda Law Firm, and Wu Xiaohong, Director of Finance and Taxation Law Committee of Anhui Lawyers' Association and Lawyer of Shanghai Jintiancheng (Hefei) Law Firm, made a comment.

The third part of the session was "High-quality Development and Tax-related Service Innovation", which was hosted by Mr. Zhang Tong, a lawyer from Zhejiang Zedah Law Firm. Mr. Zhu Yuanjie, Partner of Deloitte China, Mr. Ma Chao, Chairman of Tianjian Taxation Firm, and Mr. Fang Jingchun, Senior Partner of Zhonghui Taxation Firm, delivered keynote speeches respectively.

Pictured is Mr. Zhu Yuanjie's speech

Mr. Zhu Yuanjie's speech was titled "Practices of Tax-Related Difficulties in Corporate Bankruptcy and Reorganization", which was divided into five parts. He firstly introduced the stages of bankruptcy process, and then he explained the priority of tax claims. He proposed that in the past, due to the many contradictions between the relevant judicial interpretations of the bankruptcy law and the tax policies on the tax treatment of corporate bankruptcy, there were many disputes over the specific content of the tax claims and the order of liquidation, etc., and the introduction of the State Administration of Taxation Announcement No. 48 of 2019 has made these issues relatively clear. Specifically, tax obligations incurred after the bankruptcy acceptance are bankruptcy expenses and should be settled immediately; tax obligations incurred before the bankruptcy acceptance enjoy tax priority and are paid in preference to ordinary claims. Then, he introduced the practice of tax-related issues of bankruptcy reorganization plan. He believes that the first step of bankruptcy reorganization is to design the reorganization plan, and the design of reorganization plan must fully consider the tax cost and risk. He distinguished bankruptcy reorganization schemes into surviving reorganization schemes and sale and divestiture reorganization schemes, and launched a specific analysis of the two schemes. Then, he shared the practice of tax-related issues during bankruptcy liquidation, pointing out that the tax-related norms of bankruptcy are scattered in various laws and regulations, coupled with the different situations of each enterprise, which increases the complexity of planning and requires comprehensive consideration. Finally, he sorted out the tax preferential regulations for bankruptcy reorganization and suggested enterprises to refer to them and communicate with tax authorities in light of the actual situation. He highlighted the preferential policies such as special tax treatment for enterprise income tax, VAT exemption and reduction for the whole transfer, and temporary exemption of land value-added tax.

Picture shows Mr. Ma Chao's speech

Mr. Ma Chao's speech was titled "Analysis of Tax-Related Service Cases of M&A and Restructuring". Firstly, he discussed the purpose of M&A and reorganization, the way of M&A and reorganization, and pointed out that there are equity and non-equity payments in M&A and reorganization, and different payment methods may affect the final tax treatment. Secondly, he explained the main tax documents on M&A reorganization and asset transfer. Then he introduced the conditions of Cai Shui [2009] No.59 on special tax treatment and shared two cases of M&A and reorganization of listed companies. The first case is the tax treatment of asset acquisition. Through this case, he suggests enterprises to pay attention to the conditions of the special tax treatment that the proportion of equity payment exceeds 85%, and reasonably design the asset acquisition program. The second case is the tax treatment of equity acquisition, in which he analyzed the different tax treatments of cash acquisition and directional issue. Then, he focused on the situation that the reorganization participant is a natural person, and interpreted the State Administration of Taxation Announcement No. 48 of 2015, pointing out that the natural person involved in the reorganization can not apply the relevant provisions of the enterprise income tax, and should be dealt with in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Individual Income Tax Law.

