(Yicai Global) July 18 -- China will form a nationwide electronic invoice system this year to ease the way that individuals and businesses deal with such bills useful for tax deductions.

China needs to enhance data-sharing between different invoicing platforms and government agencies, the State Council released yesterday after its executive meeting. 

Chinese retailers used to issue paper invoices, which were often sent by mail, but many of them have now moved onto using different e-invoice programs.

One of these programs is Baiwang which garnered CNY517 million (USD75.2 million) in total investment from Chinese tech giants Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings in March. Founded in 2015, Beijing's Baiwang has issued more than 600 million e-invoices to more than 300 million consumers.

The scope of e-invoicing reaches toll roads too. Tencent has collaborated with various provinces and cities to use WeChat's Electronic Toll Collection mini-program on highways. Since ETC's debut in Jan. 2018, over 5.25 million vehicles have registered on the platform, and it has issued CNY71.1 billion (USD10.3 billion) worth of e-invoices. 

Editor: Emmi Laine