“Fairness” is the most important and direct driving factor in policy making. Indeed, cross-border e-commerce retail imports are levied according to the original travel tax, and many commodities are not taxed because they are within the 50 yuan exemption amount, which is very unfair to general trade.
Some people may say that general trade also has a 50 yuan exemption amount, so why can’t cross-border e-commerce retail imports have an exemption amount? We should note that cross-border e-commerce here is B2C, and its own characteristics are small batches and multiple frequencies. The 50 yuan tax exemption amount can easily impact the national tax base; while general trade belongs to large batches, and the 50 yuan tax exemption amount basically does not affect the national tax base. Then, the travel channel for personal items is also a small batch, so why does it still have a 50 yuan tax exemption amount? Cross-border e-commerce retail imports are trade behaviors, and the travel channel for personal items is not a trade behavior, so the two are not comparable in terms of taxation.
In addition, this document is aimed at the cross-border e-commerce retail import model, that is, B2C cross-border e-commerce import, including: (1) online shopping bonded (BBC), where goods are first shipped in batches to the bonded area, and then shipped out of the bonded area according to the 1210 code after receiving an order; (2) overseas direct mail (BC), where goods are shipped from overseas to domestic consumers after receiving an order.
It should be noted that there are two types of overseas direct mail in the industry: one is overseas direct mail under the cross-border e-commerce retail import model, which requires the matching of the order, waybill, and payment order; the other is overseas direct mail under the travel and mail channel, where normal declaration requires the provision of the front and back information of the consignee’s ID card, shopping receipt, and waybill. Obviously, overseas direct mail under the cross-border e-commerce retail import model will be affected by this policy, while overseas direct mail under the travel and mail channel is not restricted by this document.