What is Golden Tax Phase IV (金税四期)?
Golden Tax Phase IV is China's current generation of tax administration infrastructure. Its defining feature is "governing tax by data": declarations, invoice flows, bank payment data, social-insurance and payroll records, and platform-reported seller revenue are consolidated and cross-checked automatically. It is not a new tax — it is a step change in how quickly and precisely existing obligations become visible.
Key terms: Golden Tax Phase IV refers to the fourth generation of China's tax administration infrastructure; Decree 810 refers to the Regulation on Internet Platform Enterprises' Reporting of Tax-Related Information (effective 2025-06-20); a "risk notice" refers to the letter a tax bureau sends asking you to self-check declared-versus-reported gaps.
What changed from Phase III
Phase III unified invoicing nationally and made VAT invoices machine-checkable. Phase IV closes the remaining gaps: it connects tax data with non-tax data — banks, customs, market regulators, and since 2025 the platforms themselves reporting seller income quarterly under Decree 810. The practical difference: mismatches that once required an auditor to find now surface automatically in reconciliation.
What the system actually compares
- Declared revenue versus platform-reported settlement revenue (e-commerce, food delivery, ride-hailing, live-streaming);
- Input invoices versus actual business activity — quantities, categories, supplier concentration;
- Bank account flows versus declared income, including personal cards used for business receipts;
- Payroll declarations versus social-insurance records and employees' own annual IIT reconciliations;
- Export declarations versus foreign-exchange receipts versus declared revenue.
What it means for a small business: three points
First, concealed income survives only where no data trail exists — and the trails keep multiplying. Second, invoice reality is checked continuously, not sampled. Third, the voluntary-correction window became more valuable: proactively fixing gaps before a notice arrives consistently draws lighter treatment in published decisions.
The check-first sequence
- Step 1 · Run a free 3-minute triage on how your business actually operates;
- Step 2 · If flagged, quantify with an AI check (CNY 299) — three-scenario exposure ranges;
- Step 3 · Where professional certainty is needed, a tax-firm review with a stamped report (CNY 1,599);
- Step 4 · Rectify proactively while the window is open.
What businesses ask in practice
Two questions recur. "Does this mean they already know everything?" — no; it means mismatches surface without fieldwork, and explanations still matter. "Is there a grace period?" — there is no announced amnesty, but the standing practice of lighter treatment for pre-notice voluntary correction functions as one: the window is real, priced, and closes the moment a notice is issued. Businesses that treat Phase IV as a scheduling change — check earlier, correct smaller — consistently spend less than those that treat it as a threat to be waited out.
FAQ
Does Golden Tax Phase IV apply to foreign-owned companies in China?
Yes — it is administration infrastructure, not a tax by entity type. Any Chinese-registered entity (including WFOEs) is inside the same data reconciliation.
Is it only about e-commerce?
No, but e-commerce felt it first because Decree 810 added platform-side reporting. All industries face the same invoice-bank-declaration reconciliation.
Shoushuibao's check engine runs these same comparisons on your own data — free triage in the WeChat mini-program; see FAQ and Pricing.
Run the free check: open WeChat, search the mini-program 守税宝 (ShouShuiBao). International inquiries: bd@intentengine.cn.