Static comparison: Cross-border e-commerce VS general trade VS postal channel, which is better?
In actual comparison, you must not directly compare the tax rates for two reasons:
①Postal tax has a 50 yuan starting point3, while cross-border e-commerce comprehensive tax does not;
②The tax-paid price of postal tax and cross-border e-commerce comprehensive tax is the retail price4, while the tax-paid price of general trade imports is the CIF price.
Next, we take formula milk powder, diapers, cosmetics, and health products as examples for comparison. (Note: Assume that the CIF price is 50% of the retail price; the general trade tax amount does not consider the VAT deduction; the postal tax amount is exempted within 50 yuan)
First, let’s look at formula milk powder. Its cross-border e-commerce comprehensive tax rate, postal tax rate, and general trade import tax rate are 11.9%, 15%, and 22.85% respectively.
When the retail price is within 333 yuan, the postal tax has the most advantages; after that, the postal tax is higher than the general trade tax and cross-border e-commerce tax. Overall, the tax amount of cross-border e-commerce is not much different from the tax amount of general trade.
Let’s analyze diapers again. The comprehensive tax rate of cross-border e-commerce, the tax rate of travel and mail, and the import tax rate of general trade are 11.9%, 30%, and 19.34% respectively.
It can be seen that when the retail price is less than 166 yuan, the travel and mail tax is the most advantageous, and then the travel and mail tax is higher than the general trade tax and cross-border e-commerce tax. Overall, the tax amount of cross-border e-commerce is slightly higher than the general trade tax.
Next, let’s analyze cosmetics (taking lip cosmetics as an example). The comprehensive tax rate of cross-border e-commerce, the tax rate of travel and mail, and the import tax rate of general trade are 47%, 60%, and 83.86% respectively.
It can be seen that when the retail price is less than 83 yuan, the travel and mail tax is the most advantageous, and then the travel and mail tax is higher than the general trade tax and cross-border e-commerce tax. Overall, the tax amount of cross-border e-commerce is slightly higher than the general trade tax.
Finally, let’s look at health products. The cross-border e-commerce comprehensive tax rate, postal and luggage tax rate, and general trade import tax rate are 11.9%, 15%, and 40.4%, respectively.
It can be seen that when the retail price is less than 333 yuan, the postal and luggage tax is the most advantageous; after that, the postal and luggage tax is higher than the cross-border e-commerce tax. Unlike the previous categories, the general trade tax is significantly higher than the postal and luggage tax and the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive tax. Therefore, compared with general trade, from the perspective of taxation, health products are more suitable for cross-border e-commerce.
Combining the above analysis, it can be seen that:
(1) As long as it is within the 50 yuan threshold, the postal and luggage tax is better than the cross-border e-commerce tax.
(2) After exceeding the threshold, the postal and luggage tax is mostly higher than the general trade import and cross-border e-commerce import, such as formula milk powder, diapers, cosmetics, etc.
(3) For most commodities, the cross-border e-commerce tax is slightly higher than the general trade import, but the difference between the two is not large, such as formula milk powder, diapers, cosmetics, etc.
(4) For some commodities, the general trade import tax is higher than the travel tax and cross-border e-commerce tax, such as health products.
Therefore, when we compare the general trade tax, cross-border e-commerce tax, and travel tax, we must analyze the specific categories.