When a commodity is shipped from overseas to China, there are three main legal entry methods: general trade, cross-border e-commerce, and postal channels. So, in terms of taxation, what are the differences between these three entry methods? Let’s select some common categories for comparison.
Before the comparison, we need to remind you of the following points:
①The tax rate may change every year. This comparison is the latest tax rate in 2016;
②The tax-paid price of general trade is CIF price, while the tax-paid price of cross-border e-commerce and postal channels is retail price. For the convenience of comparison, we assume that CIF price is 50% of retail price;
③For most of the listed commodities, due to the pre-approval of commodity inspection, the tax rate comparison between general trade import and cross-border e-commerce retail import is for reference only and has little practical significance;
④The value-added tax of general trade can be deducted, but this article does not consider this point when making the comparison.
The comparison here is divided into two types: one is dynamic comparison, that is, comparing the impact of the new policy on the main categories of cross-border e-commerce before and after; the other is static comparison, that is, comparing the tax amounts of three different methods after the new policy.
Dynamic comparison: What changes have occurred in the tax costs of cross-border e-commerce? What changes have occurred in the tax costs of items under the postal and passenger channels?
We know that cross-border e-commerce was subject to postal and passenger tax (i.e., the “old postal and passenger tax” in the table below) before April 8, 2016, and then to the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive tax. At the same time, the postal and passenger tax was also adjusted on April 8, from 10%, 20%, 30%, and 50% to 15%, 30%, and 60%.
We found that the tax costs of cross-border e-commerce have changed as follows:
① Considering that the postal and passenger tax had a 50 yuan starting point before, the tax costs of these products that previously enjoyed exemptions have increased after the new policy. Some increased by 11.9%, such as milk powder; some increased by 21%, such as golf balls; and some increased by 47%, such as perfume.
②For commodities that did not enjoy the exemption amount before, after the new policy, the tax costs of some categories have increased, while others have decreased. For example, milk powder increased from 10% to 11.9%, gems increased from 10% to 21%, cosmetics decreased from 50% to 47%, skin care products decreased from 50% to 11.9%, men’s jackets decreased from 20% to 11.9%, and golf balls decreased from 30% to 21%.
③For commodities that exceed the single limit of 2,000 yuan stipulated in the new cross-border e-commerce policy, they need to be taxed in accordance with general trade, but considering that such commodities are difficult to operate in actual applications, we do not make comparative analysis, such as mechanical watches over 10,000 yuan.