BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese online payment clearinghouse NetsUnion Clearing Corporation (NUCC) will promote scanning QR codes to pay taxes nationwide for the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus.

Taxpayers can use payment tools such as WeChat or Alipay to scan QR codes to pay taxes and track the payment progress, the NUCC said Tuesday.

Beginning from January 2019, the NUCC has piloted the new tax payment method in provinces of Hunan, Henan, Fujian and Zhejiang, as well as the city of Qingdao.

The NUCC saw more than 3.97 million transactions of tax payments via QR codes made in 2019, involving 4.64 billion yuan (about 664 million U.S. dollars).

As scanning OR codes to pay became a key tax payment method in the pilot areas, about 20 types of taxes were included to secure transactions under 50,000 yuan to meet the demand of small businesses and individuals.