Pictured is Mr. Fang Jingchun's speech

Mr. Fang Jingchun's speech was entitled "Innovation and Upgrading of Tax-Related Services for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)", which was divided into four parts. Firstly, he introduced the important position of SMEs in China's economic development, and then introduced the current situation of SMEs' tax work, pointing out that SMEs are still facing a lot of problems such as unstandardized financial accounting, low tax compliance, and under-utilization of tax reduction and fee reduction policies, etc. Next, he explained the two major backgrounds of SMEs' tax work. Then, he explained the two major backgrounds of SMEs' tax work, one of which is the upgrading of the tax system, including the leap from tax management by votes to tax management by numbers, the accurate portrait of enterprises by the tax system, and the development of financial compliance and tax compliance; the other is the support of national policies, including the tax and fee reduction policy and the digitalization transformation of tax services. Finally, he made suggestions on tax-related service innovation. He pointed out that tax-related service innovation should focus on five major aspects, namely, publicizing tax law knowledge, digital tax-related services, designing tax-related service products, improving tax-related service processes, and assisting in establishing good tax-enterprise relations, and explained them one by one.

After the keynote speeches, Teng Xiangzhi, Director of Case Study Center of Finance and Taxation Law of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Associate Researcher of Institute of Financial and Economic Strategies, and Xu Yuling, Deputy Director of Finance and Taxation Law Committee of Zhejiang Provincial Lawyers' Association, made comments respectively.

The fourth part of the topic is "Digital Transformation and International Tax-related Services", which was hosted by Tong Pengfang, deputy director and secretary general of the All-China Lawyers Association's Professional Committee on Finance and Taxation Law, and director of Beijing Derun Law Firm. Cui Xiaojing, Professor of Wuhan University Law School and Director of Wuhan University International Tax Law Research Center, Huang Bibo, Director of International Taxation Management Department of Zhejiang Taxation Bureau of State Administration of Taxation, and Ni Yongjun, Deputy Director of Finance and Taxation Law Committee of All-China Lawyers Association and Senior Partner of Zhonglun Law Firm, delivered the keynote speeches respectively.

The picture shows Prof. Cui Xiaojing's speech

Prof. Cui Xiaojing's speech was entitled "Pillar II Program: Analysis of Response Strategies of Multinational Enterprises", which was divided into three parts. Firstly, she introduced the background of Pillar 2 program, pointing out that transnational tax avoidance is rampant at the present stage, coupled with the fierce competition in the global corporate income tax rate, some countries and regions have adopted low tax rates and tax holidays to attract enterprises, which help enterprises to avoid tax. In order to combat transnational tax avoidance, solve the beps legacy problems and advocate a more fair and stable tax system, the two-pillar program was introduced and strongly supported by the United States and other countries. Then, she explained the Pillar II program, pointing out that the Pillar II program consists of three parts, namely Income Inclusion Rule (IIR), Undertaxed Payment Rule (UTPR) and Subject To Tax Rule (STTR). Finally, she made five suggestions on the strategies that multinational enterprises can adopt to cope with the situation. Firstly, "anticipation is the key", suggesting that enterprises should assess whether they have a top-up tax obligation. Secondly, they should be flexible and adjust their shareholding structure and industrial layout at the global and jurisdictional levels. Third, prepare for rainy days and prepare for tax information compliance in advance. Fourth, strategize and flexibly apply the exclusion and exemption rules. Fifthly, to grasp the global development strategy of enterprises in a prudent manner. She analyzed that Pillar 2 will lead to the automatic invalidation of tax concessions, and Chinese enterprises investing in Belt and Road countries and regions will face the risk of back taxes. In addition, Pillar II will pose a potential threat to Hong Kong, China. As Hong Kong's effective tax rate is lower than 15 percent, Hong Kong will lose its tax advantage after the implementation of Pillar II.

