(Yicai Global) Jan. 22 -- Taxpayers in  China may soon skip asking for their landlords' personal details to  apply for tax deductions, according to insider sources. 

The Ministry of Finance, the State  Administration of Taxation, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural  Development have decided to stop requiring landlords' names, identity  card numbers and other personal information from tenants in order to  facilitate the process of applying for tax breaks, sources familiar with  the matter told Yicai Global. The official individual income tax mobile application will be updated to make these fields of information optional, they added. 

The government has implemented new  personal income tax policies this year. One of the changes was that  tenants are eligible for a housing rent deduction of CNY1,500 (USD221)  per month if giving a slew of details regarding their housing  arrangements. This caused many landlords to refuse to give out their  personal details in fear of having to pay property taxes that they had  managed to avert before. 

The move clearly signals that the  government will not investigate whether the landlord pays his or her  property taxes, which ensures that tenants can fully enjoy the new tax  breaks, the sources added. 

A landlord must pay personal income tax,  property tax and other taxes and fees, according to tax law. Some cities  package these fees into a comprehensive tax rate ranging from 1.5  percent to 8 percent. Tenants may report their tax-evading property  owners to a local tax agency and yet few of them choose to do so due to  the risks of breaking bridges between them and their landlords, as well  as the subsequent rent hikes. 

Editor: Emmi Laine