The Internet giant – Tencent has collaborated with the Shenzhen branch of the State Administration of Taxation in providing blockchain solutions to avoid tax evasion.

As reported on May 24, “Intelligent Tax” innovation lab has been launched in the cooperation between he Shenzhen National Taxation Bureau and Tencent, which plan to research & develop, as well as utilize blockchain for taxation procedure.

The lab will research not only blockchain but also emerging technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and Big Data, for tax management and e-invoice applications.

According to the New York Times, there is still an underground economy existing in Shenzhen: vendor publicly offer fake receipts, buyers use bogus paperwork to evade taxes and cheat employers,… Therefore, to detect the valid of each receipts would be a challenge for tax men, SMEs and China’s state-owned enterprises.

Ma Huateng, Tencent’s CEO shared to the media that Intelligent Tax lab is currently working on a blockchain-based system that can issue legally valid  digital invoices. And this innovation will be first production implemented by the lab.

By teaming up with Tecent, the lab will use Tencent’s blockchain to work on the project. According the press release, this would be the first national research that apply blockchain for invoicing.

Adding to Huateng saying, Li Wei, deputy director of the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of State Taxation shared that the new system will include a complete tracking process and secured data features which enhance the effectivity of invoice issuance flow and prevent any taxation fraud.