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What are the core documents and supporting materials that foreign trade enterprises must submit when applying for export tax refund?
or complex compliance issues.
clearance and fund security.
I am a documentation operator at a small foreign trade company in Shanghai, and this is my first time independently handling export tax refund declarations. Last week, we shipped a batch of office furniture to Germany, and now we are starting to prepare refund materials, but the more I check information, the more anxious I get: Former colleagues repeatedly warned that missing documents will lead to refund rejection or even tax verification, but I cannot distinguish which documents are mandatory core ones and which are auxiliary supporting ones; I also heard that the document requirements for foreign trade enterprises and manufacturing enterprises are different.
We are a purely procurement-based export company, so what documents exactly do we need to prepare? I am even more afraid of missing implicitly required documents, which will delay the arrival of the refund — our small company is already tight on cash flow, and this refund is used to pay for the next batch of goods, so we really cannot afford to fail. Please clearly explain the specific document categories and requirements!
Kevin LinYears of service：4Customer Rating：5.0
Trade Solutions ManagerStart a Chat
First，complete the compliance review of documents in advance，focusing on checking the uniqueness and matching of core documents: Foreign trade enterprises must ensure that the purchaser's name，product name and quantity on the VAT special invoice are completely consistent with the customs declaration form，and the invoice remark column must be marked with "For Export Tax Refund Only"，For the customs declaration form，confirm that fields such as export port，trade mode and transaction mode match the actual export business，to avoid audit exceptions caused by incorrect field entries.
Pay attention to the connection of core nodes: Within 15 days after the goods are exported，confirm the electronic information of the export customs declaration form，collect transport documents (such as ocean bill of lading，air waybill) simultaneously，and check them against the bill of lading number on the customs declaration form，After receiving the payment，keep the bank remittance slip，and ensure that the difference between the amount on the slip and the transaction amount on the customs declaration form is within a reasonable range (generally no more than 5%).
Make advance plans for abnormal situations: If you find that the information on the VAT special invoice is inconsistent with the customs declaration form，immediately contact the supplier to reverse and reissue the invoice，to avoid exceeding the 360-day tax refund declaration period after the invoice is issued，If the electronic information of the customs declaration form is not synchronized in time，contact the customs to resend the data，and submit a delayed declaration application to the tax authority at the same time.
To achieve final compliance，complete document filing: Organize all core documents (customs declaration form，VAT special invoice，remittance slip) and auxiliary documents (packing list，contract，transport documents) into a bound volume，and keep them for at least 5 years for reference，to ensure that complete materials can be provided at any time when the tax authority conducts verification.
Daniel XuYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Director of Import & Export OperationsStart a Chat
As one of the core documents for export tax refund, the customs declaration form requires special attention to the filling of trade mode: For general trade exports, fill in "General Trade" (code 0110), filling in "Sample and Advertising Goods A" (code 3010) will make you ineligible for tax refund; At the same time, ensure that the "transaction mode" on the customs declaration form is consistent with the invoice. If the transaction is FOB, mark the specific amount of freight and insurance premium on the customs declaration form, to avoid the tax authority deducting the refund amount due to mismatched transaction modes.
In addition, the export date on the customs declaration form must be consistent with the actual shipment date. If there is a ship change, apply to the customs to modify the export date on the customs declaration form in time, otherwise it will affect the time node of the tax refund declaration.
Michael ZhangYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Customs Declaration & Compliance ExpertStart a Chat
Transport documents are auxiliary supporting documents for export tax refund, and the bill of lading number must be completely consistent with that on the customs declaration form. For the ocean bill of lading, confirm that the shipper's name is consistent with the name of the foreign trade enterprise.
If it is a freight forwarder's bill of lading, provide a copy of the master bill of lading issued by the shipping company; For the air waybill, confirm that the flight number and shipment date are consistent with the customs declaration form. In addition, if the goods are transshipped, keep the loading and unloading documents at the transshipment port, to avoid the tax authority delaying the refund due to failure to confirm the actual export of the goods; If there is a container shortage or port change, update the transport documents in time and synchronously modify the customs declaration form information to ensure the consistency of the document chain.