The picture shows the speech of Director Huang Bibo

Mr. Huang Bibo, Director of the Department of Taxation, gave a speech on "Difficult Issues in International Tax Information Exchange", which was divided into four parts. In the first part, he introduced the overall situation of China's current intelligence exchange work, pointing out that at present, China has joined the multilateral conventions on mutual assistance in tax administration and signed 112 double tax avoidance agreements and 10 agreements on intelligence exchange, covering China's major trading partners as well as low-tax-burden countries that have frequent economic exchanges with China, which provides a very broad internationalized basis for the exchange of intelligence. In recent years, China has utilized about 500 to 600 pieces of foreign income intelligence exchange information every year, and the average annual tax investigation and remediation amount is up to one billion yuan, which plays a very important role in safeguarding China's tax rights and interests and the dignity of the tax law. In the second part, he elaborated on the main achievements of China's current tax-related intelligence exchange, at present, the work of the automatic exchange standard for tax-related information on financial accounts (CRS) has been carried out smoothly, and in September 2018, the relevant departments have carried out the first foreign exchange through the CRS, and the exchange is now three years consecutively.The CRS has had a very important impact on the enhancement of cross-border tax collection and management capacity and the strengthening of international tax collection and management. In the next step, CRS will be used to strengthen the monitoring of multinational corporations' profit levels, the supervision of taxpayers' overseas income and assets, and the effective crackdown on the use of overseas accounts by "going out" enterprises or high-net-worth individuals to transfer and hide their assets, and to evade their tax obligations. In the third part, he discussed the difficulties in cross-border tax intelligence exchange from four aspects. In the fourth part, he looked forward to the prospect of tax-related intelligence exchange, pointing out that the exchange of tax-related intelligence has already achieved remarkable results, and that in the future, with the convergence of the development interests and goals of all countries, cross-border tax evasion will be curbed, and that China's strengthening of the exchange of intelligence is not only a fulfillment of its international obligations, but also an improvement of its domestic tax system.

The picture shows the speech of Mr. Ni Yongjun

Mr. Ni Yongjun's speech was titled "Difficult Practice of Tax-Related Services for Enterprises Going Global". He firstly analyzed the development trend of "bringing in" and "going out" at the present stage, pointing out that "bringing in" is facing the dilemma of weak growth, while "going out" has a bright prospect for development. He pointed out that "bringing in" is facing a lack of growth, while "going out" has a broad development prospect. He pointed out that at this stage, the main form of "going out" of Chinese enterprises has not changed, but the quality and quantity have changed. He emphasized that "going out" will certainly have demand for tax-related services, because "going out" involves very complicated tax issues, which only a small number of enterprises can solve on their own, and more enterprises need external consultant services. He then analyzed the difficulties of Chinese enterprises going global in terms of taxation. He summarized the difficulties at the enterprise level, such as the lack of understanding of the tax system of the investing countries, unfamiliarity with tax agreements and international practices, insufficient tax management power related to the enterprises' overseas projects, weak tax risk management, lack of planning awareness, and insufficient attention from the leadership. Secondly, there are difficulties at the policy level, such as the need to expand the network of tax treaties, complex operation of tax credits, complicated recognition process of overseas income, and lack of tax incentives for "going abroad". Finally, he put forward suggestions on how tax-related service personnel can better serve enterprises going global. In his opinion, tax-related services for "going out" must pay attention to the whole cycle of enterprises' outbound investment, including pre-investment, investment and exit, and should provide full-function tax services, including the four major aspects of consultation, planning, dispute resolution and compliance.

After the keynote speeches, Sun Hongmei, director and researcher of the International Room of the Institute of Taxation Science of the State Administration of Taxation, and Wang Hui, professor of the School of Law of Zhejiang Gongshang University and vice president of the Finance and Taxation Law Research Society of the Zhejiang Law Society, made comments respectively.

The forum was held at 16:45 closing ceremony. Liu Tianyong, director of the Professional Committee of Finance and Taxation Law of the All-China Lawyers Association and director of Hwuason Law Firm, acted as the moderator. Zhang Xiaoping, Deputy Secretary General of China Association of Registered Tax Accountants, and Shi Zhengwen, Director and Professor of the Research Center of Finance and Taxation Law of China University of Political Science and Law, delivered speeches on behalf of the host and the organizer respectively.

