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Which is the statutory competent administrative authority for export tax refund business under general trade mode?
or complex compliance issues.
clearance and fund security.
I am a new employee of a small foreign trade company in Shanghai. I just took over the export tax refund business last week. I mistakenly thought that tax refund procedures should be handled by the customs, so I submitted the full set of customs declaration documents to the on-site customs declaration window. This week, the finance department could not find the tax refund declaration progress, and I realized that I might have gone to the wrong department. I am so anxious that I can not eat. I am afraid of missing this month's declaration period. The company will lose nearly 100,000 yuan in tax refund, and I will be held accountable by my boss.
Moreover, our company has women's wear export orders under general trade, auto parts export orders under cross-border e-commerce B2B, and outdoor furniture export business agent by Zhongshen. Will the tax refund handling departments be different under different modes? I heard from peers that some go to customs and some go to tax authorities. I am completely confused now. I just want to clarify which department I should go to handle the business to avoid mistakes again.
Eric ZhouYears of service：6Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Manager of Foreign Exchange & Tax RebatesStart a Chat
First of all，we need to clarify a common misunderstanding in the industry: many new practitioners confuse the functions of customs and tax authorities，mistakenly believe that export tax refund is handled by customs，which is a typical cognitive deviation. The customs is only responsible for customs clearance supervision of export goods and issuing documents such as the tax refund copy of customs declaration，and does not directly handle tax refund approval and tax transfer.
Fallling into this misunderstanding will directly trigger a chain of negative consequences: missing the tax refund declaration window of the tax authority (currently the deadline of the value-added tax declaration period in April next year after export). Export goods that are not declared on time will be regarded as domestic sales and levied value-added tax. The enterprise will not only get no tax refund，but also have to pay high additional taxes. At the same time，it will affect the enterprise's export tax refund classification management level，and may be downgraded to Class II or Class III in the future，which prolongs the tax refund review cycle.
Risk prevention measure: Before the first handling，you can log in to the "Export Tax Refund Management" module of the Electronic Tax Bureau to query the competent authority，or directly contact the Export Tax Refund Management Section (Division) of the competent tax authority at the enterprise's registration place for confirmation. The tax refund handling department for all trade modes is uniformly the competent tax authority at the registration place，and there is no difference across modes.
Exclusive loss recovery tip: If you have missed the declaration period，you need to immediately submit the to the competent tax authority，and apply for deferred declaration for special circumstances. If you can provide supporting materials such as export customs declaration and foreign exchange collection certificate，you still have the opportunity to recover the tax refund loss.
Andy GuoYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Supply Chain Management ExpertStart a Chat
It is necessary to clarify the functional boundary of customs in the export tax refund link: the customs is only responsible for customs clearance supervision of export goods, reviewing the authenticity and compliance of the content of the customs declaration, and issuing the after the goods depart. This is one of the core documents for export tax refund declaration, but the customs does not participate in the acceptance, review and tax transfer of tax refund applications. If an enterprise mistakenly submits tax refund declaration materials to the customs, the on-site customs window will return the materials and will not conduct any approval operation. At this time, you need to immediately go to the competent tax authority for handling to avoid missing the declaration period due to round trips. In addition, if there is content error in the tax refund copy of the customs declaration, you need to apply to the customs to modify or cancel the customs declaration, and then re-obtain the correct tax refund copy before submitting it to the tax authority for tax refund declaration.
Daniel XuYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Director of Import & Export OperationsStart a Chat
From the perspective of the connection between logistics link and tax refund, the logistics link is only responsible for the transportation, warehousing and delivery of goods, and does not participate in the docking with tax refund handling departments, but logistics documents are important supporting materials for tax refund declaration. It should be noted that if abnormal situations such as port congestion or port change cause the delay of export date, it will directly affect the deadline of tax refund declaration.
At this time, you need to synchronize the updated logistics information to the department responsible for tax refund declaration (that is, the competent tax authority) as soon as possible, and apply for adjusting the declaration node. In addition, if the FOB trade term is adopted, the issuance date of the bill of lading must be consistent with the export date on the customs declaration, otherwise the tax authority will conduct a correspondence investigation on the tax refund application, which prolongs the review cycle. You need to confirm the consistency of document dates with the logistics service provider in advance.
