On the afternoon of 14 October (Beijing time), Mr. Kuok Iat Hoi, Deputy Director of Financial Services Bureau of Macao, China delivered a keynote speech, sharing Macao's practical experience and future plans on the digital transformation of taxpayer services at the 7th Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Forum (BRITACOF) held in Jakarta, Indonesia. Under the theme “Smart Taxation, Shared Prosperity”, more than 300 delegates participated in the Forum, including heads of tax authorities from nearly 40 jurisdictions, as well as representatives from eight international organizations and some institutes and multinational enterprises.

Mr. Kuok noted that Macao adopts a simple tax structure, with only seven taxes under the administration of the Financial Services Bureau, namely Business Tax, Profits Tax, Salaries Tax, Urban Property Tax, Stamp Duty, Tourism Tax and Motor Vehicle Tax.

Improving tax compliance is the core objective of Macao's tax administration. To this end, the region has continued to advance tax reform and rolled out several taxpayer facilitation measures. First, unified tax addresses and electronic notifications, with new legislation recognizing equal legal effect for e-notices and paper notices, making compliance easier for overseas taxpayers. Second, cross-departmental data sharing allows tax authorities to access taxpayer information held by other departments, cutting redundant filings. Third, a streamlined refund mechanism: refunds go directly to taxpayers' registered bank accounts instead of through employers, and delayed refunds carry 9.75% annual compensatory interest to protect taxpayers' rights and drive faster administrative service.

Based on the legal framework for simplified administrative procedures, Macao has further advanced digital tax services. The Financial Services Bureau of Macao has built a multi-channel, around-the-clock digital service platform. Through its E-Service website, “Macau Tax” Mobile App and Self-Service Kiosks, services including tax payment, tax certificate application, receipt of notifications, information inquiry and tax filing are available. Certain services are equipped with data preview and cross-validation functions. At the government level, two integrated unified platforms have been set up: “Macao One Account” for individuals and “Business and Associations Platforms” for enterprises and associations, providing portals for tax filing, inquiry and one-stop declaration. According to Mr. Kuok Iat Hoi, the adoption rate of E-Filing kept growing in the first half of 2026. The E-Filing rate for individual income tax climbed from 56.5% to 63.2%, while the adoption rates for electronic payment and electronic certificates both exceeded 50%. Nevertheless, the uptake of digital tax services among corporate users remained below 20%.

Raising the adoption of e-tax services among corporate users is now a key priority for the next stage of Macao's tax administration. Mr. Kuok said that tax notifications delivered through Macao’s e-government platform feature advantages including shorter delivery lead-time, convenient cross-border access and lower administrative costs, and electronic notifications are expected to gain wider popularity. In terms of data connectivity, Macao has established a sound legal and data protection framework covering government online receipts and payments, automatic refund mechanisms, cross-departmental data links and international exchange of tax information. The Financial Services Bureau processes data in strict compliance with ISO 27001 standards, deploying measures such as encrypted transmission, access control and audit trails, and has passed relevant OECD assessments.

Over the next three to five years, Macao’s digital transformation of taxpayer services will focus on five areas: building a centralised database with unique taxpayer IDs to consolidate fragmented data and enable smart operations; deepening data integration and internal digitalisation, advancing paperless workflows and automated data validation to cut manual work, and enabling automatic validation of data accuracy; optimizing taxpayer service portals for faster, simpler and more targeted services, with user feedback collected before launch; developing smart tax analytics and decision-support capabilities to generate real-time reports and advanced statistical analyses for tax incentive design and policy evaluation; fostering a trusted, collaborative and inclusive digital tax environment through anti-fraud partnerships with police and professional bodies, while retaining counter services, hotlines and on-site guidance for offline needs.

During the Forum, participants also held in-depth discussions on topics including digitalization of tax administration, facilitation of taxpayer services and multilateral tax cooperation and capacity building, and a Business and Industry Tax Dialogue was also held. The Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Mechanism (BRITACOM) released outcomes including the Tax Administration Product Portfolio (TAPP) 2.0 and the Taxpayer Service Product Portfolio (TSPP) 2.0. Pooling advanced experience and typical cases in tax administration from Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) jurisdictions, these deliverables aim to provide more comprehensive toolkits and practical models for BRI jurisdictions to enhance tax governance capacity and optimize the tax business environment.