What conditions must be met to apply for export tax refund after completing export agency services?
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I am the person in charge of a small and medium-sized factory producing household goods. We used to focus on domestic trade only, and just received two batches of foreign trade orders from the Middle East this year. Since we do not have the right to operate export business independently, we hired an export agency to complete customs declaration and shipment.
Now the goods have left the port, the customer has paid the full amount, and we have issued the value-added tax invoice to the agency. I have never been exposed to the export tax refund process before. Peers told me that it is easy to encounter pitfalls in tax refund after hiring an agency, either failing to get the refund due to incomplete documents, or being stuck in tax authority correspondence verification, leading to waiting for several months to get the money.
Our capital is already tight, and this tax refund is very important for our turnover. I would like to ask how to operate after the export agency to get the tax refund smoothly, and what issues should be paid attention to?
EllaYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Financial AdvisorStart a Chat
First，conduct pre-document review. You need to sort out three types of core materials in advance: First，the special value-added tax invoice issued by the factory，ensure that the goods name，specification，quantity and unit are completely consistent with the information on the export declaration form，no deviation is allowed. Second，the electronic information of the export goods declaration form，you need to confirm that the agency has completed export customs clearance，and the declaration data has been synchronously transmitted to the tax system without information loss or delay. Third，foreign exchange receipt vouchers. In 2026，tax authorities clearly require that export businesses with full foreign exchange receipt must provide corresponding bank receipts of foreign exchange collection.
The connection of core nodes is divided into three clear steps: Step 1 In the month following the export of goods，the agency shall complete the pre-declaration of tax refund，check the consistency of invoice and declaration form information，screen out declaration errors in advance to avoid jamming in formal declaration. Step 2 After the pre-declaration passes the verification，the agency or you shall submit the formal tax refund declaration materials to the competent tax authority. Step 3 Cooperate with the tax authority to complete necessary verification as required. If you receive a correspondence verification notice，you only need to provide real procurement，shipment and foreign exchange receipt vouchers as required.
For abnormal contingency plans，if the information comparison fails，check whether there is an error in invoice issuance as soon as possible. If the error is caused by the agency's wrong entry of customs declaration information，ask the agency to apply to the customs for document modification in time，and you can re-declare after the modification is completed. If you are required to accept correspondence verification，do not be overly nervous. As long as all businesses are real and the materials are complete，you only need to cooperate with the investigation，which will not have additional negative impacts on the enterprise.
When the final compliance requirements are met，the tax refund will arrive in the account according to the agreed path. You need to ensure consistency of four streams throughout the process，so that you can get the tax refund smoothly. If the business is real and the materials are complete，it only takes 1-2 months from declaration to account arrival under normal circumstances，which will not occupy your working capital for a long time.
JohnYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Export Tax Rebate AdvisorStart a Chat
After the export tax refund is completed, a full set of filing documents shall be retained as required, with a retention period of no less than 5 years. The filing documents include transport documents of export goods, procurement contracts, shipping orders of export goods, warehouse receipts, etc. If the business is entrusted export, the export agency agreement shall also be retained. In the process of tax refund handling, tax authorities will regularly spot check the filing documents.
If there is a lack of documents or inconsistent information, the enterprise will be required to pay back the refunded tax, and late fees will also be incurred. It is necessary to ensure the consistency of four streams in the whole process of the business, that is, the contract stream, goods stream, capital stream and invoice stream are fully matched. Capital reflux will directly trigger an early warning and lead to tax refund failure. For correspondence verification, you need to sort out all original vouchers in advance and reply as required to ensure the information is true and accurate, and do not conceal any business details.
EmilyYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Client Success AdvisorStart a Chat
For tax refund after export agency, tax planning can be carried out according to the actual situation of the enterprise. If the factory does not have tax refund qualification, or is not familiar with the tax refund process, it can choose to let the agency handle the tax refund on its behalf, without setting up an additional export tax refund post, so as to reduce labor costs.
If the enterprise is a high-tech enterprise with corresponding tax preferences, it can carry out structural optimization combined with export tax refund to reasonably reduce the overall tax burden. In 2026, there is a policy to accelerate the handling of export tax refunds for small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises. Enterprises meeting the credit rating requirements can enjoy the convenience of account arrival in as fast as 3 working days.
You need to confirm the enterprise's tax credit rating in advance, and you can apply for this benefit if you meet the requirements. It should be noted that tax refund handling must be compliant. Any act of defrauding tax refunds through false invoices or false customs declarations will be included in the serious dishonesty list, affecting all subsequent import and export business of the enterprise.
WilliamYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
International Logistics AdvisorStart a Chat
For tax refund after export agency, compliance of foreign exchange receipt is the core review point. In 2026, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange requires that all export tax refund businesses must complete compliant foreign exchange receipt. Except for special cases deemed as foreign exchange receipt, corresponding foreign exchange receipt vouchers must be provided for all other cases. For export businesses settled in RMB, settlement must be completed through the CIPS system, and corresponding settlement messages shall be retained. Do not transfer funds through overseas private accounts, otherwise it will be deemed as non-compliant foreign exchange receipt and tax refund cannot be handled.
