The tax bureau of Beijing has officially announced that it will start implementing blockchain invoicing within the city on March 2.

Beijing hopes blockchain invoicing can bring more transparency to taxpayers

Beijing aims to bring blockchain’s unique transparency, traceability and immutability to its future governance with the usage of blockchain invoicing. The official announcement said that:

“To reduce taxpayers operating costs, save social resources, increase consumer convenience for saving invoices and build a healthy and fair tax environment [...]The tax bureau of Beijing has decided to pilot the application of blockchain electronic general invoice”

According to the announcement, the Beijing blockchain invoice has specific features. There are 12 digits in the invoice code and there are a total 8 digits in the invoice number.

The Beijing tax bureau encourages consumers to take the initiative to check the authenticity of the invoices by verifying the invoice information on its official website or on the authorized Ruihong website. It said that:

“The information recorded in the electronic common invoices shall be consistent with the results obtained on the website [...] Consumers have the right to reject electronic invoices with inconsistent results, and can call the tax service hotline 12366 of the Beijing tax bureau to report.”

The Beijing tax bureau will gradually carry out the blockchain invoicing service promotion throughout the city. It will issue general invoices for parking and tickets for scenic spots and parks for now. Other industries will be included in the pilot scope later on.

This is not the first city that is starting a blockchain invoicing initiative

As Cointelegraph reported previously, over 10 million blockchain-based invoices had been issued in Chinese tech capital Shenzhen as of the end of last year.

Over 7,600 companies in Shenzhen have used the blockchain system. A total value of over 7 billion yuan (nearly $995 million) invoice has been proceeded on the system.