China Mandates New Tax Reporting for Digital Platforms

The State Council published a new regulation mandating domestic and foreign digital platform operators to submit regular tax reports. The reporting requirements were declared by the State Council Decree 810, published on June 20, 2025, which also marks the effective date.

Main Tax Rules for Digital Platforms

As stated in Decree 810, domestic and foreign digital platforms operating in China are now required to report quarterly tax-related information to the competent Tax Authority. This information includes the identity and income of operators and individual service providers, who are in the Decree defined as “employees”. Service providers that fall under the term “employees” refer to individuals who provide services such as delivery or transport via the platform.

Additionally, the term digital platform refers to that defined under the E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China, as well as other legal persons or unincorporated organizations that provide online business venues, transaction matchmaking, information release, and other profit-making services for online transaction activities.

Digital platforms that are already operating in China have a 30-day deadline from the effective date of the Decree to submit information, including the platform domain name, business type, unified social credit code, and the name of the relevant operating entity. The same 30-day deadline also applies to any new digital platforms that start operating in China, and the deadline begins on the date of engaging in online business operations.

Digital platform operators must verify the data provided to them by the “employees” and are held liable for its authenticity, accuracy, and completeness. However, they are not liable for discrepancies caused by the “employees” themselves, provided due diligence was followed.

Fines for failing to comply with these requirements range from RMB 20,000 (approximately USD 2,800) to RMB 500,000 (approximately USD 69,700). In addition to a monetary penalty, the digital platform operators' business operations may be suspended.

Conclusion

According to the State Tax Administration, the primary goal of these new measures is to ensure a level playing field for the development of the digital economy and improve the Tax Administration's efficiency. Notably, the Ministry of Justice underlined that new requirements will not increase tax burdens for businesses and “employees”, taht is individual sellers offering goods and services through digital platforms.

Source: State Tax Administration, Order of the State Council of the People's Republic of China