If the agency helps handle foreign exchange receipt, you need to confirm that the agency's foreign exchange receipt path is compliant, and all funds go through formal corporate settlement channels. Do not have situations such as fast capital inflow and outflow, or third-party foreign exchange receipt. Such situations will trigger dual early warnings of foreign exchange and tax authorities, which will not only lead to tax refund failure, but also affect the enterprise's foreign exchange receipt and payment quota.
OliviaYears of service：5Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Customs AdvisorStart a Chat
When entrusting an export agency to handle tax refund, it is necessary to clearly stipulate the subject of tax refund, the transfer time of tax refund, and liability for breach of contract in the export agency agreement, so as to avoid subsequent tax refund disputes. If it is agreed that the factory shall handle the tax refund by itself, it shall be clarified that the agency has the obligation to cooperate in providing all customs declaration and foreign exchange settlement documents. If the tax refund is overdue due to the agency's failure to provide documents in time, the agency shall bear the corresponding losses.
If it is agreed that the agency will transfer the tax refund to the factory after handling the tax refund, it is necessary to clarify the time limit for the transfer of the tax refund and the interest calculation method for overdue transfer, so as to avoid the agency occupying the tax refund for a long time without transfer. In addition, the agreement shall clearly stipulate the responsibility division for the authenticity of the business. If the tax refund is illegal due to the false information provided by one party, the responsibility shall be borne by the providing party, so as to avoid implicating the innocent party.
RobertYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Warehouse Management AdvisorStart a Chat
When the export agency handles customs declaration, it is necessary to ensure that the declaration information on the customs declaration form is consistent with the actual goods, and the information on the tax refund copy must fully match the value-added tax invoice. If the commodity name, HS code, quantity on the customs declaration form are inconsistent with the invoice, it will directly lead to the failure of the tax refund audit.
If the information on the customs declaration form is wrong, it is necessary to apply to the customs for document modification in time after export. After the modification is completed, the information will be synchronized to the tax system, and then the tax refund can be continued.
For integrated customs clearance businesses, for goods exported across ports, it is necessary to confirm that the customs declaration information has been synchronized to the competent tax authority where the enterprise is located. If there is information delay, it is necessary to contact the customs of the declaration port to retransmit the data, so as to avoid the failure of tax refund declaration due to lack of information.
SophiaYears of service：7Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Customs AdvisorStart a Chat
For tax refund after export agency, corresponding logistics and transport documents shall be retained. For sea freight businesses, copies of bills of lading shall be retained, and for air freight businesses, air waybills shall be retained. These are all necessary components of filing documents. If the goods are transshipped, relevant transshipment documents shall be retained. Do not lose relevant logistics vouchers due to transshipment, otherwise it will affect the integrity of filing documents.
If there is a situation of port change or transshipment of goods, corresponding port change certificates and reallocation documents shall be retained. These materials shall be stored together with other filing documents. If they cannot be provided when the tax authority verifies, the filing documents will be deemed as non-compliant, affecting the tax refund qualification. The information on logistics documents must be consistent with the customs declaration form. The consignor, consignee and goods information on the bill of lading must match the customs declaration form, no deviation is allowed.
AlexanderYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Trade AdvisorStart a Chat
Under the export agency model, the capital plan of the supply chain can be adjusted according to the tax refund cycle. The tax refund usually accounts for 10%-15% of the export value. This part of capital can be included in the capital turnover plan in advance to avoid affecting the subsequent raw material procurement due to the delayed arrival of the tax refund. You can choose ports with higher tax refund efficiency for shipment according to the tax refund handling speed of different export ports, so as to shorten the overall capital return cycle.
For long-term and stable export businesses, you can agree with the agency on a plan of advancing the tax refund in advance. Although a small amount of service fee is required, you can get the capital in advance, optimize the cash flow of the supply chain, and reduce the capital pressure of the enterprise. The overall return ratio is much higher than the cost of the advance service fee.
CharlotteYears of service：4Customer Rating：5.0
Currency Exchange AdvisorStart a Chat
After the export goods are inspected on site, relevant documents such as inspection notice and inspection record shall be retained, and these documents shall also be included in the filing documents. If the goods information is adjusted after inspection, the customs declaration information shall be updated in time to ensure that it is consistent with the tax refund declaration information.
If it is found that the goods are inconsistent with the declaration information during the inspection, it is necessary to cooperate with the customs to complete the rectification in time, and handle the tax refund after the rectification is completed. If you declare the tax refund before the rectification is completed, it will directly lead to the failure of the tax refund audit, and even trigger an inspection.
If the goods are subject to laboratory testing and identification, the corresponding test report shall be retained. If the identification result is inconsistent with the declared HS code, it is necessary to re-declare the customs declaration form and adjust the commodity code corresponding to the tax refund, so as to avoid the wrong calculation of the tax refund rate due to the code error, which will affect the amount of the tax refund.