China's tax data for the first half of this year, released on July 26, reflect solid corporate performance, as enterprises' sales revenue rose 34.4 percent year-on-year, based on value-added tax invoices, robust economic growth and steady recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Taxation Administration said.

Taken together, first-half sales revenue of corporations in 2020 and this year averaged 15.1 percent, indicating stable economic growth momentum, said Zhao Lianwei, deputy head of the STA's Revenue Planning and Accounting Department.

STA tax data showed sales revenue accelerated in the second quarter, especially in the high-tech and innovative industries like information services and research and development design services.

In the first half, high-tech companies' sales revenue increased by 33.6 percent year-on-year, and enterprises in the industrial sector witnessed revenue growth of 32.9 percent.

Data also indicated the energy supply structure has been gradually optimized, and the ecological and environmental protection industry has developed rapidly, Zhao said.

Services-related consumption recovered in the first half, with sound development of new consumption businesses. Investment also increased steadily, and the investment structure has been gradually improved, he said.

Some 6.24 million new market entities that will have to pay corporate taxes at an appropriate time were registered in China in the first half, up 27.3 percent year-on-year, as the economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the STA said.

New corporate taxpayers will help sustain economic growth, maintain tax resources and create jobs. And the tax authorities will improve the tax and business environment to support growth of corporate taxpayers, STA officials said.

Han Guorong, head of the STA's Taxpayer Service Department, said the administration has promoted preferential tax policies many times in the first half, which benefited 456 million taxpayers.

Many local tax departments provided consultancy services, especially for small and micro enterprises, to simplify and improve the efficiency of tax payment procedures, said Han.