Chapter VII Legal Liabilities

Article 90Where a taxpayer fails to go through the formalities for inspection or replacement of the tax registration certificate according to the provisions, the tax authorities shall order the taxpayer to make corrections within a time limit, and may impose a penalty of not more than 2,000 yuan; where the circumstances are serious, a penalty of not less than 2,000 yuan but not more than 10,000 yuan shall be imposed.

Article 91Where anyone illegally prints, lends, resells, alters or forges tax payment vouchers, the tax authorities shall order it to make corrections and impose a penalty of not less than 2,000 yuan but not more than 10,000 yuan, or, where the circumstances are serious, not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan. In case a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be investigated.

Article 92Where banks or other financial institutions fail to record the number of the tax registration certificate in the bank accounts of the taxpayer engaged in production or business operation, or fail to record the bank account numbers in the tax registration certificate of the taxpayer engaged in production or business operation in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection, the tax authorities shall order them to make corrections within a time limit and impose a penalty of not less than 2,000 yuan but not more than 20,000 yuan, or, where the circumstances are serious, not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan.

Article 93Where anyone illegally provides bank accounts, invoices, certificates or other convenience to taxpayers or tax withholding agents with a result of non-payment or underpayment of tax or fraudulently obtaining tax refund for exportation, the tax authorities may, apart from confiscating the illegal income, impose a penalty of not more than one time the amount of tax unpaid or underpaid, or of tax refund fraudulently obtained.

Article 94Where a taxpayer refuses to have its tax withheld or collected by the tax withholding agent, the tax withholding agent shall report to the tax authorities, which shall be responsible for collecting the tax payable and surcharge on tax in arrears directly from the taxpayer. In case the taxpayer rejects such payment, the provisions of Article 68 of the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection shall apply.

Article 95Where tax authorities inspect taxpayers at stations, docks, airports, postal enterprises or branches thereof in accordance with the provisions of Item 5 of Article 54 of the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection, if such inspection is rejected by relevant units, the tax authorities shall order them to make corrections, and may impose a penalty of not more than 10,000 yuan; where the circumstances are serious, a penalty of not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan shall be imposed.

Article 96A taxpayer or tax withholding agent shall be punished according to the provisions of Article 70 of the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection, where it falls into one of the following circumstances:

(1) providing false information, not reporting according to facts, or refusing to provide relevant information;

(2) rejecting or preventing tax authorities from taking notes, tape-recording, video-recording, photographing or copying the situations or materials related to the case under investigation;

(3) transferring, concealing or destroying the relevant information by the taxpayer or tax withholding agent during the period of inspection; or

(4) other circumstances of not accepting tax inspection according to law.

Article 97Where tax officials divide privately the impounded or sealed-up commodities, goods or other property, and the circumstances are so serious as to constitute a crime, they shall be investigated for criminal liability according to law. If the circumstances are not serious enough to constitute a crime, administrative penalties shall be imposed upon them according to law.

Article 98Where a tax withholding agent violates tax laws or administrative rules or regulations, which results in a non-payment or underpayment of tax by the taxpayer, the taxpayer shall pay or make up the shortage in payment of tax or surcharge on tax in arrears and a penalty of not less than 50 percent but not more than 3 times of the amount unpaid or underpaid by the taxpayer shall be imposed upon the tax withholding agent.

Article 99Tax authorities shall issue receipts when imposing a penalty upon or confiscating the illegal income of the taxpayer, tax withholding agent or other persons involved. Otherwise, the taxpayer, tax withholding agent or other persons involved shall have the right to refuse.

Article 100The dispute over tax payment as mentioned in Article 88 of the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection refers to the dispute arising from the taxpayer, tax withholding agent or tax payment guarantor over such specific administrative acts by tax authorities as determining the subject of tax payment, target of tax collection, scope of tax collection, tax reduction and exemption, tax refund, applicable tax rate, base of tax assessment, stages of tax payment, period and place of tax payment, means of tax levying, etc.

Chapter VIII Service of Documents

Article 101Tax authorities shall serve taxation documents directly on recipients.

Where the recipient is a citizen, the document shall be delivered to his own reception against his signature. Where the recipient is absent, the document shall be delivered against signature to the reception of his adult family member living together.

Where the recipient is a legal person or an other organization, the document shall be delivered against signature to the reception of the legal representative of the legal person, the principal responsible person of the organization, or the responsible person of finance or the person specifically responsible for reception of documents or letters of the legal person or the organization. In case the recipient has an agent, the document may be delivered to the agent's reception against signature.

Article 102There shall be a return of service for the taxation documents served. The return of service shall bear the date of reception and the signature or stamp by the recipient or other persons as specified in these Rules for reception against signature, upon which service shall be deemed completed.

Article 103Where the recipient or any of the other persons as specified in these Rules for reception against signature refuses to sign for reception of the taxation document, the person who delivers the document shall, on the return of service, specify the reason for refusal and state the date, affix the signature or stamp of himself and the witness to the return of service, and leave the taxation document with the recipient, upon which service shall be deemed completed.

Article 104Where there is difficulty in a direct service of taxation documents, tax authorities may entrust other relevant authorities or units with the service, or send them by mail.

Article 105Where taxation documents are served directly or through entrustment, the date of service shall be the date when the recipient or witness signs or specifies for reception on the return of service. In case the documents are served by mail, the date of service shall be the date of reception specified on the receipt of the registered mail, with the service being deemed completed.

Article 106Tax authorities may serve taxation documents by a public notice under any of the following circumstances and the service shall be deemed completed after 30 days of the public notice:

(1) the document is to be served on numerous recipients; or

(2) the document cannot be served through other means of service specified in this chapter.

Article 107The format of taxation documents shall be determined by the State Administration of Taxation. The taxation documents mentioned in these Rules include:

(1) letter of notification of taxation issues;

(2) letter of notification of rectification within a prescribed time limit;

(3) letter of decision for tax preservative measures;

(4) letter of decision for compulsory taxation enforcement;

(5) letter of notification of tax inspection;

(6) letter of decision for tax disposition;

(7) letter of decision of tax administrative penalty;

(8) letter of decision of administrative reconsideration; and

(9) other taxation documents.

Chapter IX Supplementary Provisions

Article 108The terms "not less than", "not more than", "within …days" and "expires" as mentioned in the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection and these Rules shall all include the given figure.

Article 109In case the last day of the prescribed time limit set forth in the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection and these Rules is an official holiday, the day following the end of the holiday period shall be deemed as the last day of the time limit. In case not less than three consecutive days in the prescribed time limit are official holidays, the prescribed time limit shall be extended by the number of holidays.

Article 110The commissions for withholding or entrusted collection of tax as prescribed in Paragraph 3 of Article 30 of the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection shall be included in the budget and paid by tax authorities to the withholding agent in accordance with the provisions of laws and administrative rules or regulations.

Article 111The measures for taxpayers or tax withholding agents to entrust tax agents with taxation matters shall be formulated by the State Administration of Taxation.

Article 112The collection and administration of Cultivated Land Occupation Tax, Deed Tax, Agriculture Tax and Animal Husbandry Tax shall be subject to the relevant provisions of the State Council.

Article 113These Rules shall be effective as of October 15, 2002. The Rules for the Implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Tax Collection promulgated by the State Council on August 4, 1993 shall be repealed simultaneously.

The English translation is for reference only and if there is any discrepancy, the Chinese version shall prevail.