As a new business group, cross-border e-commerce will definitely encounter many problems and obstacles from the beginning of entrepreneurship to continued operation. In the process of cross-border e-commerce development and operation, every enterprise must not only be optimistic about the internal operation and management, but also open three eyes to look at the affairs in the other three directions. One is to look at the market; the second is to look up at the policy; the third is to talk about capital.
Speaking of my country’s policies on cross-border e-commerce import and export, China has been committed to promoting the expansion of cross-border e-commerce import and export in recent years, and has also introduced many import and export policies that are more suitable for cross-border e-commerce. Due to the increasing retail volume of cross-border e-commerce, especially in 2012 and 2015, the state planned and built the “7+2” pilot of cross-border e-commerce demonstration cities. There are several breakthroughs in the import and export customs clearance policy of cross-border e-commerce: First, the General Administration of Customs has introduced the cross-border e-commerce customs declaration mode and exclusive supervision code. One is the 9610 supervision code, which is mainly used for the customs clearance mode of express parcels and other imports and exports; the other is the 1210 supervision code, which is mainly used for the customs clearance mode of bonded supervision in special areas. Through these two modes, as long as the enterprise can successfully declare and file on the relevant customs clearance service platform, it can go through the normal customs clearance, inspection and quarantine, tax refund and other processes.
Combining these two modes, there are also progressive and innovative operating rules in the customs clearance of exports: in the process of cross-border bonded import and export, strategies such as centralized entry and batch customs clearance are also introduced. Goods can be temporarily stored in special supervision areas in batches, and then the real customs clearance procedures are carried out in batches according to the international market order situation, and then enter the actual destination market, reducing a lot of time and energy wasted waiting for customs clearance, and greatly improving the convenience of customs clearance. These new measures and policies have begun to be implemented in the pilot system in Shenzhen.
At the same time, the biggest problem faced by cross-border e-commerce export business appears in the link of export tax rebate. Usually, cross-border e-commerce can rebate normally for normal export business through 9610 and 1210. However, since many products of some cross-border e-commerce are purchased directly from the market and there are no formal invoices, it is impossible to truly handle tax records and tax refunds in this case, and the operation of the enterprise will fall into a situation of assuming non-sunshine, which has an adverse effect on the correct evaluation of the enterprise’s operation.
Regarding the exploration of export tax rebate policy, the previous pilot followed the principle of collecting taxes first and then refunding taxes. Enterprises generally need to repeatedly confirm their tax records, etc. The entire process takes about 1 to 2 years, and this processing efficiency is not particularly high; now we are trying the practice of exemption without refund. In 2016, among the 13 cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zones approved by the state, we are focusing on this aspect and looking forward to obtaining feasible practices as soon as possible to benefit the majority of enterprises.
If a cross-border e-commerce enterprise engaged in export encounters a large tax-related scale, it must pay attention to understanding and adapting to the new policy, which can not only protect its own interests from loss, but also better use the new policy and establish its own sunshine management image.
In addition, in terms of export tax rebates, some comprehensive pilot zones may strive to adapt to the total tax management policy under customs supervision codes such as 0139 or 1039. This is a practice of handling tax rebates according to the model of tourism product procurement and market procurement. Interested enterprises can also have a deep understanding of the tax rebate management policy for products under these two supervision codes. In addition, in terms of export goods management, the country will gradually try a model of centralized entry, list verification and release, and return to the total declaration. If the company exports a large batch of products at one time and adopts the bonded area supervision model for export, everyone can understand and adopt this approach as soon as possible.