Tax refund

Foreign tourists and those from China’s Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions and Taiwan who have stayed on the Chinese mainland for less than 183 consecutive days are entitled to a departure tax refund. Here are some instructions regarding tax refund shops in Beijing.

When did Beijing introduce tax refund shops?

Beijing officially launched a policy on July 1, 2015 for departure tax refunds for overseas tourists consuming at designated value added tax (VAT) refund shops. If an overseas traveler purchases at least 500 yuan ($72) worth of tax-refund articles in the same tax-refund shop in Beijing on the same day, the departure date is less than 90 days after the purchase and the articles are to be carried specifically by the overseas traveler or transported with the checked baggage, a tax refund can be made. The tax refund rate is 11 percent or 8 percent and the refund agency will charge 2 percent for the service, so the amount of tax refunds a traveler gets is 9 percent or 6 percent of the commodity price.

Which stores are tax refund stores?

As of Feb 10, 2018, there were 508 tax refund shops in Beijing, according to the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau.

Tax refund stores in Beijing include the following:

Gift shops
Souvenir shops
Department stores
Time-honored brands
Specialty markets & franchised stores
Outlets

For the full list of the tax refund stores, please refer to Beijing’s tax refund website.

How to do a tax refund?

(1) Refund through shops. Both cash refunds and bank card refunds are available.

a. Refunds at designated stores need to claim the Application Form of Departure Tax Refunds at the stores with a valid ID or VAT invoices (issued through the updated VAT invoice system).

b. Take the purchased goods, valid personal ID, the VAT invoices of the purchased goods and the Application Form of Departure Tax Refunds to China Customs for verification.

(2) Refund online through the We TaxFree Pass WeChat account. Since Oct 1, overseas tourists can receive a tax refund through the We TaxFree Pass mini-application in WeChat, Tencent’s social networking platform, and receive money immediately in their digital wallet, significantly simplifying the process. For refunds of over 10,000 yuan, refunds can be received immediately through WeChat.

Step 1: Search We TaxFree in WeChat

Step 2: Click We TaxFree Pass. In this section, you will also find the Brands page, Customs approval points, Agency points and Payment options.

Step 3: Get refunds through WeChat and receive money in the digital wallet.