China makes significant progress in tax legislation, improvement of tax law system in 2021-2025: official

China has made significant progress in tax legislation and improvement of the tax law system during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), aiming to foster a fair legal tax environment that supports high-quality economic growth, said Wang Daoshu, deputy commissioner of the State Taxation Administration (STA), on Monday.

According to results of the latest annual evaluation of national taxpayer credit, the number of Class A taxpayers surpassed 3.75 million in 2024, an increase of nearly 1 million since 2020.

The tax authorities, in collaboration with financial regulatory bodies and commercial banks, has adopted measures to facilitate the growth of micro and small enterprises, providing credit loans totaling 11.3 trillion yuan (1.58 trillion U.S. dollars) to 36.21 million compliant taxpayers throughout the five-year period.

"We have actively guided taxpayers to voluntarily correct their acts of bad faith. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, a total of 3,362 major tax law violators have had their credit restored after self-correction, and 115,000 companies were removed from the blacklist after meeting compliance standards," Wang said.

The tax authorities have also strengthened their integrated mechanism for combating tax-related crimes, working alongside eight other competent departments, including public security, the People's Bank of China, and law courts, to enhance targeted investigations into illegal activities, according to the official.

"Since 2021, we have investigated over 360 cases of tax evasion by online streamers, recovering more than 3 billion yuan (418 million U.S. dollars) in lost taxes. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, we're committed to tackling fraudulent claims for tax benefits, having investigated 21,800 cases of improper tax incentive claims and recovering 26.9 billion yuan (3.75 billion U.S. dollars) in lost tax to ensure that tax benefits don't fall into the wrong hands," Wang said.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil issued a statement on Saturday, saying that the security alert released by the U.S. Department of State regarding Venezuela is based on false claims that do not exist and is intended to create a perception of risk that is not real.

According to the statement posted on Gil's official X account, Venezuela is currently in a state of absolute calm, peace and stability.

All residential areas, transportation routes, checkpoints and security facilities in the country are functioning normally, and all armed forces nationwide are under the government's control.

The statement came after the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs on Saturday warned that as international flights have resumed, U.S. citizens in Venezuela "should leave the country immediately."