The company where Ms. Ming works reimburses employees 150 yuan per month for communication expenses. However, obtaining an invoice for the communication fees is not easy.
Ms. Ming usually buys recharge cards from a print shop downstairs from her company, but they do not offer "free" invoices. "The owner of the print shop told me that regardless of the denomination of the recharge card, each invoice costs 2.5 yuan," said Ms. Ming, adding that every month she has to spend an extra 5 yuan to buy two fixed-amount invoices for the recharge cards.
"Even so, the availability of invoices at his place is inconsistent, and whether or not you can get one is uncertain," said Ms. Ming.
Although it is widely acknowledged that issuing invoices in non-compliance with regulations is illegal, it seems that the fixed-amount invoices for mobile phone recharge cards have always been exempt from this rule. Over the years, the sale of fixed-amount invoices for mobile phone recharge cards has expanded from sporadic transactions at convenience stores and newspaper kiosks to large-scale online trading, making the problem of trading invoices for mobile phone recharge cards difficult to eradicate.
You can directly buy invoices, with no limit on quantity.
Mr. Xu still vividly remembers his first experience asking for an invoice for a mobile phone recharge card.
In 2006, Mr. Xu bought a 100-yuan recharge card at a newsstand near his company and was told he had to pay an additional 0.5 yuan for the invoice. Mr. Xu argued with the newsstand owner for a long time, but the other party showed an attitude of "take it or leave it" and ignored him. To avoid paying this unfair fee, he would have to sacrifice his rest time and go to the mobile service hall, "spend over an hour queuing up, then spend two minutes paying the phone bill."
Four years later, many mobile phone recharge card retail stores in Beijing are still "selling invoices."
During my investigation, I found that the price of invoices at some sales points ranges from two to three yuan each. The owners of these retail points claim that they also paid money for the invoices, "If you don't want to pay for the invoice, go to the service hall to buy the recharge card; there, issuing an invoice is free." Some retail points state that they simply do not have any invoices, "When we purchased the cards, no invoices were provided, and we don't know why."
It is understood that currently China Mobile's proxy dealers are divided into three levels, with newspaper stands and convenience stores belonging to the third-level distributors. If higher-level distributors do not provide them with invoices, consumers may be unable to obtain corresponding invoices.
It is understood that the invoices issued at mobile service halls include two types: one is the fixed-amount invoice specifically for recharge cards purchased directly at the service hall; the other is the invoice based on the actual monthly communication expenses incurred by the user's mobile phone.
"China Mobile service halls are not everywhere, and I'd rather spend a few yuan to buy invoices nearby or online than make a special trip just for two invoices," said Ms. Ming.
I discovered on Taobao that some Taobao stores specialize in online recharging and selling invoices for recharge cards. A fixed-amount invoice for a 100-yuan China Mobile recharge card sells for 3 yuan online, while a 50-yuan recharge card invoice sells for 2 yuan. One store owner claimed that users can purchase the invoice simultaneously when recharging online, paying together with the seller. The price of the invoice is determined according to the invoice tax rate, ensuring authenticity.
Another Taobao store owner directly informed me that the fixed-amount invoices for recharge cards they sell can be purchased separately, with no limit on quantity.
Fixed-amount invoices have become scarce commodities.
The Wanjiamaidian Postcard Market magnetic card hall in Beijing is one of the major wholesale markets for mobile phone recharge cards in the city.
On April 15, I approached a wholesaler under the guise of wanting to purchase mobile phone recharge cards and asked to buy invoices for the recharge cards. However, the owner stated, "Discounted cards never come with invoices."
So-called discounted cards are mobile phone recharge cards that retailers purchase at wholesale prices. On that day, the wholesale price for a 100-yuan China Mobile recharge card was 98.88 yuan, while the wholesale price for a 100-yuan China Unicom recharge card was 98.5 yuan.
Sales personnel informed me that the wholesale price of recharge cards varies daily depending on market conditions, but the fluctuation is small, meaning that retailers profit about 1 to 2 yuan for each 100-yuan recharge card sold.
Regarding whether wholesalers obtain a certain number of fixed-amount invoices from operators and the destination of these invoices, the wholesalers remained tight-lipped and refused to answer.
Another major operator, China Unicom's customer service hotline stated, "Although China Unicom issues all fixed-amount invoices based on the number of cards purchased by distributors, the act of distributors not passing the invoices on to consumers is their individual behavior, and China Unicom as an operator has no authority to manage it."
Both major operators' service hotlines recommended that consumers purchase mobile phone recharge cards at service halls to ensure they receive corresponding invoices.
According to relevant personnel from the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau, the sales process for mobile phone recharge cards generally involves telecommunications operators like China Mobile and China Unicom distributing to first-tier agents, who then distribute to various retail points. Initially, operators adopted a method of providing one invoice for each recharge card sold, but this led to the widespread resale of invoices and tax evasion by wholesalers or retailers.
Currently, when China Mobile sells large amounts of recharge cards, it only distributes a fixed proportion of invoices to first-tier agents, which has directly resulted in most retail points lacking fixed-amount invoices for recharge cards. The allocated portion of fixed-amount invoices has become a "hot commodity," leading to situations where mobile phone users must spend money to obtain invoices.
Laws are hard to enforce, and the tax department lacks effective management measures.
According to relevant provisions of the "Regulations on Invoice Management of the People's Republic of China" and its detailed rules for implementation, telecom recharge card sales outlets should provide formal invoices supervised by the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau according to the face value of the recharge cards purchased by consumers, without charging any additional fees. Otherwise, it constitutes the illegal act of "failing to issue invoices in accordance with regulations," and anyone has the right to report it.
The service staff at the 12366 Beijing local tax hotline stated that after receiving consumer reports, the reporting center will file them and hand them over to the district or county tax bureau responsible for the dealer for verification and inspection. "Within three months, the tax department will inform the whistleblower of the results of the inspection."
In 2006, the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau issued a "Notice on Strengthening the Management of Special Fixed-Amount Invoices in the Telecommunications Industry," requiring telecommunications companies that sell or distribute recharge cards through commissioned agents to strictly follow the "Contract Law" and invoice management regulations and other legal provisions, signing "Agency Agreements" with operators or wholesalers and retailers. These agreements specify details regarding the management of special fixed-amount invoices, including the issuing department and the allocation ratio. The notice particularly emphasized prohibiting the resale, lending, or proxy issuance of telecommunications industry special fixed-amount invoices.
However, the notice has had little effect.
The Beijing Local Taxation Bureau once considered requiring all retail points to install tax control devices, adopting a single-machine control tax system with one machine, one card, and one password. But due to the extensive and numerous distribution of retail points, their small scale of operation, "not every retail point has the economic means to install such equipment. If every time a recharge card is sold, the tax control machine prints an invoice, the situation might be much better than it is now," said the hotline service staff, hoping that mobile phone users would obtain invoices through designated service halls and other official channels.
Director Deng of the Collection and Administration Department of the Dongcheng District Local Taxation Bureau of Beijing told reporters that currently, the discrepancy between the tax payments of telecommunications companies and their actual sales figures is undeniable, and the problem of fixed-amount invoices for mobile phone recharge cards has existed for a long time. For this reason, the Beijing tax authorities have negotiated multiple times with telecommunications companies like China Mobile, but so far, there is no comprehensive solution to the problem.
(Source: China Youth Daily)