In addition to using the platform in-house, the bank plans to enable clients to use the tax bureau’s blockchain. The idea is to extend the bank’s integrated payment solution to provide e-invoicing for SME merchants without the merchants needing to get involved in software development.
The tax departments are keen for the integration because it makes it harder for companies to duplicate invoices when claiming deductions. Several countries are exploring or have rolled out tax e-invoicing platforms, though most don’t yet use blockchain. In addition to the deductions issue, they can monitor sales tax or VAT receipts.
This isn’t China Merchants Bank’s only blockchain endeavor. It was one of the first to execute a blockchain Letter of Credit on the “China Trade Finance Inter-bank Trading Blockchain Platform” which was announced in late December 2018.
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