A multi-layer network will soon be set up to protect
confidential information of people who pay income tax for earnings
above 120,000 yuan ($16,500) a year, the top taxation watchdog has
said.
The disclosure of taxpayers' confidential information is
prohibited "under any circumstance or for any purpose without their
consent," says a circular issued by the State Administration of
Taxation (SAT) yesterday.
Confidential information includes personal contact details,
income and tax statements, business "secrets" and related internal
files, an SAT official said.
The SAT issued the circular to ease some taxpayers' concern over
possible leak of information. The administration had not addressed
the problem earlier, the official said, but stressed work had been
"reliable and sound" till now.
The government last year asked high-income earners to declare
their full earnings. The number of declarations this year is
expected to cross last year's 1.63 million, the official said.
Last year, personal income tax revenue added up to 31.85 billion
yuan ($4.37 billion), up 29.9 percent over 2006, SAT division chief
Shu Qiming said.
Though the administration has reiterated that stock exchange
earnings are not taxable, some reports say complicated procedures
and concerns over leak of private information have been preventing
stock investors from submitting statements before the March 31
deadline.
About 81 percent of the taxpayers who submitted their
declarations in time last year were from Beijing and the coastal
economic powerhouses of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Qingdao and
Ningbo, as well as some cities in Jiangsu Province.
The National People's Congress, the country's top legislature,
amended the income tax law last month and raised the individual
income tax threshold from 1,600 yuan ($220) to 2,000 yuan a month.
The move is aimed at easing medium- and low-income earners' burden
given the rising cost of living. The amendment takes effect from
March 1, 2008.
The change will cut government revenue by 30 billion yuan ($4.1
billion) a year. But then it will exempt 70 percent income earners
from paying tax. About 50 percent are exempt now.
(China Daily January 11, 2008)