The picture shows Under-Secretary-General Zhang Xiaoping's speech

Firstly, on behalf of the organizers, Mr. Zhang Xiaoping, Deputy Secretary General, announced the winners of "2020 National Top Ten Excellent Tax Law Case Papers" and "2021 National Top Ten Excellent Tax Law Case Papers", as follows:

Winning authors of "2020 National Top Ten Excellent Tax Law Case Papers":

1、Liu Jian, Sichuan Provincial Taxation Bureau, State Administration of Taxation

2、Northwest University of Political Science and Law, School of Economics and Law, Dai Fang, Chu Shiyu

3、Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Hu Weitong and Hu Huake

4、Beijing Zhonglun (Shanghai) Law Firm, Ni Yongjun, Gao Rufeng, Hu Yingqi

5、Chengdu Zhonghuan Haihua Taxation Firm, Zhou Xiaolu

6、Zhuhai College of Beijing Institute of Technology, He Guanwen, Zhang Jinsong, Zhang Yan; City University of Macau, Zhang Zhanpeng

7、Haikou Comprehensive Free Trade Zone Taxation Bureau, State Administration of Taxation, Li Dongkai

8、The First Inspection Bureau of Wuhan Taxation Bureau, State Administration of Taxation, Zheng Lu

9、Shanxi Jinshang Law Firm, Zhang Qingzheng

10. Wu Juan, Hunan Yinguang Law Firm; Jiao Yimo, Chenzhou Economic Development Zone Taxation Bureau, State Administration of Taxation, Hunan Province

The authors nominated for the 2020 Top Ten Papers are:

1、Central University of Finance and Economics, Guo Weizhen, Wei Jingying

2、Guangdong Bird & Bird Law Firm, Yuan Chupeng

3、Zaozhuang Taxation Bureau, State Administration of Taxation, Ma Mengmeng and Li Xiaopeng; Shandong Taxation Bureau, State Administration of Taxation, Wang Yandong

List of Winning Authors of "2021 National Top Ten Excellent Tax Law Case Papers":

1、South China Normal University Law School, Cong Zhongxiao

2、Zhejiang Jingheng Law Firm, Wang Zhonggao and Zhao Yifei

3、Beijing Dacheng (Hangzhou) Law Firm, Xiong Yue, Chen Lin

4、Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics, Shi Zhengbao, Fan Manjiang, Xu Shang

5、Zhejiang Heyi Guanda Law Firm, Lu Daixia

6、Zhejiang Zhejiang Hangzhou Law Firm, Xu Yuling, Qiu Xiuru

7、Beijing Guofeng (Shanghai) Law Firm, Chen Shenfeng

8、Jiangsu Kewei Holding Group Company Limited, Shi Yintao

9、Tianjian Taxation Firm, Huang Huiying

10、Chinese University of Political Science and Law, Tax Law Research Center, Chen Yijing and Xue Haotian

The authors nominated for the 2021 Top Ten Papers are:

1、Taihetai (Chongqing) Law Firm, Liu Zhiqiang and Zheng Shun

2. Shandong Qilu (Qingdao) Law Firm, Chen Baoyuan and Wang Haiqing

3、Guangdong Guozhi Law Firm, Xu Li, Zhan Lingfeng

4. Huazax Taxation Firm (Suzhou) Co.

After announcing the list of winners, Mr. Zhang expressed his warm congratulations to the award-winning authors. Then, on behalf of the organizers, he expressed his sincere thanks to the contractors, co-organizers and experts and guests who participated in the Forum and expressed his heartfelt congratulations on the successful holding of the Forum. He pointed out that this year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the starting year of the second hundred years of struggle, and the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, which is a milestone in the history of the Party and the country. In March this year, the Central Office and the State Council issued the Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of Taxation Levy and Administration to further promote the reform of tax administration and service in the field of taxation, to improve the tax supervision system, to create a market-oriented, rule-of-law and international business environment, and to better serve the development of market players. Although this year's forum was changed to online by the epidemic, it still received good results. The experts and guests, centering on the theme of deepening the reform of tax administration and innovation of tax-related services, shared their insights through the cloud, focusing on the new dynamics of current tax-related services, new businesses and hot and difficult issues, from "perfecting the modern tax system and deepening the reform of tax administration" to "the dynamics of tax-related disputes and the development of the market, rule of law and internationalization of business environment", and from "improving the modern tax system and deepening the reform of tax administration" respectively, They made constructive speeches and comments on the four themes of "Improvement of Modern Tax System and Deepening Tax Administration Reform", "Tax-related Dispute Dynamics and Tax Agent Practice", "High Quality Development and Tax-related Service Innovation" and "Digital Transformation and International Tax-related Services". The constructive speeches and deliberations on the topics of deepening tax administration reform and innovation of tax-related services provided us with many forward-looking, strategic, comprehensive and innovative thoughts, which made us fortunate to enjoy a rich feast of knowledge and thoughts in the social field. He hoped that the China Tax Law Forum could become an important platform for tax law propaganda and communication in China, and that the majority of tax accountants, tax lawyers and other social professionals would join hands and actively engage in the cause of social professional services to jointly promote the deepening of tax collection and administration reforms, innovation of tax-related services and business cooperation and exchanges, so as to make fruitful contributions to the reform of the tax system in the new era and to welcome the 20th National Congress of the CPC.

