The Beijing State Tax Bureau, the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce, Beijing Municipal Administration for Industry, decided on 27 June 2013 to start with electronic invoicing pilots.

China’s e-commerce giant 360buy Jingdong Mall (www.jd.com)  is one of the first companies in the Beijng area to start using electronic invoicing for individual buyers. Electronic invoicing, as part of the pilot project, is available to customers that buy books and video products in Beijing. Customers are free to choose paper invoices or electronic ones. The move is aimed at promoting electronic invoicing and improving the development of e-commerce, said Sun Yao, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Commerce.

Announcement

The following is derived from the original announcement:

1. The scope of the pilot application of electronic invoicing electronic invoicing application is limited by the Beijing pilot project in Beijing Liaison Group established e-commerce business, and specific category of goods sold to individual consumers in Beijing when issued.
2. The pilot refers to the alleged purchase and sale of electronic invoicing goods, providing or receiving services and engage in other business activities.
3. The electronic invoice shall comply with the tax authorities unified business and technical standards, through the Beijing State Administration of Taxation and comply with a predefined electronic invoice management system that handles the electronic invoices account registration, requisitioned, issuance, transfer, inspection.
4. Electronic invoicing data should be submitted in accordance with the provisions of the State Tax Bureau, Beijing.
5. Electronic invoices issued shall be issued, sequentially, truthfully, complete  and issued within the prescribed time limit. It shall also be stamped with an electronic signature.
6. Queries of electronic invoices whether done in the Beijing State Tax Bureau website or via other authorized invoice information website should provide consistent invoice information.
7. Consumers that receive electronic invoices, should verify the information in timely fashion to check for the authenticity and integrity. Should this information not meet the requirements of electronic invoices, then consumers have the right to reject the e-invoice.
8. In case of sales returns and sales discounts, red electronic invoices should be issued after the issuance of electronic invoices. Scarlet invoicing should include the corresponding original electronic invoice invoice code and invoice number. If the scarlet electronic invoice is checked via the Beijing City, State Revenue website or another authorized website, against the corresponding original electronic invoice information, the query results should include the issuance of a negative amount of red electronic invoice content.
9. Electronic invoices with errors that are not sent to the consumer should be made invalid for processing in the electronic invoice management system. If sent to the consumer, it should be required to issue electronic invoices in red [we don’t have a clue what this means].
10. Electronic invoicing can serve as an effective consumer protection certificate.