The State Administration of Taxation (SAT) has just issued new measures (国税发[2010]11) (Guoshuifa [2010]11)  for the purpose of handling complaints by taxpayers against the acts of officials that “infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of the taxpayers”. These Measures were issued on 21 January and published on the SAT website yesterday.

The Measures cover various issues in relation to the handling of such complaints, including the scope that such complaints can cover, the submission and acceptance procedures of complaints, the procedures that should be followed by the investigating team and supervisory role of the national level SAT in the process.

This is the latest indication by the SAT that it intends to pursue greater transparency and accountability in China’s tax administration process. Perhaps, like the Taxpayer’s Charter of Rights and Obligations that was issued last year, these Measures are not that newsworthy in of themselves but rather as an  indication of the prevailing view that the tax administration systems needs cleaning up. Our understanding is that more developments can be expected soon.