Shanghai Free Trade Zone adopted Internet technologies to simplify tax refund procedures and has attracted 37,000 domestic and foreign companies since it opened in 2013, which contributed 27.3 percent of the city's total foreign trade, according to an official report.

Companies in the zone are no longer required to submit paper documents to apply for tax refunds. COSCO Shipping Lines Co Ltd, for example, achieved 110.96 billion yuan (US$16.15 billion) in business turnover and received 770 million yuan in tax refunds from 2014 to March this year.

The simplified procedures saved the company a lot of time and manpower and relieved its funding pressure, a company executive said.

It used to take 20 days to get a tax refund. The time has been cut to five to ten days. More than 3.5 million sheets of paper can be saved annually, an FTZ tax official said.

As of April, 96 percent of companies in Shanghai FTZ have adopted paperless procedures, he added.

Source:china-shftz.gov.cn