The profits of some foreign trade export commodities come from export tax rebates. Products enter the international market at a tax-free cost, which greatly increases the competitiveness of products in the international market. Many countries have tax refund and tax exemption policies, which mainly refer to the exemption of value-added tax at the export stage. The corresponding input tax amount is offset against the value-added tax payable on domestic sales. The unoffset part is refunded, and the amount is calculated according to the product of the export FOB price and the difference between the tax collection and refund rate. The export tax refund and tax exemption for general taxpayers involves several key processes such as qualification certification, document declaration, value-added tax invoice, bill of lading, and exchange verification. The speed of tax refund has nothing to do with the category and quantity of the product, but with the credit of the enterprise. For example, if a high-level certified enterprise has a good historical tax record, the tax refund will be relatively faster. There are also tax refunds for imports, such as Europe’s sales tax deduction of import VAT.
For small and medium-sized trading companies, it is difficult to implement the requirements of self-operated export tax rebates, contract signing methods, and foreign exchange payment methods in actual business operations. After receiving the order, they usually entrust the export order to a foreign trade agency to handle the relevant procedures and pay the agency a certain handling fee after the business is completed. Foreign trade companies that handle export procedures are not responsible for the quality, price, and collection of order delivery, nor are they responsible for the payment, delivery, quality, and other items of domestically purchased goods. They only provide export declaration, foreign exchange settlement, tax refund and other procedural services. The customs declaration procedures for small orders of cross-border e-commerce are complicated and the customs declaration fees are high, so foreign trade comprehensive service companies have emerged, that is, they have the status of foreign trade operators, rely on the Internet service platform, accept the entrustment of domestic and foreign customers, and handle customs declaration, inspection, logistics, tax refund, foreign exchange collection, financing, insurance, settlement, credit insurance and other comprehensive services on their behalf, as well as assist in financing business. Based on the services of all links in the international trade supply chain, they provide standardized, efficient and transparent foreign trade agency services for small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises.
Cross-border export logistics uses parcels, express mail and other methods to transport goods, and the data is not included in customs statistics. In order to facilitate standardization and supervision, the customs uses 9610 (the customs supervision code for cross-border e-commerce) to separate the supervision of cross-border direct mail as a formal export declaration procedure. For the general process of entering the comprehensive bonded area, after the merchants enter the comprehensive bonded area, the enterprises adopt the “9610 delivery and collective declaration” mode and the “list verification and release, summary declaration” method, first push the e-commerce export list, order and logistics information to the “single window” of the cross-border e-commerce online service platform, register according to the rules and declare truthfully, the customs will review the “list” in batches and release it quickly, and then entrust the customs broker to regularly merge the verified and released lists into a customs declaration form, and issue a certificate bill to the State Administration of Taxation to apply for tax refund. In view of the actual situation that cross-border e-commerce enterprises cannot obtain purchase invoices for export goods, if the enterprise does not need tax refund, it is not necessary to form a customs declaration form in the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone. If customs declaration is required, the same declaration elements can be combined, and the large categories of packages can be declared in a centralized manner, so as to enjoy the sunshine customs clearance of “exemption but no refund”. At some cross-border e-commerce pilot ports, export items do not need to be registered, and pre-declaration and other procedures are simplified. Many freight forwarding logistics can also obtain government subsidies in this way.
Tax refunds must have a VAT invoice. If there is no invoice, the company’s procurement process is equivalent to zero cost. If the company pays the tax, it must pay the tax based on the sales price. After the customs’ “Golden Tax Phase III” system is launched, the flow and price of each tax-related transaction of taxpayers will be recorded more comprehensively, and the “electronic bottom sheet” will make personal income and corporate asset transactions more transparent. If there are many product categories, it is more suitable to choose 9610 export, that is, after the goods are distributed, the tax refund will be declared in a centralized manner. If the product is single, the customs declaration form and invoice are relatively unified, and the customs supervision code 0110 (general trade) mode or 1210 (entering the bonded area) mode can be selected.
The “Special Area Export 1210” mode, which is to prepare goods in advance, is equivalent to the company moving the overseas warehouse abroad to the domestic bonded area. This mode can implement operations such as first-out and then-declaration and centralized declaration for cross-border e-commerce export goods. This model is divided into two types. One is to handle “entry tax refund” when the goods enter the bonded port area (second-line entry), which is the traditional foreign trade business model. You can handle export declaration, tax refund and other procedures as soon as possible. Qualified e-commerce enterprises or platforms are connected to the customs, and the whole batch of goods are declared according to general trade to enter the customs special supervision area. The invoice and financial procedures are regular, and the enterprise can realize tax refund. For goods that have entered the area for tax refund, after overseas users purchase online, the customs will release them based on the list. After leaving the area, the customs will regularly merge the released list into an export declaration form, and e-commerce will handle the settlement procedures based on this. The second is the “bonded export” model for temporary storage in the area. When the goods “enter the area on the second line”, the export procedures are not handled first, and the “entry list” is used to declare to the customs. After entering the area, the “e-commerce account book” is used for supervision. The goods in the bonded warehouse can be exported multiple times first, and after the end of the month, they will be reported to the port at one time to generate a formal customs declaration. Finally, the purchase input invoice of the goods on the corresponding customs declaration form is provided, and the tax refund is handled at the tax bureau.
In actual business, cross-border e-commerce exports generally choose the second type of model, that is, “batch entry and exit, centralized declaration”, and can also flexibly return goods to the country for domestic sales as needed, without the need to go through re-import procedures. 1210 exports must be applied for at checkpoints above the level of Type B bonded logistics center, and a system platform for synchronous exchange of customs data must be built to achieve inventory, grading, packaging, and labeling management of goods in the warehouse. It can also extend transshipment and after-sales services within the zone, and the returned goods will be re-cleaned, repaired, and packaged in the bonded area before being sold, as well as supporting import and export agency declaration, container storage, and freight forwarding services within the zone. Postal export parcels can also be concentrated in the supervision area for comprehensive management, changing from the original sorting outside the zone and customs clearance within the zone to sorting, sorting, and customs clearance directly in the supervision area, thereby improving the integrated supervision and operation efficiency of the same site.