CCTV News: On the afternoon of April 27, the State Council Information Office held a press conference, and six departments including the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism introduced the relevant situation of optimizing the departure tax refund policy and expanding inbound consumption.
The relevant person in charge said that in response to the problems of fewer tax refund stores and the convenience of tax refunds needs to be further improved, the policy proposes eight measures from three aspects. The starting point of departure tax refund will be reduced from 500 yuan to 200 yuan, and the cash tax refund limit will be increased from 10,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan. Localities are encouraged to add tax refund stores in places where overseas tourists gather, such as large business districts and pedestrian streets, increase the supply of high-quality Chinese products such as time-honored products, domestic products, etc., and promote the "buy now and refund" service measures to the whole country, so that passengers can receive tax refunds at the shopping site.
Data shows that in the first quarter of this year, there were 9.215 million foreign tourists in my country, an increase of 40.2% year-on-year. Further optimizing the departure tax refund policy will help attract more foreigners to come to China to shop and travel, and achieve interconnection and mutual promotion of domestic and international markets.
Encourage areas with conditions to encapsulate and code tax refund items
At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on the 27th, a relevant person in charge of the General Administration of Customs introduced that in order to improve the efficiency of tax refund verification and reduce waiting time, qualified areas are encouraged to encapsulate and code tax refund items.
When the customs inspects the encapsulated items, scans the QR code to obtain information related to the departure tax refund, confirms that the tax refund items are packaged intact, and can quickly complete the physical verification. This method will greatly reduce the on-site verification time and make it more convenient and efficient for passengers to handle tax refunds at the port.
Xia Jun, Director of the Port Supervision Department of the General Administration of Customs, said: "In the next step, the General Administration of Customs will continue to strengthen contact and cooperation with relevant departments, and provide more convenience for overseas passengers through measures such as optimizing the processing process and adding port guidance signs."
