China's National Financial Regulatory Administration and State Taxation Administration deepen and standardise bank–tax data sharing for micro and small enterprise lending

China's State Taxation Administration and National Financial Regulatory Administration issued a joint notice to further deepen and standardise the “bank–tax interaction” programme, aiming to use tax-payment and contribution credit information to support inclusive finance and improve access to funding for private, micro and small enterprises. The notice sets out changes to cooperation arrangements, data use and safeguards. Tax authorities are to establish province-to-province cooperation with eligible banks on an “as many connections as possible” basis, pilot a head office-to-head office model, and upgrade direct data links to improve secure and efficient information flows. It also standardises the content and delivery of bank–tax data and encourages legally compliant innovation using technologies such as blockchain and privacy computing, while requiring banks to expand credit services for compliant taxpayers and to monitor the effectiveness of bank–tax loan models to strengthen risk management. To protect firms’ rights, information sharing must be based on enterprise authorisation, with minimum-necessary permissions, confidentiality obligations and periodic supervision and inspections. The notice also encourages embedding tax and fee services into banks’ self-service terminals and online channels and using coordinated data to address banks’ tax-related risks and support more accurate firm classification and targeted credit support. The authorities will coordinate implementation to further deepen and standardise the mechanism and better translate tax-credit standing into financing support.