China merged its previously separate state and local tax authority systems in 2018. This has provided a basis for improvements in tax administration and services, and required taxpayers to adapt. Michael Li, Tracey Zhang and Fang Wei explore the changes.

The past year has seen a further evolution in China’s tax treaties, in particular in integrating impactful BEPS permanent establishment (PE) changes. The maturity of work on global tax reforms hints at more profound changes ahead, write Chris Xing and Conrad Turley.

In the context of a changing global trade and investment environment, and China’s economic slowdown, tax enforcement approaches are evolving and maturing. Chris Xing and Conrad Turley trace the latest trends.

Intensive work at an international level to erect a new architecture for international tax rules by 2020 will have deep implications for businesses. Conrad Turley and Sunny Leung explore what this might mean for China’s burgeoning digital economy.

As policymakers in China and elsewhere inch towards a new global tax framework to deal with the challenges of digitalisation, many domestic tax law and administration issues are yet to be resolved for China’s digital economy. Sunny Leung and Conrad Turley take a look.

Recent years have seen striking changes in the VAT landscape, both in China and overseas, in relation to the scope of the tax, its mode of operation and the technology underpinning it. Lachlan Wolfers reviews a series of predictions made in 2014.