The Shenzhen Municipal Office of the State Administration of Taxation is collaborating with internet giant Tencent Holdings to tap blockchain technology to prevent malpractice and forgery, Xinhua Net reported.
Li Wei, deputy director of the office, said by helping to trace the source of an invoice, blockchain technology would help tax supervisors to verify its authenticity. He said that the technology would curb malpractice and document forgery in taxation, reduce costs, simplify procedure and ensure data security.
The taxation department will work with Tencent to develop a blockchain solution for safeguarding the authenticity of invoices, according to South China Morning Post. The solution would enable the authorities to track the process of issuance and circulation.
“We hope to make every fapiao [official invoice issued by the Chinese Tax Bureau] checkable, verifiable, reliable and traceable, and use blockchain technology to manage the whole circulation process of fapiaos,” Tencent said.
Pony Ma Huateng, Tencent’s chairman and chief executive, said that the solution will mark the first blockchain application the management of digital invoices in China.
Tencent said that the solution would improve the government’s surveillance procedure against counterfeit invoices. It said that the blockchain solution would be incorporated in the Mini Program platform of WeChat, its popular messaging-social-media-and-payments app.
