Tax Refund

The Tax Fefund policy refers to the regulations for providing tax refunds to foreign travelers and travelers from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan for items purchased at designated tax refund shops and carried out of the country. Travelers who wish to claim tax refunds for their purchased items upon exiting the country should voluntarily declare these items to customs. They need to submit the tax refund goods, the application form for tax refund on goods purchased by overseas travelers, the sales invoice for the tax refund items, and their valid identification documents. After customs verification, if the tax refund items presented by the traveler match those listed on the application form, customs will confirm and stamp the form. The form will then be given to the traveler to facilitate the tax refund process.

Who can Enjoy the Tax Refund Policy?

According to the announcement of the government, overseas, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan travelers, who stay in China no more than continuous 183 days, purchasing articles which satisfy the tax refund conditions and only for personal use in designated tax free stores, not including the articles prohibited and restricted by PRC from importing and exporting, can enjoy the tax refund policy when they leave China.

See more prohibited and restricted articles of importing and exporting in Entry Regulations and Exit Regulations.

Tax Refund Conditions

1.One traveler shall purchase over RMB500 commodities in one tax free store in one day.

2.The tax refund articles shall not be open and used.

3.The departure date and the purchase date of the articles shall not be over 90 days.

4.The purchased tax free articles shall be brought out of China with the traveler himself or be shipped as luggage.

Tax Refund Process

1.Purchase tax refund articles

After purchasing the tax free articles in tax free stores, overseas travelers need to ask for the tax refund form and sales invoice from the store. When fill in the tax refund form, traveler’s name, purchase amount, passport number and amount of refund tax need to be carefully filled.

2.Verification and confirmation by the Customs

When leaving China, overseas traveler need to present tax refund articles, tax refund form and sales invoice to the Customs on the departure port for verification and confirmation. After that, the Customs will stamp on the tax refund form.

Notice: travelers need to present tax refund form, valid identification document and tax refund articles to the Customs.

3.Get refund tax from the agency

The refund tax shall be return to the traveler by the tax refund agency in the departure port. Overseas traveler will present valid identification document, stamped tax refund form, sales invoice of the tax free articles to the tax refund agency. After verification and confirmation, the agency will return VAT to the traveler.

Notice: the agency will charge necessary commission fees.

Rebate Way

There are two ways to refund: cash or bank transfer. If the refund value is less than 10,000, traveler can choose to receive the tax refund through cash or bank transfer. If the value is more than 10,000, bank transfer is the only refund way.

Tax Category and Currency

For the tax refund policy, China only refunds the Value Added Tax of the goods, and the refund money will be RMB.

Tax Rebate Amount

Based on the value-added tax (VAT) invoices (including VAT) of items eligible for tax refunds upon departure:

For items with a VAT rate of 13%, the refund rate is 11%.

For items with a VAT rate of 9%, the refund rate is 8%.

The calculation formula is as follows: Calculated VAT refund amount = Sales invoice amount (including VAT) of items eligible for tax refund upon departure × Refund rate; Actual VAT refund amount = Calculated VAT refund amount - Tax refund agency processing fee.

Designated Port for Tax Refund

In Beijing and Shanghai, overseas travelers can handle the tax refund process at Beijing Capital International Airport, Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. Traveler can also enjoy the tax refund policy at Hainan, the first province to promote the tax refund policy. The designated ports in Hainan are Haikou Meilan International Airport and Sanya Phoenix International Airport.