There are three main types of import taxes: customs duties, value-added tax and consumption tax. Tariff is a tax commonly levied by customs around the world on goods or items entering and exiting the country. Tariffs and non-tariff measures are the main indicators of a country’s market openness. Tariffs are divided into import taxes, export taxes, and transit taxes. According to the Collection methods include price and quantity.
Import value-added tax, that is, the value-added tax levied on the import link, is a turnover tax that targets the value-added amount of the link. Consumption tax mainly targets a small number of high-value imported consumer goods, and luxury goods tax is also imposed on some individuals. Different import methods will have different tax types. Traditional trade export goods usually have to pay a combination of three taxes.
Therefore, simply saying that tariff reductions benefit domestic consumers, in fact, tariffs have been reduced a lot since China joined the WTO. However, the discounts reflected in the terminal prices of many products are not surprising enough, because there are other taxes , if the commodity channel dealer or brand premium is relatively strong, then the tariff reduction measures will have minimal impact on the terminal price.
Starting from April 8, 2016, with the approval of the State Council, the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued the “Notice on Tax Policies for Cross-Border E-Commerce Retail Imports” to avoid industrial raw materials Such goods enter the country through cross-border e-commerce retail import channels, disrupting the normal trade order, and at the same time facilitating daily collection and management operations, new tax policies and list management are implemented for cross-border e-commerce retail imports.
Personal postal taxes and tax exemptions are no longer applicable to cross-border e-commerce. The tariff is temporarily set to zero and is temporarily levied at 70% of the statutory comprehensive tax payable. The single transaction limit is RMB 2,000, and the individual annual transaction limit is RMB 20,000. Single transactions that exceed the single limit and cumulatively exceed the individual annual limit, and single indivisible transactions whose duty-paid price exceeds the limit of RMB 2,000 Goods are fully taxed in accordance with normal trade methods.
Compared with the new version of personal postal tax and comprehensive trade tax released at the same time, the new cross-border e-commerce tax has generally increased and decreased. For example, for popular products such as milk powder and diapers, the traditional comprehensive trade tax rate is about 30%. The new cross-border e-commerce tax of 11.9% has obvious advantages; the personal postal tax of 15% has an exemption amount. The advantages and disadvantages of the two depend on the duty-paid price of the goods. The declared price of general trade is the purchase price, and the input invoice is offset, while the tax base for cross-border import tax is based on the sales price. Although 11.9% seems lower than that of general trade, the advantage has shrunk, and it has become general trade instead. Cross-border e-commerce has been diverted.
In addition, the cross-border e-commerce tax paid price includes the full freight, and the tax calculation base is larger than that of mail. In foreign trade terms, the previous FOB tax payment will be changed to CIF tax payment, and the tax cost will be Eventually it is transferred to consumers, and some e-commerce companies rely on logistics companies to pay taxes, which increases the financial pressure on logistics companies.
The starting point of the New Deal is mainly the summary of pilot experience. First, the government does not benefit, which affects the long-term total tax revenue. In 2015, the national tax revenue was about 12.5 trillion yuan, of which the three import taxes totaled about 1.5 trillion yuan, accounting for about 12%. As an important tax source, the impact on the national treasury is a big deal. The new tax is close to the general trade tax rate and eliminates the tax exemption to solve the problem of national tax loss to the greatest extent and make the two import channels of general trade and cross-border e-commerce more fair.
The second is to impact the domestic trade market. After many years of operation, general trade importers have to spend huge sums of money and a long time to establish distribution channels and bear about 30% of the import trade tax to obtain agency authorization for imported brands. Cross-border e-commerce channels’ low-price dumping and nearly unlimited lists have ruined this pattern.
Bonded import actually belongs to commercial trade, and the policy precedent of “bonded import and mail export” is an “exceptional” pilot. The advantages of higher quality and lower price may force Chinese manufacturers to improve product quality in the long run, but in the short term it will affect China’s sluggish real economy.
The third is standardization of operations. After the large-scale rise of cross-border imports in 2014, under the circumstances of unclear national customs supervision policies, “gray tax benefits” were obtained through splitting orders, subcontracting, impersonation, etc. The degree of control varies from place to place, and tax differences bring arbitrage opportunities. . The government’s “single product tax” tailored for cross-border e-commerce reduces differences in operations across regions, encourages traditional import companies to transform into e-commerce, and shifts the tax targets to e-commerce companies.
However, the policy still maintains a positive attitude towards cross-border e-commerce, reiterating “step-by-step, timely adjustment, and gradual promotion.” Compared with the original postal tax limit, the single transaction amount of cross-border imports has been doubled. , for low-priced and high-frequency products, it is nothing less than a blessing. It saves the cumbersome disassembly of personal items under 50 yuan tax-free, which not only saves time and packaging waste, but is also very green and environmentally friendly. Although there is an annual total cap, even the most experienced “hand-picking family” can still use their entire family’s ID card consumption limit.
At the same time, in order to increase effective supply, in September 2016, the Ministry of Finance canceled some cosmetics consumption taxes, benefiting daily chemical products. The tariff was raised to 15%, but the overall cross-border e-commerce comprehensive tax was reduced by half. . Moreover, if the goods are returned within 30 days from the date of customs release, you can apply for a tax refund, and the personal annual transaction total will be adjusted accordingly.