The cross-border e-commerce industry has once again ushered in favorable policies at the start of 2023. Recently, the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the General Administration of Taxation jointly issued the Announcement on Taxation Policies for Cross-border E-commerce Export Refunds (hereinafter referred to as the Announcement) to reduce the cost of export refunds for cross-border e-commerce enterprises and actively support the development of new foreign trade patterns.


The Announcement stipulates that for goods (excluding foodstuffs) declared for export under the cross-border e-commerce customs supervision codes (1210, 9610, 9710 and 9810) within one year from the date of this Announcement and returned to the territory in their original condition for reasons of demurrage or return within six months from the date of export, they shall be exempt from import tariffs and import link VAT and consumption tax; export tariffs levied at the time of export shall be granted The VAT and consumption tax levied at the time of export shall be implemented with reference to the relevant tax regulations for the return of goods for domestic sale. The export tax refunds already processed shall be paid in accordance with the current regulations.

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In recent years, China's cross-border e-commerce has flourished. Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in 2022, China's cross-border e-commerce import and export was 2.11 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.8%. Among them, exports were 1.55 trillion yuan, up 11.7%, and imports were 0.56 trillion yuan, up 4.9%. Cross-border e-commerce has become an important pillar of China's foreign trade development. However, the goods exported through cross-border e-commerce also have stagnant sales, returns and other situations, and the problem of high cost of returning products to the country also plagues cross-border e-commerce enterprises. And the implementation of this policy will reduce the tax burden for enterprises.


"The tax refund and replenishment policy introduced by the General Administration of Customs and other departments this time will better solve the problem of returning goods to overseas warehouses." Wang Jian, a member of the expert committee of CCPIT and a professor of the School of International Economics and Trade of the University of International Business and Economics, said in an interview with China Trade Daily that more and more cross-border e-commerce enterprises are now choosing to ship their products to overseas warehouses, and sellers are shipping their products to overseas warehouses in foreign markets before selling them out through cross-border e-commerce, like Amazon Logistics, which requires buyers to ship their products to overseas warehouses in order to improve the efficiency of logistics and delivery and enhance the consumer experience of buyers. But the goods in overseas warehouses, not necessarily all smoothly completed sales, overseas warehouses and then online sales of e-commerce goods also exist due to stagnant sales, consumer returns and other reasons for the return of goods demand.


Wang Jian analyzed, "In the past, due to the high cost of returning them to China, sellers often had to sell them at a reduced price when they chose to handle them overseas, which brought a lot of losses to the business. If they can be shipped back to China for export to domestic sales, this provides an alternative option for companies to dispose of returned goods. This also fully reflects the continuous regulatory innovation by trade regulators in recent years, introducing various policies and regulatory approaches that are compatible with new models and modes of foreign trade, providing enterprises with more market options."


Prior to this, China has also introduced policy measures to facilitate the return of cross-border e-commerce exports, and has continued to smooth the channels for cross-border e-commerce export returns. in March 2020, the General Administration of Customs issued the "Announcement on Matters Relating to the Comprehensive Promotion of Regulatory Measures for the Return of Cross-border E-commerce Export Commodities", proposing the comprehensive promotion of regulatory measures for the return of cross-border e-commerce export commodities, so that cross-border e-commerce commodities can go out and be returned, and To promote the healthy and rapid development of cross-border e-commerce export business.2022 In September, the Ministry of Commerce released "Several Policy Measures to Support the Stable Development of Foreign Trade", which proposed to accelerate the introduction of tax policies to facilitate the return and exchange of cross-border e-commerce exports.

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"These policies will help cross-border e-commerce export growth and accelerate the development of new foreign trade patterns." Lan Qingxin, a professor at the National Institute of Foreign Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, said that under the original regulations, the return of exported goods would increase the operating costs of enterprises by quite a bit and restrict their incentive to expand exports. The support given by the national fiscal and taxation policy will effectively reduce the operating costs of cross-border e-commerce enterprises and reduce their worries, thus promoting them to actively explore the international market and boldly expand their export business, enabling cross-border e-commerce enterprises to provide good commodities and quality after-sales services to win the trust of overseas consumers and enhance the market competitiveness of cross-border e-commerce enterprises, which will have a great impact on their long-term development and profit It has a great promotion effect on the long-term development and profit increase of enterprises.


Wenzhou Ti Lin Yun Import and Export Co., Ltd. business director talked about, "the new policy will be exempted from import taxes on cross-border e-commerce goods returned to the domestic, to provide us with a new stalled goods, returned goods processing program, for enterprises is a way to effectively reduce business risks and losses, for us to develop cross-border e-commerce business injected great confidence. "


Wang Jian said, cross-border e-commerce exports of goods back to the domestic by definition should also not pay import duties and import links such as VAT. The General Administration of Customs launched this policy for cross-border e-commerce global distribution services to provide supporting policies and regulatory approach, but also to solve the current enterprise in cross-border e-commerce logistics and distribution of goods in and out of the customs encountered a variety of problems.


In terms of specific operations, Lan Qingxin said that in the processing of returned goods, customs and taxation departments should provide quality tax refund services and guidance to enterprises, so that they can better enjoy the policy benefits. The Notice also requires that tax concessions be enjoyed in strict accordance with policy provisions, and that enterprises applying for import duty exemptions and other procedures should provide relevant supporting materials as required, and should not engage in tax evasion, tax fraud and other illegal acts.