Announcement of the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Taxation Administration on the Taxation Policy for Cross-border E-commerce Export Refund Goods

Document No.: Announcement No. 4 [2023] of the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the State Taxation Administration

Issuing Authorities: The Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the State Taxation Administration

Date of Issuance: 2023-01-30

Status: Full text is valid

In order to accelerate the development of new forms of foreign trade and promote the high-quality development of trade, tax policies for the refund of exported goods in cross-border e-commerce are announced as follows:

1. For goods (excluding food) declared to export under the cross-border e-commerce customs regulation codes (1210, 9610, 9710, 9810) within one year since the issuance of this announcement, and returned to China in their original condition within six months since the date of export due to demurrage or return of goods, they are exempt from import duties and the VAT and consumption tax in import links; export duties levied at the time of export are allowed to refund, and the treatment of VAT and consumption tax levied at the time of export is implemented concerning the relevant tax regulations for the return of domestically sold goods. Among them, the goods exported under regulation code 1210 shall be returned to areas that are within the customs area and outside the special regulation area of the customs within six months after their departure from the special regulation area or bonded logistics center (B type) of the customs.

2. For goods that meet the provisions of Article 1, if export tax refunds have been completed, enterprises shall make up the refunded taxes in accordance with the current provisions. Enterprises shall apply for exemption from import duties and the VAT and consumption tax in import links, and refund of export duties with the "Certificate of Tax Arrear Payment/No Tax Refund for Exported Goods" issued by the competent tax authorities.

3. "Returned to China in original conditions" stated in Article 1 refers to that when being returned to China, the minimum commodity form of the exported goods shall be basically the same as their original condition when exported, they shall not be added any accessories or parts, and shall not be subject to any processing or modification, but the goods after unpacking, inspection (chemical experiment), installation and debugging, etc. can still be deemed as “in original conditions”; the goods returned to China shall not have been used, except for cases where only after trial can the goods be found to be of poor quality or be proved to have been returned after trial by the customers.

4. For goods meeting the provisions of Article 1, 2 and 3, enterprises shall submit a list of exported goods declaration or export declaration, the reasons for the return of the goods and other documents to prove that the goods are indeed returned to China due to demurrage or return of goods, and shall bear legal responsibility for the authenticity of the documents. For goods returned due to demurrage, enterprises shall provide a "self-declaration" as a document explaining the reason for the return of goods, and make a commitment that the goods are returned due to demurrage; for goods returned due to return of goods, enterprises shall provide return records (including return records or rejection records on cross-border e-commerce platforms), goods return agreements, etc. as the documents explaining the reason for the return of goods. Customs shall accordingly handle the procedures for the exemption of taxes for the return of goods, etc.

5. Enterprises' tax evasion, tax fraud and other illegal acts shall be handled in accordance with relevant laws and regulations of China.

This announcement is hereby made.

The Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the State Taxation Administration

January 30, 2023