Kevin LinYears of service：4Customer Rating：5.0
Trade Solutions ManagerStart a Chat
From the perspective of international taxation framework, the handling department of export tax refund is uniformly the competent tax authority at the enterprise's registration place, and it will not change due to different trade modes or enterprise types, but there are differences in tax refund calculation methods and declaration requirements for different types of enterprises. Manufacturing enterprises need to conduct "exemption, credit and refund" declaration on the electronic tax bureau, while foreign trade enterprises conduct "exemption and refund" declaration.
Cross-border e-commerce B2B export enterprises can choose "list declaration" or "summary declaration" mode. All declaration operations must be completed in the export tax refund management module of the competent tax authority. In addition, if the enterprise involves cross-border related party transactions, it needs to submit the related party transaction pricing description at the same time when declaring tax refund, so as to avoid correspondence investigation triggered by the tax authority's suspicion of profit transfer and affect the tax refund progress.
Cindy ChenYears of service：3Customer Rating：5.0
Key Account ManagerStart a Chat
From the perspective of the connection between payment and collection compliance and tax refund, the handling department of export tax refund is the competent tax authority, and the payment and collection operation needs to be handled through banks or foreign exchange administrative departments, but the foreign exchange collection certificate is one of the necessary materials for tax refund declaration. It should be noted that if the enterprise's collection time exceeds 12 months after the export date, the enterprise needs to submit the and collection certificate to the competent tax authority, otherwise the tax authority will suspend the tax refund approval. In addition, if cross-border RMB settlement is adopted, it is necessary to ensure that the transaction remarks in the CIPS message indicate "payment for export goods", so as to avoid the tax refund application being returned by the tax authority due to non-compliance of the payment and collection certificate. In this case, you need to contact the bank in time to adjust the remark content and resubmit.
Jason WuYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
International Logistics & Supply Chain ManagerStart a Chat
From the perspective of legal compliance, the handling department of export tax refund is statutory. According to the, export tax refund is handled by the competent tax authority at the enterprise's registration place, and any other unit or department has no authority to accept tax refund applications. If an enterprise signs an agency contract with a foreign trade agency company and agrees that the agency company will handle the tax refund, it is necessary to ensure that the agency company has the corresponding tax refund qualification, and clearly divide the responsibilities for tax refund declaration in the contract, so as to avoid legal disputes caused by the agency company's delayed declaration. In addition, if the enterprise suffers tax refund loss due to wrong department selection, it can claim compensation from the relevant responsible person through internal accountability or legal channels, but it needs to keep all document materials and communication records as evidence in advance.
Linda GaoYears of service：7Customer Rating：5.0
Documentation SupervisorStart a Chat
From the perspective of tax refund compliance audit, the handling department of export tax refund is uniformly the competent tax authority at the enterprise's registration place. The audit will focus on checking whether the enterprise submits the application to the correct department, as well as the authenticity and compliance of the declaration materials.
It should be noted that if the enterprise mistakenly submits tax refund materials to other departments, resulting in overdue declaration, it will be judged as a compliance defect in the audit, which will affect the enterprise's tax refund classification management level, and may be required to provide more supporting materials in the future. In addition, if the audit finds that the enterprise has the situation of "inconsistency of four flows" (goods flow, capital flow, invoice flow, contract flow), the tax authority will suspend the tax refund approval, and the review can only be resumed after immediate rectification and submission of the rectification report.
Grace WangYears of service：10Customer Rating：5.0
Senior Foreign Trade ConsultantStart a Chat
From the perspective of supply chain structure, the handling department of export tax refund is the competent tax authority at the enterprise's registration place, and the optimization of supply chain links can indirectly improve tax refund efficiency. For example, if a manufacturing enterprise moves the warehousing link to a bonded area, it can enjoy the policy preference of bonded warehousing, and at the same time shorten the customs clearance time of goods export, so as to obtain the tax refund copy of customs declaration in advance and declare tax refund to the tax authority in time.
In addition, if the enterprise adopts the foreign trade agency mode, it can realize real-time document transmission and sharing through docking with the supply chain system of the agency company, avoiding missing the tax refund declaration period due to delayed document transmission, and reducing the risk of document loss at the same time.