What are the mandatory compliance document materials required for the previous-year period declaration of export tax refund?
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I am the tax officer of a small foreign trade company engaged in home goods export. Last year, namely 2025, we have not completed the tax refund declaration for around 28 export orders. We were previously fully occupied with processing bulk orders from European clients and completely neglected this matter.
These days I learned that the April 2026 declaration period is the final deadline for previous-year tax refund. I am completely confused now, not knowing how to select the correct declaration tax period for the "previous year".
My previous pre-declarations have failed data verification for multiple times, and I am afraid that missing the time limit will directly lead to the tax treatment being changed to tax exemption or even regarded as domestic sales for supplementary tax payment, resulting in a loss of over 100 thousand RMB in tax refund. I would like to ask how to properly operate the previous-year export tax refund to submit it successfully, and what are the common pitfalls to avoid?
CharlotteYears of service：4Customer Rating：5.0
Currency Exchange AdvisorStart a Chat
The previous-year declaration you mentioned refers to the tax refund business corresponding to 2025 export customs declarations，which requires completing all formal declarations with full collected vouchers before the deadline of the VAT declaration period in April 2026. First of all，conduct pre-document review in detail: export all 2025 full-volume export customs declaration data，match them one by one with corresponding input VAT special invoices and export foreign exchange collection vouchers，to ensure the export date，HS code，and quantity on the customs declaration are fully consistent with the input invoice. All orders with uncollected foreign exchange shall upload the deemed foreign exchange collection statement in advance，to avoid direct rejection in subsequent verification.
For core node connection，select the exclusive tax period of "2025 Export Business Declaration" in the export tax refund module of the Electronic Tax Bureau，do not select the regular 2026 declaration period. Submit pre-declaration first，the system will automatically pop out mismatched customs declaration information and invoice information. Correct all items one by one before submitting the formal declaration. Pay attention to the system acceptance receipt within 3 working days after submission. If document verification request is prompted，prepare copies of contracts，logistics documents and bills of lading corresponding to the relevant orders immediately.
For exception contingency plan，if the system prompts that the customs declaration information has not been synchronized to the tax bureau system，directly bring the stamped copy of customs declaration to the window of the competent tax authority for manual information synchronization. Do not repeatedly submit invalid declarations on the system to waste time. If you have not completed foreign exchange collection before the deadline，as long as it does not belong to non-compliant export scenarios，submit the deferred foreign exchange collection statement to postpone the supplementary submission of foreign exchange collection vouchers for 3 months，which will not affect your tax refund qualification.
For final compliant implementation，bind all documents in order of order numbers for retention and inspection within 15 days after completing all declarations. Paper materials proving four flows matching shall be stored separately for no less than 3 years to cope with subsequent random spot checks. The full set of operations can avoid almost all previous-year tax refund declaration failures.
DanielYears of service：8Customer Rating：5.0
Legal AdvisorStart a Chat
Check the customs status of all 2025 export customs declarations, confirm that the customs clearance status of all declarations is "Cleared". If there are customs declarations with abnormal clearance information, directly initiate a customs declaration data correction application through China International Trade Single Window, submit corresponding supporting materials including dock receipts and manifest, and data synchronization will be completed within 2 working days. Do not submit tax refund declaration directly with uncleared customs declarations, which will directly trigger cross-departmental data comparison warning between tax authorities and customs.
If there are customs declarations that have undergone deletion and re-declaration in 2025, mark the correspondence between the newly generated customs declaration number and the original number, attach it to the front page of the declaration materials, to avoid unposted declaration caused by the tax system failing to retrieve the corresponding data. Customs declarations from different ports under the integrated customs clearance mechanism do not need additional paper statements, as long as the data fields are fully consistent with the public information of the General Administration of Customs.
RobertYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Warehouse Management AdvisorStart a Chat
Sort out the logistics track vouchers of all 2025 export orders, prepare the freight invoice issued by the freight forwarder, the copy of bill of lading issued by the shipping company, and the copy of shipping order from port area for each customs declaration. The consignor and consignee, port of destination, and shipment date on all logistics vouchers shall be fully consistent with the information on the customs declaration. If some orders are shipped in LCL (less than container load) and no separate bill of lading number is available, ask the freight forwarder to issue a stamped LCL house bill certificate with the corresponding master bill number marked.
If there are orders that encountered container rollover or port of destination change last year, sort out the communication records with the freight forwarder at that time and the expense vouchers generated by port change, attach them to the documents of corresponding orders, to avoid being judged as abnormal cargo flow in subsequent inspections. All logistics related vouchers do not need to be uploaded to the system in advance, just keep them for future reference, and can be directly submitted as supporting materials when documentary verification is carried out later.
JohnYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Export Tax Rebate AdvisorStart a Chat
Sort out the input invoices of all 2025 export orders, confirm that the issuance date, product name, specification and model of the invoice are fully matched with the declaration elements on the customs declaration. If there is a large difference between the invoice product name and the customs declaration product name, supplement and prepare product quality inspection report and product manual as supporting materials, do not directly void and reissue the input invoice of last year, which will easily trigger abnormal warning of mismatched input and output data.
