Chinese internet giant Tencent has received the go-ahead from China’s tax department to lead work on a new set of internationally supported standards for blockchain-based invoices.
Tencent announced that it is leading the drafting of the “General Framework of DLT-Based Invoices” after garnering approval from China’s State Administration of Taxation.
Other parties taking part in the drafting of the standards include the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology and the taxation authorities for the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
According to Tencent the current General Framework project has also obtained the approval and support of major economies including the UK, Switzerland, Sweden and Brazil at a recent international ITU-T meeting on standards for electronic invoices.
Representatives at the meeting concluded that blockchain-based invoices will comprise a key infrastructure for digital economies in future, requiring the development of international standards.
Tencent and Shenzhen’s tax department were responsible for launching China’s first blockchain-based electronic “fapiao” invoice service over a year ago.
On 10 August 2018 a restaurant in Shenzhen’s Guomao Building (深圳国贸大厦) issued the first “e-fapiao” based on blockchain technology developed by Tencent.
Representatives from Tencent and Shenzhen’s tax department said that the new e-fapiaos make use of a blockchain platform provided by Tencent, facilitating both fapiao issuance and tax filing by enterprise.
In March of this year Shenzhen applied Tencent’s blockchain-based electronic invoicing system to the city’s underground metro system.
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