A fivefold increase in refund amount at Hunan's ports during the first summer vacation since the implementation of the 2.0 version of the departure tax refund policy

On August 31, a Brazilian tourist went through departure tax refund verification process at the customs declaration counter of Changsha Huanghua Airport. By presenting the "departure tax refund service code" on her phone, she completed the verification process in less than two minutes and received a refund of 483.78 CNY. This was her first visit to China, and she brought back Chinese-made electronic products.

Inbound consumption during the summer vacation continued to heat up. A reporter learned from the Changsha Customs Authority that during this first summer vacation since the 2.0 version of China's departure tax refund policy was implemented, Changsha Huanghua Airport and Zhangjiajie Hehua Airport saw explosive growth in tax refund applications. From July 1 to August 31, the Changsha Customs Authority handled 203 departure tax refund applications, a year-on-year increase of 269.09%, while the total refund amount came to 554,900 CNY, surging by 503.15% year on year.

Chinese-made products are becoming the "new favorite" among inbound tourists. Zhang Jian, head of the Fourth Section of Customs Passenger Inspection at Changsha Huanghua Airport, explained that according to the verification system, in addition to traditional daily necessities such as suitcases and bags, watches, and clothing, an increasing number of overseas tourists are packing Chinese-brand electronic products into their luggage.

The dramatic rise in numbers is driven by the updated departure tax refund policy. The 2.0 version of the departure tax refund policy officially took effect on July 1 this year. The policy package includes measures such as paperless processing and random inspections for small-value refund applications. Under the new system, overseas travelers only need to scan a QR code and submit their identity information once. They will then receive a personal "departure tax refund service code" valid nationwide. The QR code can be scanned at any participating tax refund store or departure port across the country. Travelers can also use it to access electronic tax refund forms, electronic invoices and real-time updates on their refund applications. Under the new policy, customs can retrieve travelers' tax refund application forms and invoices online based on their identity information, eliminating the need for paper documents. As a result, the processing time for a single application is greatly shortened.

To better unlock the policy benefits, the Changsha Customs Authority has introduced facilitation measures such as multilingual guidance, standardized business processes, and consultation channels for claiming departure tax refunds at different departure ports. The authority has also adopted random inspections for tax refund application forms involving sales of less than 10,000 CNY, significantly reducing waiting time at ports for verification.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn