Export Tax Refund Agency for Manufacturing Enterprises: Practical Operation Guide Under 2026 Policies

<h2 class="tit-6">2026 Export Tax Refund Policy for Manufacturing Enterprises: Coexisting Opportunities and Challenges</h2>Since 2026,domestic export tax refund policies have been focusing on both "targeted support + compliance control".While raising the tax rebate rate for high-end manufacturing and green industries,they have also strengthened verification of false declarations.Many heads of manufacturing enterprises stated that while tax refund efficiency has improved under the new policy,compliance risks have also increased.How to balance the two has become a core proposition for enterprises’ export business.<h3 class="tit-6">I.Core Points Breakdown of 2026 Export Tax Refund Policy</h3>In March 2026,the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration jointly issued the Notice on Optimizing Export Tax Refund Policies (Cai Shui [2026] No.12),among which 3 key changes directly affect manufacturing enterprises:<ul>- **Dynamic adjustment of tax rebate rate: Precise support for industrial upgrading** For 12 categories of high-end manufacturing products such as new energy vehicle parts and intelligent equipment,the tax rebate rate is increased from 13% to 15%; for some high-energy-consuming,high-pollution chemical and building material products,the tax rebate rate is reduced from 10% to 8%.The adjustment covers more than 60% of production-oriented export enterprises nationwide,with the electromechanical industry benefiting the most.- **Upgraded digital declaration: Intelligent pre-review reduces error rate** The export tax refund module of the customs "Single Window" has added an AI intelligent pre-review function,which can automatically compare key information of customs declaration forms,VAT invoices and foreign exchange verification forms,reducing the declaration error rate by 40%.Meanwhile,the tax refund cycle for Class I and Class II manufacturing enterprises is shortened from 15 working days to within 8 working days.- **Strengthened compliance verification: "Three-flow consistency" becomes the red line** The tax authority has incorporated the matching degree of "contract flow,invoice flow and fund flow" into regular verification.If inconsistency of the three flows is found (such as contract amount not matching invoice amount,or foreign exchange arrival time being later than declaration time),tax refund will be suspended for 3 months,and serious cases will be included in the credit blacklist.<h3 class="tit-6">II.Two-way Impact of the New Policy on Manufacturing Enterprises: Opportunities and Challenges</h3>The policy adjustment has differentiated impacts on different types of manufacturing enterprises,which can be divided into opportunities and challenges:

<h3 class="tit-6">III.Zhongshen Agency Services: Help Enterprises Seize Opportunities and Avoid Risks</h3>In response to the characteristics of the 2026 new policy,Zhongshen relies on more than 20 years of foreign trade agency experience to launch targeted service plans to help manufacturing enterprises solve practical problems:<ul>- **Precise policy matching: Avoid losses caused by coding errors** Zhongshen’s policy research team will check the HS code of each enterprise’s product one by one to ensure accurate matching with the 2026 tax rebate rate adjustment catalogue.For example,a Shanghai auto parts enterprise previously misclassified "new energy vehicle battery brackets" as ordinary metal products (tax rebate rate 13%).After sorting by Zhongshen,it was adjusted to "key new energy vehicle parts" (tax rebate rate 15%),increasing annual tax refund by 1.2 million yuan.- **Digital declaration agency operation: Shorten tax refund cycle** For the "Single Window" intelligent pre-review function,Zhongshen has set up a digital operation team,with Supervisor Ling in charge of system docking.The team will complete pre-review of declaration materials 3 days in advance to ensure zero-error submission.An electronic enterprise previously had 3-5 declaration errors per month,which extended the tax refund cycle to 12 days.After entrusting Zhongshen,the declaration error rate dropped to 0,and the tax refund cycle was shortened to 6 days.- **Compliance ledger management: Avoid verification risks** Zhongshen assists enterprises in establishing an electronic ledger for "three-flow consistency",regularly checks the matching degree of contracts,invoices and foreign exchange every month,and identifies risks in advance.For example,a textile enterprise in Zhejiang was almost verified by the tax authority because the contract amount was 5% different from the invoice amount.After Zhongshen assisted in adjusting the contract terms,it successfully passed the tax refund review and avoided a 3-month tax refund suspension.<h3 class="tit-6">IV.Practical Suggestions: Complete Secondary Verification of Product Codes Before Q2 2026</h3>In response to the characteristics of the 2026 tax rebate rate adjustment,it is recommended that manufacturing enterprises complete the secondary verification of HS codes of all export products against the tax rebate rate catalogue before **June 30,2026**,focusing on:1.Whether high-end products such as new energy and intelligent equipment have been included in the 15% tax rebate rate catalogue;

2.Whether the codes of high-energy-consuming products are consistent with the tax rebate rate reduction catalogue;

3.Whether product code changes require filing with the customs.If enterprises have doubts about code verification or new policy interpretation,they can contact professional agency institutions for assistance to avoid tax refund losses caused by coding errors.