China's value-added-tax reform, which began in 2012 and has seen business tax replaced with VAT, resulted in companies making total tax savings of 570 billion yuan ($82.55 billion) last year, Finance Minister Xiao Jie said on Tuesday.

The reform has not only helped lower the tax burden but also promoted the optimization of industrial structure, Xiao said.

Taxation of companies will be further reduced this year, according to Xiao.