◆The starting point of departure tax refund is reduced from 500 yuan to 200 yuan

◆The cash tax refund limit is increased from 10,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan

On April 26, the Ministry of Commerce, together with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the General Administration of Customs, the State Administration of Taxation, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the "Notice on Further Optimizing the Departure Tax Refund Policy to Expand Inbound Consumption". The State Council Information Office held a press conference on the 27th to introduce the relevant situation.

Sheng Qiuping, Vice Minister of Commerce, said that the notice mainly targets the problems of fewer tax refund stores, fewer choices for shopping for tax refunds, fewer domestic products, and more convenient tax refunds. It has proposed 8 policy measures in three aspects: promoting the incremental expansion of tax refund stores, enriching the supply of tax refund products, and improving the level of departure tax refund services.

Departure tax refund refers to the policy of returning value-added tax to goods purchased by overseas tourists at tax refund stores when they leave the country. Sheng Qiuping said that further optimizing the departure tax refund policy will help improve the convenience of overseas tourists shopping in China, enhance the sense of gain and satisfaction of tourism and consumption, and attract more foreigners to come to China to shop and travel, promote more "old brands" and "new national trends" to the world, and achieve interconnection and mutual promotion of domestic and international markets.

Expand stores to allow overseas travelers to have more good stores to visit. my country's departure tax refund market is still in the cultivation period overall, with a small number of tax refund stores, and it is mainly concentrated in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. There are not enough tax refund stores in some popular cities where overseas tourists are concentrated. The notice proposes to optimize the layout of tax refund stores, encourage various regions to add tax refund stores in large business districts, tourist attractions, airports, hotels and other places of overseas passenger gatherings, and support qualified areas to create a number of characteristic blocks for tax refunds. Relax the registration conditions for tax refund stores, allowing new stores that have been established less than one year to apply for tax refund stores; the registration department of tax refund stores has been changed from a provincial tax department to a competent tax authority, and the filing time has been shortened to less than 5 working days.

Add products to allow overseas travelers to buy more good things. Currently, tax refund shopping for overseas travelers is mainly international brands. The notice proposes to reduce the starting point of departure tax refund from 500 yuan to 200 yuan, lower the threshold for tax refund shopping, and at the same time, let more specialty stores, souvenir stores, etc. with lower unit customer unit prices join the tax refund shops to promote domestic sales. Guide tax refund stores to continuously enrich and optimize product supply according to the needs of overseas travelers.

Excellent services make it more convenient for overseas travelers to apply for tax refunds. Optimize the tax refund processing process, improve the departure tax refund management system, improve the store order opening efficiency, and shorten the waiting time for passengers; the "buy now and refund" service measures are promoted nationwide, so that passengers can receive tax refunds at the shopping site; and regions with conditions are encouraged to encapsulate and code tax refund items, providing convenience for customs to free unblocking and verification. Optimize agency services, support agencies to cooperate with currency exchange points, overseas passenger service centers and other places in the quarantine area of ​​the departure port to handle tax refund business, support them to carry out cross-regional operations and cross-institutional cooperation, and strengthen cooperation with tax refund stores. Optimize tax refund payment services, increase the cash tax refund limit from 10,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan, and encourage relevant institutions to provide services through mobile payment, bank cards, cash, etc. to better meet the diversified payment service needs of overseas travelers. (People's Daily reporter Wang Ke)