If some orders adopt VAT deferral mode for customs clearance overseas, sort out and archive the corresponding deferred customs clearance vouchers. No additional declaration of corresponding overseas VAT is required during tax refund declaration, and the tax refund can be handled directly in accordance with domestic tax refund rules. Note that the pricing of export orders under related party transactions shall not be lower than the average pricing of non-related customers in the same period, to avoid being judged as transfer pricing which triggers anti-tax avoidance inspection.
EllaYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Financial AdvisorStart a Chat
Export the foreign exchange collection slips of all 2025 export orders, match them with the corresponding customs declaration amount one by one. No additional statement is required for the difference within the reasonable 5% range, while for the difference exceeding the reasonable range, prepare corresponding supporting materials such as commission agreement and compensation statement. If the cross-border RMB foreign exchange collection is completed through CIPS channel, directly export the corresponding payment message screenshot, no additional offshore account statement proof is required.
If the foreign exchange collection of last year has not been declared for international revenue and expenditure, first make supplementary declaration for the corresponding batch of international revenue and expenditure on the application platform of State Administration of Foreign Exchange, then submit the tax refund declaration, to avoid declaration rejection caused by inconsistent data between foreign exchange bureau and tax authorities. Use the real-time exchange rate of the current period for exchange settlement accounting, do not adjust the bookkeeping exchange rate arbitrarily.
OliviaYears of service：5Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Customs AdvisorStart a Chat
Sort out the foreign trade contracts of all 2025 export orders. The information of trading parties, cargo value, delivery time and trade terms in the contract shall be consistent with the information on customs declarations and foreign exchange collection vouchers.
If some orders are signed with proforma invoice, supplement and archive the proforma invoice stamped by both parties. For orders settled by letter of credit, sort out the copy of letter of credit, presentation vouchers and all documents negotiated by the bank, do not miss any signature page.
If there were orders whose customers delayed delivery due to force majeure last year, keep the corresponding force majeure notification letter and subsequent supplementary agreement, to avoid being judged as doubtful transaction authenticity in subsequent inspections. For export goods with intellectual property record filing, mark the corresponding record number on the prominent position of the corresponding documents to speed up the inspection process.
AlexanderYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Trade AdvisorStart a Chat
Sort out all 2025 export orders that have undergone on-site customs inspection, separately sort and archive the inspection notice, release certificate after passing inspection and test report (if any). The tax refund declaration of these orders has a relatively higher probability of being selected for documentary verification.
Preparing all materials in advance can greatly shorten the inspection cycle. If there was minor data adjustment of customs declaration after container unpacking inspection for some orders, copy and keep the modified signature page issued by customs at that time, ensure that the declared tax refund data is fully consistent with the data on the finally released customs declaration.
Do not submit tax refund declaration with the initially declared unmodified data, to avoid the problem of failing to pass logic comparison. All inspection related vouchers do not need to be submitted to the tax department in advance, and can be provided on demand during subsequent inspections.
DavidYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Business Development AdvisorStart a Chat
Sort out the MSDS reports, hazard classification appraisal certificates, and UN packaging use appraisal certificates of all 2025 export orders involving dangerous goods and special categories. These special category orders are more likely to be selected for document verification during tax refund declaration, preparing all qualification materials in advance can avoid repeated supplementary materials which delays the declaration progress.
If some ordinary goods use special moisture-proof or reinforced packaging, no additional packaging certificate is required, as long as the data on the packing list is fully matched with the net weight and gross weight data on the customs declaration. If the packaging weight is included in the customs declaration cargo weight, prepare the corresponding packaging material statement, clearly mark the breakdown of goods net weight and packaging weight, to avoid being judged as inconsistent weight logic in subsequent inspections.
SophiaYears of service：7Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Customs AdvisorStart a Chat
Export the pre-declaration verification doubt details in the tax refund declaration system, mark the doubt type for each item. Doubts belonging to information not synchronized category can be ignored to submit formal declaration, while doubts belonging to data logic error category shall be corrected with corresponding data one by one.
Do not directly submit formal declaration ignoring high-risk doubts, which will easily lead to direct rejection. When declaring 2025 export business, uniformly select 202603 or 202604 as the tax period, do not declare with other tax periods to avoid subsequent wrong classification of declaration data.
If there were orders that have undergone tax exemption declaration last year and now apply for tax refund, first offset the previous tax exemption declaration data, then re-declare as tax refund data, to avoid duplicate declaration problem. The retention period of foreign exchange collection vouchers shall meet the inspection time limit requirements of tax authorities, do not discard the foreign exchange collection slips of previous years arbitrarily.
SarahYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Foreign Exchange AdvisorStart a Chat
Recheck the trade terms of all 2025 export orders. For orders under FOB term, calculate the tax refund base directly based on the FOB free on board price on customs declaration. For orders under CIF or CFR terms, deduct the freight and insurance premium before calculating the declared value for tax refund, do not declare directly based on the total goods value, to avoid the problem of overstated declared value.
Count the total annual export value of 2025, total corresponding input tax amount and estimated refundable tax amount, conduct accurate cost calculation, confirm that the account balance of receivable tax refund on the book is fully consistent with the declaration data in the system, to avoid the mismatch between financial entry data and tax refund declaration data. If you have export order plans of the same category in the future, formulate inventory linkage strategy in advance, match the issuance rhythm of input invoices to reduce the tax refund declaration workload in subsequent years.