Inside Shanghai's Smart Tax Services: Robot 'Yueyue' and Smart Screens

In August, Shanghai's annual 'Government Open Month' began, with tax departments coordinating immersive activities. Representatives visited service windows, the 12366 hotline and new-enterprise meeting sites to observe the full service process and offer suggestions for improving the business environment. At the Baoshan District Tax Bureau service hall, a special window handles simple high-frequency matters such as zero declarations and tripartite agreements, completing them in under five minutes on average; accounting manager Liu Rongrong watched a filing go from submission to completion, with the system auto-matching and providing instant feedback while her phone synced the result almost immediately. She noted many SME operators still view compliance as merely 'filing on time', underestimating credit ratings and risk control. At the Songjiang District Tax Bureau's 12366 hotline open day, student Zhang Ziyan documented her experience as a 'hotline trainee'; in the call centre a smart screen displayed real-time data, and from the intelligent robot 'Yueyue's' instant replies to human agents' remote video and screen-sharing assistance, an integrated service chain was evident. She then took a consult call under one-on-one guidance. At the Jinshan District Tax Bureau's 'Qibangbang' service station, a 'first business lesson' was held for new firms; Zhao Lanlan of Shanghai Lanli Automation said the timely guidance helped her start-up avoid pitfalls. During the month Shanghai tax authorities designed over 30 experience activities, and a responsible official said they will absorb public suggestions and continue building refined, intelligent and warm tax services to improve the business environment.