Prof. Shi Zhengwen firstly congratulated the award-winning authors of "National Top Ten Excellent Tax Law Case Papers" in his speech, and at the same time, congratulated that this forum has achieved a complete success. He pointed out that under the direct guidance of the two associations, namely the All-China Lawyers Association and the China Association of Registered Taxation Technicians, the China Tax Law Forum has already exerted an important influence on the finance and taxation industry. He thanked the two associations for planning and promoting the cooperation and business integration of the industry from the height of the industry development strategy, and thanked the organizers and co-organizers for the great amount of work done for the smooth implementation of the forum. He believes that tax-related professional services is a highly sophisticated profession, which is related to the national economy and people's livelihood and fairness and justice, and it is necessary to be down-to-earth and work hard for a long time, not afraid of setbacks and facing difficulties, and forging the excellent skills of doing one's duty and taking up responsibilities, and the solid style of doing what is better than saying what is right. A generation has a generation of long march, a generation has a generation of responsibility, the dream is ahead, the road at the foot. He hoped that all of us would keep the enterprising spirit, be brave to take up the role, constantly open up new horizons for career development, and write our youth and dreams on the first line of tax-related professional services in the new era. He proposed that the cause of tax-related services has a long way to go, and hoped that everyone can establish the pattern of tax is bigger than the sky, always keep the taxpayer-oriented sentiment, put in a lifetime of true love and dedication, make steady progress and solid development, and write a wonderful life of tax-related professional services that is worthy of the times.

Finally, Director Liu Tianyong expressed his heartfelt thanks to the leaders and experts present. He pointed out that this year is the tenth session of the Tax Law Forum, and over the past ten years, we have witnessed the progress of the construction of the rule of law in the country, as well as the in-depth integration and development of the tax lawyers' and tax accountants' professions, and that today's Tax Law Forum can often become the starting point of tomorrow's cooperation in tax-related business. On behalf of the organizing committee of this forum, he announced the successful closing of this tax law forum.

Since 2010, the All-China Lawyers Association and the China Association of Registered Taxation Technicians have jointly organized the 10th China Tax Law Forum and China Tax Lawyers and Taxation Technicians Forum. With the theme of "Deepening Reform of Tax Administration and Innovation of Tax-related Services", the forum has held extensive and in-depth discussions among the participating tax cadres, tax law scholars, tax lawyers, tax lawyers and tax experts on the major theoretical and practical issues such as perfecting the tax system and deepening the reform of tax administration, and high-quality development and innovation of tax-related services, highlighting the cutting-edge and practical issues, as well as the importance of the tax system. The forum highlighted the cutting-edge, theoretical, practical, professional and openness. The successful convening of this forum will play a more positive role in implementing the spirit of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee, deepening the reform of the fiscal and taxation system, fully implementing the principle of tax law, promoting the fiscal and taxation system to be more mature and finalized, giving full play to the fundamental, pillar and safeguard roles of the fiscal and taxation system in national governance, and continuing to lead the development of the tax-related service industry including tax lawyers and tax accountants, as well as their business innovation and strategic cooperation. The role of China Tax Law will be more active. In the future, China Tax Law Forum will continue to explore the major frontier issues in the construction of the rule of law in taxation in China in the new era, and help the reform of the national taxation system and the construction of the rule of law in taxation!