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

The Government hopes blockchain invoicing can bring more transparency to taxpayers. The idea is to bring blockchain’s unique transparency, traceability and immutability to future governance with the usage of blockchain invoicing.

The official announcement stated 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 blockchain invoicing service promotion throughout the city. It will issue general invoices for parking and tickets for scenic spots and parks, other industries will be included in the pilot scope later on.

This is not the first city to start a blockchain invoicing initiative. Over 10 million blockchain-based invoices had been issued in the 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 RMB 7 billion (nearly $995 million) invoices have been processed on the system.