DeHeng Completed the Drafting of the General Principles of Tax Law (Expert Proposal) Mandated by the National People's Congress

2023-02-21

On February 17, 2023, DeHeng Tax Law Service and Research Center, China International Taxation Research Institute, and Finance and Taxation Law Research Society under Beijing Law Society, jointly reported to the Budget Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the drafting of the General Principles of Tax Law (Expert Proposal).

The drafting of general rules is an important attempt to codify China's tax law. After the completion of the codification of the Civil Code, the country and society called for the summarization and sharing of legislative experience to meet the development needs, and the timely codification of more codes in mature fields. Like civil law, tax law is vital for consolidating the foundation for development, stabilizing expectations and conducive for long-term development. And the tax legal relationship is simple, the system framework clear, with a good foundation for codification. At present, there are only separate laws and procedural laws governing taxation, and a more proper institutional arrangement is needed to address various taxation chaos and problems.

Therefore, in October last year, the Budget Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress commissioned three units, including DeHeng Tax Law Service and Research Center, to jointly draft the General Principles of Tax Law (Expert Proposals) as a preliminary exploration for the codification of tax law.

DeHeng Tax Law Service and Research Center and the other two units organized seven writing groups composed of tax law and tax experts and scholars to complete the first draft, in addition to two calls for opinions from administrative trial judges, tax officials at all levels, tax law scholars, tax law lawyers, accountants, tax accountants, corporate financial directors and tax directors. On the basis of more than 700 opinions received, two rounds of revisions were carried out before the draft was finalized. The whole process lasted for four months. The submitted final draft was highly praised by the client.

▲ Secretary General Yi Ming reporting on the organization of the drafting and three outstanding features of the draft at the National People's Congress Conference Center

Yi Ming, Secretary-General of DeHeng Tax Law Service and Research Center, acted as the editor-in-chief, and lawyer Pan Tiezhu, advisor Yi Ming, and lawyers Gu Huili and Qiang Tiantian served as the editor of Chapter 3, Chapter 6, Chapter 7 and Chapter 8, respectively. At the same time, dozens of other DeHeng lawyers also contributed their opinions to the drafting.

In recent years, in addition to serving DeHeng's clients, DeHeng Tax Law Service and Research Center has been deeply involved in the pro bono taxation legal work. Since 2018, it has written and published the Big Data Analysis Report on China's Taxation Administrative Litigations for four consecutive years, participated in the selection of "Taxation Judicial Trial Cases of the Year" and the high-end forum "Taxation-related Judicial Theory and Practice" for five consecutive years, becoming an active force to promote law-based taxation.