On June 9th, the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Capacity Enhancement Group (BRITACEG) organized an exchange program, gathering the Belt and Road Initiative Tax Academy (BRITA)·Macao participants to visit the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin (hereafter referred to as Cooperation Zone). The BRITACEG’s Director, the Director of the BRITA·Macao, and the Director of the Financial Services Bureau of Macao, Mr. IONG Kong Leong, together with 13 tax officials from Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and Sao Tome and Principe, participated in the Cooperation and Exchange Conference on Taxation in Support of the Promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and visited the Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park of Cooperation between Guangdong and Macao, and the Zhuhai Hengqin Bringbuys Network Technology Co., Ltd.

Mr. IONG Kong Leong commented that the BRITACEG operates five BRITAs in Yangzhou, Beijing, Macao, Astana, and Riyadh, which have established a multi-language training network of English, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, and Arabic. To date, 62 online and offline training activities have been held, providing training to more than 3,000 tax officials from over 100 countries (regions). In February 2023, the BRITACEG released The BRITACEG Curriculum System Version 1.0, covering 65 courses in 4 themes, which not only includes tax system, tax administration, and taxpayer service, but also consists of tax dispute resolution, optimizing the business environment and other topics of deep concern to tax officials of the BRI jurisdictions. The curriculum also integrates the “Two-Pillar Solution” and cutting-edge research hotspots in the international tax field, thus can better meet the needs of tax officials of the BRI jurisdictions.

During the Conference, tax officials of the Guangdong Provincial Tax Service introduced the endeavors in implementing tax and fee reduction, serving major national initiatives and optimizing taxation business environment. Tax officials of the Cooperation Zone Tax Service introduced the economic and taxation situation of the Cooperation Zone, and shared experience on accelerating the building of the Office of Tax Cooperation for Portuguese Speaking Countries and Regions.

The participants also got the chance to visit the smart Taxation Hall of the Cooperation Zone Tax Service for an immersive experience of the taxation virtual figure, the application scenes of the Electronic Taxation Bureau and the full-featured taxation intelligent counter.

“Hello, Xiaoqin, I would like to know the individual income tax policy for Macao residents in the Cooperation Zone.”

“Okay, according to relevant regulation, for Macao residents working in the Cooperation Zone, the portion of their individual income tax liability that exceeds the Macao tax liability shall be exempted from ......”

The participants took great interest in watching “Tax Xiaoqin” communicate with taxpayers. “Tax Xiaoqin” is an intelligent consulting engine generated by the “meta-universe” technology, which is capable of handling policy Q&A, tax-related inquiries and intelligent guidance.

Bruno Aniceto Silva, the lecturer of the BRITA·Macao, said, “This exchange visit leads us to experience the high-level digitalization and convenient taxpayer service of China’s tax administration. The staff here is professional and the taxpayers all speak highly of it. We are quite impressed.” The participants expressed that this exchange program was enlightening and they would like to try what they have learned in their future work.