---
title: "What tax categories are involved in import trade agency service fees in Chongqing? What are the specific levy standards?"
description: "Import trading enterprises in Chongqing often fall into difficulties such as cost overruns and compliance risks due to unclear understanding of tax rules for agency fees. It shall be clarified that the party responsible for bearing the tax on agency fees is subject to the contract agreement. The core tax categories are value-added tax (VAT) and surtaxes. General taxpayers can deduct input VAT in compliance with regulations. Enterprises in Chongqing can also enjoy regional incentives such as thos..."
url: "https://www.sh-zhongshen.com/en/qa/chongqing-import-trade-agent-service-fee-tax-types-standards.html"
language: "en"
type: "Q&A"
category: "Import Agency Q&A"
datePublished: "2026-06-12"
dateModified: "2026-06-12"
brand: "Zhongshen Trading China"
answerCount: 8
---

# What tax categories are involved in import trade agency service fees in Chongqing? What are the specific levy standards?

## Question

 I am the person in charge of a trading company in Chongqing mainly engaged in the import of Southeast Asian tropical fruits. We have just finalized the import agency cooperation with Zhongshen from Shanghai recently. We only negotiated the basic agency fee rate before, but when the finance department calculated the annual cost, they suddenly raised the issue of tax cost related to the agency fee, which caught me off guard. I have no idea what tax categories are involved in this agency fee, whether it is borne by our company or paid by the agency company. Is the calculation base the full amount of the agency fee? Are there any regional tax incentive policies in Chongqing that can reduce this part of the cost? Besides, I heard from peers before that some unscrupulous agencies will hide taxes in hidden miscellaneous fees, and I am particularly afraid of falling into traps. Now I am in a hurry to finalize the annual import budget, please clarify these issues for me! 

## Answers
                            
### Answer 1 — Best Answer

First of all，it shall be clarified that the party responsible for bearing the tax on import agency fees is subject to the agency contract agreement. A common misconception in the industry is that the tax is borne by the agency company by default，but in most cases，it will be passed on to the entrusting party. If there is no prior agreement，it may lead to a cost overrun of 3%-8%.

**The tax calculation base is usually the full amount of the service fee stated on the invoice issued by the agency company**. The core tax categories involved are value-added tax (VAT) (6% rate for general taxpayers，3% levy rate for small-scale taxpayers) and surtaxes (approximately 12% of the VAT amount). If the entrusting party is a general taxpayer，it can fully deduct the input VAT after obtaining a compliant special VAT invoice，which directly offsets the cost.

Import enterprises in Chongqing may pay attention to the **tax incentive policies under the Western Development Strategy**. If they meet the requirements of the catalogue of encouraged industries，the corporate income tax (CIT) can be levied at a reduced rate of 15%. In addition，enterprises settled in the comprehensive pilot zone for cross-border e-commerce in Chongqing can apply for VAT deferred payment to ease the pressure of capital occupation.

In terms of access threshold，it is necessary to ensure that the agency contract clearly specifies the tax bearing clauses，and the agency company has formal invoice issuing qualification. For return ratio calculation，taking an annual agency fee of RMB 1 million as an example，a general taxpayer can deduct about RMB 56,600 of VAT，and save about RMB 40,000 of corporate income tax when combined with the Western Development incentives，achieving a comprehensive cost reduction of nearly 10%.

**status:** accepted
**Author:** Cindy Chen
**Date:** 2026-06-12

### Answer 2

For the VAT involved in Chongqing import agency fees, if the entrusting party meets the requirements, it can apply for input VAT deduction, but shall pay attention to the compliance of invoices: it must be a special VAT invoice issued by the agency company with the name of goods, taxable labor or service listed as "agency customs declaration service fee" or "import agency service fee", and the remark column of the invoice shall indicate the name of the imported goods under agency, customs declaration form number and other information.

If the invoice is not compliant, it cannot be deducted, and may also be identified as falsified cost listing by the tax authority, leading to tax inspection. In addition, if the entrusting party is a small-scale taxpayer, although it cannot deduct the input VAT, it can include the agency fee and related taxes into the cost of imported goods, and make pre-tax deduction when calculating corporate income tax.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Kevin Lin
**Date:** 2026-06-12

### Answer 3

The tax declaration of import agency fees is closely related to the customs declaration process. If the agency company does not list the agency fee separately in the "miscellaneous fees" column of the customs declaration form during customs declaration, it may lead to the agency fee being included in the dutiable value during customs valuation, and additional tariff and import link VAT will be levied, which is a common hidden cost misunderstanding in the industry.