Eric ZhouYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Manager of Foreign Exchange & Tax RebatesStart a Chat
Foreign trade enterprises should pay attention to the deduction time limit of VAT special invoices for export tax refund: Complete the certification and declare the tax refund within 360 days after the invoice is issued. Exceeding this time limit will make you ineligible for the tax refund preferential policy; At the same time, note that if the purchased goods are used for both domestic sales and exports, input tax must be accounted for separately, and the input tax corresponding to exports cannot be used for domestic sales deduction, otherwise it will trigger the input tax transfer verification by the tax authority.
In addition, if the enterprise uses entrusted agency export, obtain the "Certificate of Entrusted Export Goods" issued by the entrusted party, and take it as one of the core documents for tax refund declaration, otherwise you cannot conduct the tax refund declaration.
Lucas LiuYears of service：8Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Operations ConsultantStart a Chat
The remittance slip is a necessary auxiliary document for export tax refund, and ensure that the difference between the remittance amount on the slip and the FOB amount on the customs declaration form is within a reasonable range (generally no more than 5%). If the difference is too large, provide reasonable supporting materials, such as bank fee vouchers, foreign exchange rate fluctuation explanations, etc.; At the same time, confirm that the remittance subject is consistent with the operating unit on the customs declaration form.
If it is a third-party remittance, provide a third-party remittance certificate approved by the tax authority, otherwise it will affect the arrival of the refund. In addition, if RMB cross-border settlement (CIPS) is used, keep the receipt of the CIPS message as supporting material for remittance compliance.
Evelyn LiYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Cross-border Compliance SupervisorStart a Chat
The export goods sales contract is a necessary document for tax refund filing, and ensure that the buyer and seller, product name, quantity and amount in the contract are completely consistent with the customs declaration form and invoice. The contract must clearly state core contents such as trade mode, transaction mode and payment terms; If letter of credit settlement is used, keep the copy and amendments of the letter of credit to ensure that the terms of the letter of credit are consistent with the contract, to avoid collection risks caused by soft clauses which will affect the tax refund.
In addition, if the goods need to be returned or exchanged due to quality problems, keep the return and exchange agreement, customs declaration form and other materials, and timely declare the "Tax Paid (Unrefunded) for Returned Goods" certificate to the tax authority, to avoid compliance risks caused by failure to declare.
Victor SunYears of service：5Customer Rating：5.0
Trade Risk Control ManagerStart a Chat
Export tax refund documents must meet the requirement of "four flows consistency": that is, the contract flow, goods flow, invoice flow and capital flow are completely matched. If the three or four flows are inconsistent, it will trigger the letter verification by the tax authority; At the same time, note the retention period of documents: All tax refund documents must be kept for at least 5 years for reference.
If documents are lost due to improper storage, apply to relevant departments for reissue in time, such as applying to the customs for reprinting the customs declaration form, applying to the supplier for a copy of the invoice with official seal, otherwise you will not pass the subsequent verification by the tax authority. In addition, the pre-declaration stage should focus on checking the consistency between the electronic information and paper information of the documents, to avoid being rejected after the formal declaration.
Linda GaoYears of service：7Customer Rating：5.0
Documentation SupervisorStart a Chat
From the perspective of the supply chain, the preparation of export tax refund documents needs to be linked with the procurement and logistics links: In the procurement stage, clarify the requirements for issuing VAT special invoices with suppliers in advance, to ensure that the invoice information matches the subsequent customs declaration form; In the logistics link, require the freight forwarder to provide accurate transport documents in time, to avoid tax refund abnormalities caused by incorrect bill of lading numbers; At the same time, establish a full-link tracking mechanism for documents, record the document status at each node from the issuance of procurement invoices, goods declaration, remittance receipt to tax refund declaration, to avoid refund failure caused by omission or delay. In addition, formulate differentiated document management lists for different trade modes (such as general trade, cross-border e-commerce B2B) to ensure compliance.