What are the full-process compliance declaration and filing procedures for manufacturers to handle export tax refunds
Importing from China?
Need help with sourcing, customs or shipping?
Your China Import Partner
Reliable sourcing and import agency services.
We are a mechanical and electrical equipment manufacturer that has been established for exactly one year. We just completed our first batch of export orders for self-branded equipment shipped to the European Union last month.
Previously, we only focused on domestic sales and have never been exposed to any export tax refund related operations. Recently, we heard from peers that missing any procedure may lead to no access to tax refunds for half a year, and even trigger tax bureau letter investigation and account audit.
At present, we only have the customs declaration form, VAT input invoice and foreign customer's foreign exchange receipt slip in hand, and we have no idea what the first step to take is, which departments we need to visit, which procedures can be completed online, and which require offline submission of paper materials. We are afraid that any wrong operation will delay the arrival of tax refunds.
DavidYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Business Development AdvisorStart a Chat
First of all，you need to complete the pre-document review process，and sort out the compliance of three types of core materials. First，the export date of the customs export declaration form，the information of the domestic consignor，and the HS code of the commodity must fully match the parameters of the goods you actually exported. Second，for the VAT special invoices obtained from raw material procurement，the name and quantity of the goods must logically correspond to the corresponding items on the export customs declaration form. Third，the remitter and amount on the foreign exchange receipt slip must be consistent with the terms stipulated in the export sales contract，so as to troubleshoot all visible information errors and omissions in advance.
For core node connection，you need to log in to the Electronic Tax Bureau first to complete the export tax (exemption) refund filing. No offline paper materials are required for the whole process，and the filing will take effect within 1 working day after passing the verification. After the filing is completed，report the current export sales amount to the tax exemption，offset and refund column of the VAT declaration form during the VAT declaration period，then initiate the pre-declaration of export tax refund. The system will automatically verify the logical matching degree of all documents，and you can correct any doubts directly online without submitting additional explanation materials.
For exception response，if the pre-declaration triggers a letter investigation warning，you only need to upload the corresponding export sales contract，logistics documents，and production process description as prompted by the system，no need to arrange personnel to submit materials at the tax bureau site. In 2026，the response time for the system's automatic letter investigation has been reduced to within 3 working days，and the warning can be lifted quickly as long as the document logic is consistent.
For final compliance implementation，after the formal declaration is reviewed and approved，the tax refund will be directly transferred to your enterprise's corporate public account within 7 working days. Afterwards，you only need to file and retain all complete documents，the retention period is adjusted to 5 years，no additional paper filing to the tax bureau is required. All conventional procedures in the whole process can be completed online without visiting offline service windows.
OliviaYears of service：5Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Customs AdvisorStart a Chat
The "domestic consignor" and "production and sales entity" fields on the customs declaration form must be completely consistent with the enterprise name and unified social credit code for your tax refund filing. If you filled in wrong fields during previous customs declaration, do not initiate the tax refund declaration directly.
First submit a form amendment application to the customs at the declaration location, and provide corresponding export sales contract, packing list and manifest data to prove the rationality of the amendment. In 2026, the online review period for export customs declaration form amendment at all national ports has been shortened to 2 working days. After the amendment is completed, update the customs declaration data in the Electronic Tax Bureau synchronously to avoid field mismatch doubts in the subsequent tax refund system.
If your customs declaration data is not synchronized from the E-Port to the tax bureau system, you can manually retrieve the customs declaration information in the export tax refund module of the Electronic Tax Bureau. There is no need to print the paper customs declaration certification copy at the port customs, and it will not affect the subsequent tax refund declaration progress.
WilliamYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
International Logistics AdvisorStart a Chat
The logistics documents you retain must form a complete ownership transfer chain, including delivery orders from factory outbound, international sea/air waybills, and unloading certificates at the port of destination. The consignor information on the bill of lading must fully match your enterprise name, and the situation where a third-party freight forwarder is listed as the consignor is not allowed, otherwise you cannot prove the actual export ownership of the goods during subsequent letter investigation. If you entrust a freight forwarder to arrange transportation, ask the forwarder to provide the stamped house bill of lading and freight invoice.
The issuer of the freight invoice must be the same entity that signed the transportation agreement with you. All logistics related vouchers do not need additional notarization, and can pass the system verification as long as the document logic is consistent. In special cases where the original bill of lading cannot be provided, the stamped telex release bill of lading copy issued by the shipping company can be used as a substitute.
AlexanderYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Trade AdvisorStart a Chat
When conducting tax exemption, offset and refund declaration accounting, you need to accurately distinguish the proportion of duty-free raw materials and domestically purchased taxable raw materials, and carry out input tax transfer-out treatment for the corresponding non-exempt and non-deductible amount. Do not calculate directly based on the fixed proportion of export value, so as to avoid abnormal warning of the transferred-out input tax amount. If your enterprise conducts processing with supplied materials business, you need to separately account for the corresponding export sales amount of processing with supplied materials.
This part of the amount cannot participate in the tax exemption, offset and refund calculation, and needs to be reported to the tax-exempt sales column of the VAT declaration form. For manufacturers that meet the VAT deferral qualification, the import VAT paid on imported raw materials can be declared for deferral directly, no need to pay the tax in full before deduction, which can greatly reduce the capital occupation pressure of the enterprise in the current period.
CharlotteYears of service：4Customer Rating：5.0
Currency Exchange AdvisorStart a Chat
When handling export foreign exchange receipt, you need to ensure that the overseas entity making the payment is completely consistent with the purchaser name on the export sales contract, and third-party payment on behalf of others is not allowed. If the scenario of third-party payment does exist, prepare the payment explanation signed and stamped by the overseas purchaser in advance, file it for future inspection. Export the PDF version of all cross-border foreign exchange receipt SWIFT messages for retention.
The transaction remark in the message must match the actual goods export attribute, and do not fill in remarks of other types such as service fee or inter-enterprise fund transaction, so as to avoid triggering cross-border income and expenditure inspection by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. In 2026, the detailed data of cross-border RMB receipt via CIPS system will be automatically synchronized to the Electronic Tax Bureau, and the foreign exchange receipt verification can be completed without manually uploading the receipt voucher.
RobertYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Warehouse Management AdvisorStart a Chat
Core elements such as product name, specification, transaction amount, trade term, and delivery cycle must be clearly marked in the export sales contract you sign. The signatures and seals of both parties on the contract must be complete, and the signatory of the overseas purchaser must have the corresponding authorization qualification of the enterprise. Blank contracts without any signatures or seals are not allowed.
If subsequent trade disputes with overseas customers lead to failure to collect foreign exchange on time, obtain the judgment document issued by the corresponding arbitration institution or court in time. With relevant supporting materials, you can handle the declaration for uncollectible foreign exchange, which will not affect your corresponding export tax refund rights, and no need to levy tax as domestic sales. For export products involving intellectual property rights, complete the IPR customs protection filing in advance to avoid intellectual property disputes in the export link that will lead to goods detention and affect your tax refund qualification.
DanielYears of service：8Customer Rating：5.0
Legal AdvisorStart a Chat
If your batch of exported goods is selected for inspection at the port customs clearance link, prepare the product manual, component test report and process description that are completely consistent with the declared parameters in advance and provide them to the on-site inspectors, cooperate with the machine inspection or unpacking inspection process. After the inspection is completed, obtain the customs-stamped inspection record sheet in time, and file it together with other tax refund documents.
Make sure there is no inconsistency between the goods information marked on the inspection record sheet and the customs declaration information. If HS code classification disputes are found during the inspection, apply for classification identification in time, and complete the customs clearance process after obtaining the official classification confirmation document, so as to avoid commodity code mismatch doubts in the subsequent tax refund link.
EllaYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Financial AdvisorStart a Chat
The retained MSDS report and dangerous goods packaging appraisal certificate (if involving hazardous chemical products) related to goods transportation packaging must be completely consistent with the attributes of the actually exported goods. The component proportion marked on the MSDS report must not be inconsistent with the actual goods composition, otherwise the compliance of the goods cannot be proved during subsequent letter investigation.
The packaging list for ordinary mechanical and electrical products must clearly mark the net weight, gross weight and outer packaging size of each unit of equipment, which must logically correspond to the weight data on the customs declaration form. Weight deviation exceeding 5% is not allowed. All packaging related materials do not need to be submitted to the tax bureau, and can be filed and retained uniformly with other documents.
SophiaYears of service：7Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Customs AdvisorStart a Chat
You need to ensure that the goods flow, capital flow, invoice flow and contract flow of the export order are completely matched, which is commonly known as the consistency of four flows. The goods name of the input invoice must correspond to the raw materials for the export products you manufacture. The situation where the input invoice involves other categories of goods completely unrelated to your production process is not allowed.
If the doubt of wrong applicable tax refund rate appears in the pre-declaration link, adjust the corresponding data by referring to the latest commodity code and tax refund rate library first, and do not forcefully submit the formal declaration. In the document filing link, you can directly upload all electronic documents to the document filing module of the Electronic Tax Bureau, no need to print paper versions for binding and archiving. The system will automatically retain the corresponding electronic files, which can be retrieved and verified at any time.