Once this happens, the enterprise needs to submit supporting materials such as agency contract and invoice to the customs to apply for modifying the customs declaration form and re-valuation. The process takes about 7-15 days, which may lead to additional expenses such as port detention fee and container detention fee. Therefore, it is necessary to require the agency company to clearly distinguish the agency fee from the cargo price and list the miscellaneous fee item separately during customs declaration.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Victor Sun
**Date:** 2026-06-12

### Answer 4

For the payment of import agency fees and tax compliance, the consistency of capital flow, invoice flow and contract flow shall be maintained, that is, the entrusting party shall directly pay the agency fee to the agency company, the agency company shall issue an invoice of the corresponding amount to the entrusting party, and the contract shall clearly specify the content of agency services and fee standards.

If payment is made through a third-party account, or the invoice amount is inconsistent with the contract and payment amount, it may be identified as non-compliant foreign exchange receipt and payment, triggering verification by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and affecting the foreign exchange payment authority for subsequent import business. In addition, if RMB cross-border payment (CIPS channel) is used, "import agency service fee" shall be indicated in the remark column of the message to ensure the compliance of fund use.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Andy Guo
**Date:** 2026-06-12

### Answer 5

The agency contract shall clearly specify the party responsible for bearing the tax on agency fees, tax calculation method and invoice issuing requirements, which are the core clauses to avoid subsequent disputes. If the contract does not have clear provisions, according to the relevant provisions of the Civil Code, after the trustee completes the entrusted affairs, the principal shall pay the remuneration, and the taxes involved in the remuneration are usually borne by the party receiving the remuneration (i.e., the agency company).

However, in practice, most agency companies will pass the taxes on to the entrusting party by increasing the fee rate. Therefore, when signing the contract, it shall be clearly specified that "the agency fee is a tax-inclusive price" or "the agency fee is tax-exclusive, and the tax shall be borne separately by the entrusting party" to avoid cost disputes in the later stage.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Linda Gao
**Date:** 2026-06-12

### Answer 6

From the perspective of supply chain cost optimization, import agency fees can be accounted for together with other cross-border services, and the overall tax cost can be reduced by adjusting the trade structure. For example, if the annual import volume of an enterprise exceeds RMB 50 million, it can sign an annual framework agreement with the agency company to agree on a bulk preferential rate, and require the agency company to provide compliant input invoices for VAT deduction at the same time.

In addition, the import agency fee can be included in the total supply chain cost, and the tax cost per unit of goods can be diluted by improving inventory turnover efficiency. If the enterprise has a self-operated warehouse in Chongqing, it can also enjoy the tax incentive for warehousing services under the Western Development Strategy to further reduce the comprehensive cost.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Michael Zhang
**Date:** 2026-06-12

### Answer 7

If the import agency fee includes logistics-related services (such as booking, trucking), attention shall be paid to the compliance of the tax classification code. The agency company shall issue invoices with different codes for "agency customs declaration service fee", "freight forwarding service fee" and other items respectively, otherwise accurate input deduction cannot be carried out.

In addition, if the agency fee includes abnormal expenses such as port detention fee and container detention fee, the agency company shall be required to provide corresponding expense vouchers to ensure that these expenses can be included in the cost of imported goods and deducted before corporate income tax. At the same time, it shall be agreed with the agency company that if additional tax expenses are caused by the operation errors of the agency, the agency company shall bear full responsibility to avoid unnecessary cost losses.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Daniel Xu
**Date:** 2026-06-12

### Answer 8

Although import business does not involve export tax rebate, enterprises shall note that the tax accounting of import agency fees shall be separated from the financial and tax accounting of export business to avoid confusing the scope of input VAT deduction. If an enterprise carries out both import and export business at the same time, the input VAT of import agency fees shall be accounted for separately, and shall not be used for input deduction for export tax rebate, otherwise it may be identified as export tax rebate fraud by the tax authority, leading to serious tax risks.

In addition, a document filing system for import agency fees shall be established, and materials such as agency contracts, invoices and customs declaration forms shall be kept for future reference for no less than 10 years, to ensure that compliant supporting materials can be provided during tax inspection.

**status:** suggested
**Author:** Evelyn Li
**Date:** 2026-06-12

## Related Categories
- [Export Agency Q&A](https://www.sh-zhongshen.com/en/qa/cat-export-agency/)
- [Export Tax Rebate Q&A](https://www.sh-zhongshen.com/en/qa/cat-export-tax-rebate/)
- [Customs Declaration Q&A](https://www.sh-zhongshen.com/en/qa/cat-customs-declaration/)
- [Freight Forwarding Q&A](https://www.sh-zhongshen.com/en/qa/cat-freight-forwarding/)
- [Forex Settlement Q&A](https://www.sh-zhongshen.com/en/qa/cat-forex-settlement/)
- [Entrepôt Trade Q&A](https://www.sh-zhongshen.com/en/qa/cat-entrepot-trade/)
- [General Trade Q&A](https://www.sh-zhongshen.com/en/qa/cat-general-trade/)

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- [Trade Cases](https://www.sh-zhongshen.com/en/cases/)
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